Santa Barbara Raod Trip, page 2

Today is my birthday! Time to celebrate!

Saturday seemed like a good day to drive to Santa Barbara and hang out downtown, have lunch and see the sights, so that's what we did.

On the way there we stopped at the Cold Spring Tavern just to check it out and see if they had the Penn Sate game on TV. It turns out that Cold Spring tavern is more of a restaurant than a bar. No TV, no bar or maybe we missed something. Maybe so because we heard that it's a favorite watering hole for the biker crowd on Sundays. The bridge is Route 154, the main drag. The road in the foreground must be the old stage coach road.

Saturday was the only day of the trip that the weather was a little lass than perfect. It was drizzly and cool. We even had to use our umbrellas for a while.

We had a good time and a nice lunch and headed back to our campsite at Lake Cachuma where we consumed a great steak dinner and more than one of our recent wine purchases. In fact, we ate and drank well every evening, buying much of our food supplies at a great little market just outside of Los Olivos in Route 154.

I'm not sure what we were doing here but it looks like we were having fun! It was a great way to spend a birthday!

Sunday, October 5

We noticed several posters and advertisements for the Pow Wow taking place this weekend and hosted by the local band of the Chumash Native Americans so we decided to check it out.

Having never been to a Pow Wow before, we didn't know what to expect. There were many craftsmen selling their wares. There were food stands and there were a couple thousand people.

I'm still not sure how a Pow Wow works but there seems to be some sort of competition among the singers, musicians and dancers. The people in Native dress that you see here were dancing to the beat of a big bass drum accompanied by about eight men on the sideline singing along to the beat.

It was colorful and interesting but we were hungry and thirsty. Indian fry bread tacos and shaved ice cones weren't going to cut it, so left to find a winery with a suitable spot for our picnic lunch that Lorri had made earlier.

We found the perfect spot at our next stop, Lincourt Vineyards. It was busy due to a jeep tour group and a limo bus group, but we found a nice table at the top of the slope behind the tasting room under the shade of a big old oak.

We had a nice bottle of Lincourt Sauvignon Blanc with our picnic lunch and enjoyed the weather and the view.

Lincourt was a very nice setting.

Next stop, just up Alamo Pintado Road from Lincourt was Blackjack Ranch. You will notice the reference to the movie "Sideways" on the entry sign. Even though the movie is like, old, it seems like almost every winery, restaurant and shop in Santa Ynez Valley claims some sort of connection to it.

It's called Blackjack Ranch because the owner supposedly invented and made his fortune from "California Blackjack" the only blackjack game that is legal to play in card rooms in California. We thought the sign that stated "Unattended children will be given a shot of espresso and a free puppy" was funny.

Beckmen Vineyards, tucked back off the main drag south of Los Olivos was next. The wines were good, the atmosphere was casual and the sculpture was interesting.

We wanted to make one more stop on the way back to Cachuma Lake and a young couple we met at Beckmen highly recommended we stop at Kalyra, pronounced "cal-eye-ra", for it's friendly surf motif atmosphere.

We were not disappointed. It actually has sort of an Australian surf theme, with a big "Kalyra" surfboard on the wall and Mambo posters decorating the walls (Check out the one below about "The Miracle of the Pies and Beer".)

This was our last winery of the weekend. We left plenty unvisited for the next time.

Monday, October 6

We packed up and left! It was a great getaway!