hiking, of sorts

Ahoy,

H and I set out for an adventurous day of hiking in Santa Barbara. She selected Gaviota State Park. It was about 2 hours out from LA and we set out bright and early. We arrived to a sort of inferior looking state of park. There was no one else around and no way to get information. The store and info center were both closed. There were some campsites, but really not much going on. We drove up to the beach and still nothing really exciting or definitive about this park. Luckily we happened upon a park ranger, and were able to ask him some questions.

us: Excuse me, where are the trails?
him: Everywhere.
us: [look at him as if there is more he must have to say]
him: [runs in his car to grab a map] Well, we have x miles of trail all over the park. Over there at the water tank is this trail, and over there at the telephone tower is this trail, and...

He continues on to explain that you have to exit the park to get to various trailheads, and some trailheads don't have signs. We thank him and conclude that we had no idea what he was pointing to when he was showing us all the landmarks for the trailheads. We conclude that we will just have to drive around and hope we hit something. We decide on the hot springs trail and end up passing it once and finding it with sheer luck the second time around. Because there are no signs for anything and all the rest stops are closed. There is no sign for the trailhead or the trail, but there is a sign for mountain lions and this makes H uneasy. We hike the mile or so to the hot springs and eat out lunch with our toes in the water. Back at the bottom, we conclude that the day would not be a wash if we continued onto Solvang, the Danish capitol of America, and 20 minutes away.

The drive to Solvang is scenic and pleasant. Once there, we are smitten with the charming architecture of the small town. We wander around for a bit, finding the farmers market and visitors center. The gentleman recommends wine tastings for us and thus begins the rest of our adventurous "hike." We ended up going to 2 wine tastings and having a marvelous afternoon. At the first place we learn about wine and its properties. At the second one, we have a great time learning about the winery and its family. On the way back home it rains a little and I love it. I love overcast skies and intermittent weather.

I will have to go back with the RRS for more wine.

inebriatedly danish,
jt