10th Anniversary Trip to California-Nov 2008

Chris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary by giving each other a trip (together of course) ....we wanted beaches and mountains and art and WINE without leaving the states and being too far from the kids), so California won out!

Me outside the Unitarian Church next to the Gamble House in Pasedena

I'm not sure if there's any hope of my coming back to "clean up" this travel log and make it more readable, so I'm just going to post what I jotted down quickly in my journal after the trip so that I can share it with my parents.

Saturday, November 1:
Arrived at LAX, drove to Pasedena, bought tix for Gamble House, ate Chinese food, came back for Gamble House tour, explored UU Neighborhood Church next door, drove to Huntington Gardens but it started raining so we went to the Pasedena Museum of California Art-PMCA (Ear Worms, wood, Greene & Greene and Missions exhibits-more info in my journal on these exhibits), checked into Sheraton, walked over to mall area, Happy Hour at Wine Bodega (ALL generously poured wines only $5 each), visited wine making store, sushi dinner at Sachi, then more wine tasting at “The Nose”

The Gamble House in Pasedena built in 1908

Sunday, November 2:
Breakfast w Amy Larkowski at Central Park Restaurant in Pasedena, downtown to LA Museum of Contemporary Art-LAMOCA (LOUISE BOURGEOIS and Martin Kippenberger-more info in my journal on these artists), then drove up to Ventura and ate lunch at a Brewhouse and walked around a bit in the town, then drove up to Pismo Beach, checked into Sea Venture Resort, walked to Thai restaurant, hot tub

Me and Amy

Monday, November 3:
Drove into Oro Montana State Park, explored beach a little, hiked up to Valencia Peak (about 4 mile round-trip took about 2 hours), drove up to Calyca…(?) and ate lunch at Schooner’s Warf, back to Sea Venture and read on the beach for about an hour, went to movies in San Luis Obispo (Religulous) and then pizza and beer

Chris atop the mountain we climbed

The beach and our "resort"

Tuesday, November 4:
Long walk on beach (found sand dollars), drove up to Cambria, walked around a bit and had lunch at Linn’s (pretty little patio), drove by the Nitwit's Ridge (strange house made from all recycled stuff), drove into Paso Robles and visited several vineyards and tasted wine-mostly focused on Zinfadels (Zin Alley, Zambria?, Opolo, Norman, Justin), dinner at the Crooked Kilt and watched election returns, checked into Paso Robles Inn, walked around a bit and had dessert at Artisan and watched Obama’s acceptance speech

Nitwit's Ridge in Cambria

Me outside Norman Winery in Paso Robles

Wednesday, November 5:
Wine tasting at Laetitia, drove into Santa Barbara, visited mission then lunch at Mexican place, walked down to Stearns Warf, walked around State Street, Contemporary Arts Forum-CAF (computer drawings and meditation room- Jean-Pierre Hébert: Drawing With the Mind Curated by Elaine LeVasseur-see below for more info), drove into LA and checked into Del Marina International, shipped wine from FedEx Kinkos, sushi

Original Santa Barbara Altar

Current Santa Barbara Altar

Mission at Santa Barbara

(the only mission to have TWO bell towers)

Me on Wharf in Santa Barbara

Thursday, November 6:
Meander to find beach in Marina Del Ray, walk along beach, coffee and zucchini bread at Cow’s End and walked back to hotel, returned rental car and to airport.