Wine heaven!
For Erik's 41st birthday in January, I surprised him with a wine tasting trip to Santa Ynez! It rocked, if I do say so myself.
We flew from KLGB (Long Beach) to KIZA (Santa Ynez), which was only really bumpy over Lake Cachuma, landing at about 1pm. We were met at our plane by Pete of Pete's Taxi Service which is a private wine tasting shuttle. Our first winery was Koehler, where we ate tri-tip sandwiches outside that we had grabbed at the little local deli in Los Olivos.
Then, after buying three bottles for the road, we headed for Curtis Winery...
Next came Beckman Winery, run by a guy who used to sell brass instruments to schools. It was way off the beaten path and quite lovely.
We finished at Blackjack Winery, of "Sideways" fame. It was a ton of fun, we loved Pete and his intimate knowledge of the local winemakers, and we are now officially wine snobs.
We stayed in Solvang at Hadsten House, a converted, upscale boutique motel that we highly recommend.
The restaurant there is great, too. We ate breakfast the next morning at Paula's Pancakes (yum!) and then came home. KIZA is a great little airport, with a nice pilot's lounge (where I did some work on my laptop while Erik tweaked the plane) and even adirondack chairs out on the grass where you can just chill and watch planes taking off and landing. We found out you can even camp on the grass there for next to nothing! The only tough part is the brutal security protocol...
(It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but that is a wide open gate to the field that anybody and their terrorist uncle could just breeze on through.)
We had an amazing sight coming up over the mountains that separate Santa Ynez from the ocean. Just breathtaking.
We flew from KLGB (Long Beach) to KIZA (Santa Ynez), which was only really bumpy over Lake Cachuma, landing at about 1pm. We were met at our plane by Pete of Pete's Taxi Service which is a private wine tasting shuttle. Our first winery was Koehler, where we ate tri-tip sandwiches outside that we had grabbed at the little local deli in Los Olivos.
Then, after buying three bottles for the road, we headed for Curtis Winery...
Next came Beckman Winery, run by a guy who used to sell brass instruments to schools. It was way off the beaten path and quite lovely.
We finished at Blackjack Winery, of "Sideways" fame. It was a ton of fun, we loved Pete and his intimate knowledge of the local winemakers, and we are now officially wine snobs.
We stayed in Solvang at Hadsten House, a converted, upscale boutique motel that we highly recommend.
The restaurant there is great, too. We ate breakfast the next morning at Paula's Pancakes (yum!) and then came home. KIZA is a great little airport, with a nice pilot's lounge (where I did some work on my laptop while Erik tweaked the plane) and even adirondack chairs out on the grass where you can just chill and watch planes taking off and landing. We found out you can even camp on the grass there for next to nothing! The only tough part is the brutal security protocol...
We had an amazing sight coming up over the mountains that separate Santa Ynez from the ocean. Just breathtaking.
Your descriptions are wonderful. It's almost like making the trip with you!
ReplyDelete