this photo was taken by jessica! it really encapsulates how perfect the weather was that day. sunny skies and highs in the 70s. NO HUMIDITY. i cannot stress how gorgeous it was. i really enjoyed being outside. no sweat or clamminess! if they'd had food at the tasting room, i could have stayed all day. which is probably why they don't have food. we did buy a $4 bag of chips, as i was famished and even small amounts of wine will fuck. me. up. (on an empty stomach).
once we hit the reds, we moved outside and relaxed some more.
i'm closing my eyes and wishing i were back, wine in hand.
the wine fields! we went to some other tasting rooms later, but there's just that extra wonderful feeling from drinking wine in the exact place that it's grown and cultivated, drinking in the same sun, breathing the same air.
vincent declared himself the pinot plant king. (or maybe that was just me.) he really will do almost anything for me in a photo - what a sweetie!
finally, our stomachs needed more sustenance than wine + tortilla chips, so we headed to solvang for good eats. adorable little town! windmill! naturally, after lunch, we went to another wine tasting at lucas & lewellen. jessica & i did the "fun" wine list - lots of sweet wines, ending with a port served in a little chocolate cup. now that i'm not already tipsy, i'm sad we didn't do more wineries. at the time, of course, i was getting over jet lag and travel and couldn't hande my alcohol. pathetic!
after this was followed another super twisty drive to chumash painted cave. rob did the drive in, i believe, 20 minutes. the same drive would have taken me 2+ hours. i admit now, far away in florida, that i had to close my eyes for most of the drive and pretend i was in a peaceful sunlit forest with unicorns to distract from the 2 lane roads disguised as 1 lane roads which curved at acute angles and which we took at great speeds.
it was worth it! check out this awesome shot! i couldn't even see this with my own eyes. thank you long exposure! and auto-focus.
a quick drive later and we found ourselves at lizard's mouth to watch the sunset. breathtaking! and that was just the climb.
jessica insists that it wasn't rock climbing, but instead "scrambling". i disagree. i remember a distinct moment in which i, with camera bag and camera, had to mold myself to the wall of a boulder to continue onward towards the top to see the sunset, my dry fingers gripping tenuously to the gritty rockface, my feet on 6 inches of skinny ground. that's climbing, my friend.
i admit, i'm a big wuss sometimes. i like the idea of bouldering, of rock climbing, but real life actuality makes me kind of freak out. and poor vince, in his slippery flip flops! and the ground wasn't really *that* steep, it just felt more steep because.... well, no, fuck that. it was steep. i get vertigo at baseball stadiums in the seats and have to lean way over away from the field to walk a straight line to my seat. i've had nightmares about said stadiums and falling and both driving and walking up either very inclined bridges or ones that are opening up.
so this:
freaked me the fuck out. LOOK OUT, JESSICA! LEAN BACK OR YOU'LL FALL!!
i'll admit this now, but look! i conquered my fear!
and now i want to go (indoor) wall climbing.
here i am wiping my clammy hands off on my pants.
and i mean, c'mon. it was worth it.
p.s. rob made us all great pesto that night w/ perfectly al dente pasta!
1 comment:
the roads up the mountain can be scary! they are super curvy, without a doubt. and rob drives up them so much that it feels reckless. i guess i'm used to it by now, but the first time i was nervous about the edges too.
i was a little concerned about you after i realized how scared you were of the tilt up there. but really, the view is so amazing that i don't regret putting you through that at all!
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