Bbq and Sunsets

Had another great BBQ dinner at Mo's and enjoyed a lovely sunset. 

Central Coast and Pismo

Had a great time wine tasting at some beautiful vineyards- Sort it Out Cellars- 50's rockabilly feel with vintage pin up model labels, Carivintas- an animal friendly cellar that donates a portion of their proceeds to animal rescue, Kalyra-the place they meet Sandra in Sideways, Fess Parker- yep, owned by the guy who played Daniel Boone and Davey Crocket, and Foxen- also featured in the Sideways movie. Monarch rounded out the group. 

Chatty wine makers

I'm 

We embarked on a Sideways wine tour and met a number of new friends. Unfortunately, these friends live 1600 miles away and are vintners. Interested in why a particular grape tastes different when the weather had been dry? How about when the moon is full on three consecutive frost months? These are people who want to talk. And also talk about wine. Anxiety about meeting new people? Wine tasting is not for you. We bought more wine than we should have, but some of it was just to not have to talk about the damn wine any more. Oh yes- also a hidden gem at Monarch winery in Pismo and the old golden retriever, Tucker, who greets tasters. Lonely wine pourers and many animal friendly folks. On to bbq and beautiful beachy sunsets.

Pea Soup and Wine?

Started the day with Anderson's famous split pea soup. A fixture since the 1920's, they make a bold assertion that people not only love pea soup, but that they want to eat massive quantities of it. The Traveler's Breakfast is a stack of hot cakes, two eggs, breakfast meat AND a large bowl of pea soup. To top this gut buster off, a plate of toppings. Truly a breakfast for champions- or a family of 8. Headed to some of the Sideways filming locations ( like the windmill motel that has seen better days.)

San Diego: Halloween, Top Gun, and The trolley

Friday was our "first day" of vacation in San Diego, as Amanda didn't have a full day of seasons and I had come in the night before.

I was to be relaxing by the pool, however due to issues at the car rental place (which was housed in a double wide trailer), my mission was to find a car.

We had a good breakfast as Buster's at the village shops near the hotel. And then I set out to get a car at a reasonable price.

Thankfully, I was!

SixT car rental came to the rescue and then some!  Got a brand new Hyundai Accent with less than 400 miles on it!

Car secured, and Amanda's sessions over, we started our vacation with wine tasting, checking out the "trick or treaters" in the Gas Lamp quarter.  Finish the night off at the KC BBQ joint as seen in the film Top Gun.

Today, we left San Diego for the town of Buelton and The Anderson's Pea Soup Inn.  We saw the Windmill Inn, The Hitching Post II- both from the film Sideways.  HP was too busy and we just wanted to chill so we didn't eat there, but did have a couple local beers from the Solvang Brewing Co.  Good stuff!

Now, for some pics!

Homeward Bound!

Yesterday was the first of two long drives home. Our disembarking process was actually far better than expected. Though my organization could use a bit of work!

The drive was going great until Atlanta. Wow. Terrible stretch for miles, bumper to bumper...eventually we took a side road to by pass it all. Still don't know the reason for the backup.

Ended our drive in Murfreesboro, TN. We discovered we had stopped here before on our way down last week and experience the busiest Chic-fil-A in the world! You would have thought it just opened.

We grabbed a later dinner at Nobody's Grill, and got out of there just in time before karaoke started. Though we did see/hear a little girl singing twinkle twinkle little star, mind you this was at 10pm.

Today is our final stretch. Murfreesboro to home. 13.5 hours with a couple tolls. Pretty much spending most our day in Illinois as our other option had a few areas of road contstruction.

Thank God for audio

Books!!!

But first: Waffle House for good driving fuel!

Dexters Apartment

Of course we couldn't pass the opportunity to visit the location of Dexter's apartment. Though now, due to its fame a fence has been put up and foliage blocks our view, but if you look closely you can see it: last apartment on the right.

Last pics just a view of the harbor the complex is right next to.

Also we barely managed to escape a parking ticket to get these pics. Had the parking officer started at the front of the lot we would have gotten one!

Pictures

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Junkaroo dancers.

Views from our room.

Bahamas!

No internet on the cruise, but it was a much smaller ship than we have sailed in the past. Very cute and fewer people which was nice and no high pressure sales pitches for art, jewelry, etc. Chris survived without getting motion sickness, and we cleared Bahamas customs in no time yesterday am. Had an entire day of beach time before checking into our room at 3, then a walk around the local shops and a fantastic beach BBQ for dinner withh music and junkaroo dancers. Imagine the Mardi Gras Indians in their festive warrior costumes. There was a local fish fry also, with some tasty fried snapper. Chris wanted to be sure I mentioned that I apparently have no coordination for hammocks. It seemed so relaxing in theory..

Today, waking up to a gorgeous sunrise and a day of more of the same.. Relaxing. Beach bonfire tonight, then back on the ship by noon tomorrow. Unfortunately we are told we cannot live at this beautiful resort. Also of note, Bahamas garners 50 of their economy from tourism..30 percent from offshore banking. So..

Our room at the Starlite, and morning rain

The staircase from Scarface

We watched a valet actually dent this van in front of us

South Beach. Literally!

Impressive skyline

Panther crossing?

Had a great drive through the Everglades on Monday, and made it off the island in the nick of time ahead of the St. Patrick's day parade. Unnerving signs began to appear as we entered the Everglades that warned of "panther crossing" and "lights flashing when wildlife on road" and "no hiking after dark". Even the speed limits (60 during the day, 45 at night) reflected ample opportunity to run over some of Florida's most exotic wildlife. We stopped at two Everglades visitors centers and saw tons of Osprey, herons, butterflies and egrets. We also saw jumping fish, that literally propel themselves out of the water to catch bugs. Did we see alligators? Not only did we see a plethora of alligators in their natural habitat, Chris almost ran over one that was sunning himself on the shoulder of the road. We almost had a very unique souvenir, indeed. While it added about an hour to our drive, it was well worth it.