A Last Minute Labor Day Road Trip

Flying by the seat of my pants has never really been my thing, but it's something the B does, so I'm getting a little more flexible. Overall, planning my life out a less has been a good thing, but sometimes, it can be a little painful.

Like when it's Saturday of Labor Day weekend and you decide you want to drive up the California coast the next day. That being said, it was only painful because we needed a hotel room for Sunday night, and there wasn't much to be had in Pismo or Shell Beach. We ended up in a two-star motel - yuck. It was not nearly as clean as I would like, and you had to run the hot water only for about five minutes in order to get it hot. Honestly, I would have camped rather than stay at this place (shhh).

Shell Beach

The rest of our California coast adventure was great. On the way to Pismo Beach, we stopped at Firestone Walker Brewing Company and the Fess Parker Winery for tastings. On Monday, we decided to go to Hearst Castle before heading to Paso Robles.

Hearst Castle

This was my first time at Hearst Castle. It is an amazing place, and if you ever find yourself driving along the PCH, make the time to stop there. You do need at least two hours though if you want to actually tour. You park down at the visitor center and board a bus for a five-mile ride up to the main house. The temperatures at the visitor center were pretty cool, but it was hot up at the castle!

The fog hovers over San Simeon

From the castle you over look San Simeon and the Pacific Ocean if it's a clear day. For us, the fog stayed right over the coastline, so you could only see a little bit of ocean. We called ahead and made reservations over the phone, which was probably a good thing considering how crowded it was at Hearst Castle.

The Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle

After the castle, we drove to Paso Robles and did two more wine tastings. One at Rotta Winery and one at Wild Horse Winery. I have not done wine tastings in Paso Robles before, and I enjoyed it. It is much more low key than Napa Valley. Plus, tastings only cost $5 and at Rotta, you get 12 tastings! If you ever end up at Rotta, I hope Gale is working. She is hilarious!

Oops, almost forgot about food. In Pismo we ate at Mo's Smokehouse BBQ for dinner and in Paso Robles we ate at Farmstand 46 for lunch. Both places were good, but I especially enjoyed Farmstand 46. I had the Goat sandwich (actually pork, not goat), and it was quite yummy. Just don't sit outside on a hot day because the yellow jackets will start buzzing around you and your food.

Sunset in the Los Padres National Forest

It was a very nice two-day adventure in California, and thanks to our iPhones, we routed ourselves around traffic on the 101 on the way home. These less-traveled highways took us through the various terrains that make California so unique, as well as through the Los Padres National Forest. It's only been two days, and I feel like hopping in the car again.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Meet My Cream-Colored Top

Have you ever tried to open a bottle of wine, only to somehow push the cork into the bottle instead of pull it out? This is precisely what happened on Saturday when Seth tried to uncork a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. He stopped when the initial wine spray hit us; and there was the cork, stuck in the bottleneck.

It is important to note that at this point, Seth was the one wearing more wine. Unfortunately, I let my irritation get to me and so I grabbed the opener from him, thinking that I would be able to get the cork out. Well, bachi on me because there was still some air pressure in there, and I successfully released the air, and more wine.

Now I am the one wearing more wine. On my favorite cream-colored drape front cardigan. Did I mention we were at a party? Luckily, the top I was wearing underneath made it out of the wine fray with little damage, so the cardigan went in the laundry room for the rest of the evening.

Seth tried to give me money so I could get a new one, but I really did not see how that would do any good since I bought it several months ago at the Nordstrom Rack and would surely be difficult and more expensive to find. In my usual form, I decided to be stubborn and try to get the stains out. As soon as we got home, I put my stain-removers and sprayed the cardigan with Sol-U-Mel and soaked it overnight in Oxi Clean.

It was like magic! I am not sure what did it, so I will say that the combination of Sol-U-Mel and Oxi Clean got the Cab stains out of my cardigan. I was also able to get all the stains out of Seth's shirt, and I did not treat it until the next day.

Apparently, Sol-U-Mel can be purchased online, but I get my products through my sister or my best friend. Oxi Clean is available everywhere, and I might just start buying a Costco-sized container!

Food

Thoughts of food filled my head all day long. I blame it on my friend who created http://myfoodaffair.blogspot.com/. Last night I read her post on focaccia bread, and I was hooked! Eventually I found my way to the posts for peanut butter cup brownies and sweet potato haupia squares. YUM. ONO. OISHI.

If you know me, you know I am not usually one for dessert, but I love peanut butter and chocolate together--it's the salty-sweet mix that does it for me. Speaking of sweet and salty together in a dessert, now I am thinking of Mari's New York caramel sea salt brownies. I had a rare moment of true appreciation for chocolate when I ate that brownie. Thanks Miche for breaking that box open in the parking lot of Ala Moana.

Back to "real" food. Reading the blog and thinking of focaccia, pesto, and a gnocchi army made my dinner seem down right boring. I just made baked ziti (well really rigatoni). This brings me to what went down with dinner: my favorite $6.99 wine from Trader Joes, Novella Synergy. It's a blend.