My friend and I decided to do a last minted road trip. My only requirement, was that I had to be able to take the hound. I've been traveling so much lately my four legged best buddy has spent more time in a kennel than at home with me. For a quick getaway we wanted something close, no more than a 2-3 hour drive. We settled on Santa Ynez area and found a great pet friendly Marriott in the area. It's amazing how relaxing just getting a couple hours outside of town can be. This was no major adventure, but a great trip none the less.
It was nice to walk around Solvang, with the hound in tow. So many places were dog friendly, Lucy Grace felt very welcome and loved all the attention she got! After a couple of hours walking around the quaint little town of Solvang, it was time to head to Dierberg for a little anniversary party. My friend is a wine club member there, so we got to taste for free and spent the afternoon, sitting on the lawn, listening to music and chowing down on some wood-fired pizza. The pizza was made www.fireandwinecatering.com and it was delicious! What a great way to spend a Saturday.
We followed this chill Saturday afternoon with dinner at Sides Hardware and Shoes. Lucy Grace was thrilled to see she wasn't the only hound out on the patio. She got to meet some new four legged friends and so did we. All in all a nice relaxing weekend, made all the better by sharing not only with one of my good friends, but with my best buddy, the amazing Lucy Grace!
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
There's beauty in the everyday...you just have to open your eyes
It's amazing how much beauty you find in the world when you just open your eyes and pay attention...
The weekend goes by too fast...
So the Traveling Hillbilly arrived at that beautiful house on Friday and now here it is Sunday night already. Where did the long weekend go? I'm just not ready to leave and get back into the hustle and bustle of my normal day to day. We had an amazing experience at the J Bubble Room yesterday. A five course tasting of delicious food, paired with wonderful wines was an amazing way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.
And what better way to spend a Sunday than by having a great brunch at the BarnDiva, followed by a lazy afternoon and then a great home cooked dinner?
Great time, catching up with great friends and to top it all off, Die Hard just happens to be on tonight!
And what better way to spend a Sunday than by having a great brunch at the BarnDiva, followed by a lazy afternoon and then a great home cooked dinner?
Great time, catching up with great friends and to top it all off, Die Hard just happens to be on tonight!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
My new home....at least for the next few days
I hope to enjoy some good wine, spend time with good friends, relax and get centered over the next few days. And where better to do it than at this beautiful place?
A Tough Year
Sorry there haven't been post in the past year, but last year was a tough year for the Traveling Hillbilly. Given some serious family health issues, the Traveling Hillbilly was not able to travel for most of last year. However, the goal for this year is to change that and make 2015, a year full of adventure.
What better way to start that than a road trip to northern California to catch up with dear friends? The drive from LA to Healdsburg was absolutely beautiful. It was surprisingly quite green. When I travel to foreign places, I'm often in awe of the beauty that exists in this world. But the drive yesterday, reminded me just how beautiful California truly is. The rolling greens hills, against the back drop of a stunningly blue sky made the long drive quite enjoyable.
What better way to start that than a road trip to northern California to catch up with dear friends? The drive from LA to Healdsburg was absolutely beautiful. It was surprisingly quite green. When I travel to foreign places, I'm often in awe of the beauty that exists in this world. But the drive yesterday, reminded me just how beautiful California truly is. The rolling greens hills, against the back drop of a stunningly blue sky made the long drive quite enjoyable.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The Scenic Wineries and then some..
Today we started out at Calcareous Vineyard calcareous.com. What a beautiful, panoramic view they have! It has to be one the best views I've seen in Paso. Plus they have a lot of great outdoor seating to enjoy the view. They have wine and food pairings on the weekend, but not during the week so I can't speak for the food. However, the Traveling Hillbilly thinks this might be a great place to grab lunch or a snack.
After that we headed to Chateau Margene chateaumargene.com. Given it was not on a hilltop the view was not quite as spectacular as Calcareous, but was still a beautiful place. Wines were pricey, but good.
For lunch we headed to Aron Hill Vineyards aronhillvineyards.com. They have delicious salads and paninis. We didn't do a tasting here, but I did order a glass of their Chardonnay with my lunch. It was delicious.
We had time for one more stop before calling it a day. We headed to Herman Story hermanstorywines.com. They are typically only open Thursday-Sunday, but thanks to our friend Edgar, of Bodega de Edgar, bodegadeedgar.com we were able to get an appointment. They treated us so well and we got to try a lot of great wines! Russell and his team seem to truly enjoy what they do and you can tell they have a lot of fun there. Hank, Russell's dog, was also on sight and he was a lot of fun too!
After that we headed to Chateau Margene chateaumargene.com. Given it was not on a hilltop the view was not quite as spectacular as Calcareous, but was still a beautiful place. Wines were pricey, but good.
We had time for one more stop before calling it a day. We headed to Herman Story hermanstorywines.com. They are typically only open Thursday-Sunday, but thanks to our friend Edgar, of Bodega de Edgar, bodegadeedgar.com we were able to get an appointment. They treated us so well and we got to try a lot of great wines! Russell and his team seem to truly enjoy what they do and you can tell they have a lot of fun there. Hank, Russell's dog, was also on sight and he was a lot of fun too!The Traveling Hillbilly Will not Be Deterred by the 405 Closing!
What better way to spend the long holiday weekend than wine tasting in Paso Robles? Actually heading up on Sunday to go wine tasting Mon-Wed is better, this way you beat the crowds. Traffic on the 405 wasn't too bad heading out Sunday morning, however we figured why run the risk of getting stuck and headed up PCH. Plus, it's much more scenic drive.
We had a great day driving up the coast and stopped at one of my favorite wineries, Zaca Mesa zacamesa.com on the way to Paso. With Monday being a holiday, it was packed on Sunday. It's not nearly as much fun to do a tasting when it's so crowded. The staff is just so busy pouring they do not really have time to talk to you and share information about the wines. Despite the crowds, the wines of course were delicious and we got to meet Cheeseburger, commonly know as Cheese, a boxer/great Dane mix! He was a pretty cool dog.
We figured we could make one more stop before heading to the hotel, so we stopped at Fess Parker fessparker.com They also make some great wines, but their wines are little on the pricier side, so it's usually not the best place to try and buy and everyday red. However, they had quite the deal on one of their blends. Unfortunately it wasn't on the tasting menu so we bought a bottle to try and then wound up buying a whole case. The price was just too good to pass up.
We had a great day driving up the coast and stopped at one of my favorite wineries, Zaca Mesa zacamesa.com on the way to Paso. With Monday being a holiday, it was packed on Sunday. It's not nearly as much fun to do a tasting when it's so crowded. The staff is just so busy pouring they do not really have time to talk to you and share information about the wines. Despite the crowds, the wines of course were delicious and we got to meet Cheeseburger, commonly know as Cheese, a boxer/great Dane mix! He was a pretty cool dog.
We figured we could make one more stop before heading to the hotel, so we stopped at Fess Parker fessparker.com They also make some great wines, but their wines are little on the pricier side, so it's usually not the best place to try and buy and everyday red. However, they had quite the deal on one of their blends. Unfortunately it wasn't on the tasting menu so we bought a bottle to try and then wound up buying a whole case. The price was just too good to pass up.
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