We departed LA later in the morning to try to avoid rush hour. It really was not that bad. We made our way up the coast stopping in Santa Barbara for gas but ended up touring the 1700-era Mission which was quite lovely. We continued to Solvang, which is off the coast, the Danish Capital of America. It was charming and quaint. They were having a farmer’s market and what they called Third Wednesday. So, they had a Wine Walk! Yay! Perfect. Well, for me. After a nice Danish lunch, we wandered around and I picked up a ticket while Dave went off on his own. The first 2 places were very nice, the 3rd a tad indifferent but still polite and the 4th place... well, ruined a perfectly good wine buzz. I walked in and should have just left as no one else was in there but I took a seat and someone finally came to serve me. He made a little off-comment but I just shrugged it off and went on with the tasting, telling him about our trip. Well, I guess I should not have mentioned the crazies on the bus in LA to him because he went OFF THE RAILS about the conservatives taking all the funding for social programs away since the Reagan years. He ranted on so much, I barely could get a word in edgewise but when I offered a different viewpoint, he just got worse to the point where I just said to myself “What I am still doing here?” and I said to him “I’m on vacation and really do not need to get into a debate with you, so thank you and good-bye”. Well, he continued to shout after me all the way down the sidewalk. It was really upsetting and ruined a perfectly good afternoon. I got to the next place and told them about it, hoping it might get back to the owner. That guy was very nice and did say he was a freak. And, he let me keep my tasting ticket! So, off I went to the brewery to try to relax again.
After that, we made our way to our hotel for the night in Paso Robles, some place I had never heard of but would be worth another looksie. We went downtown, they had a cute little park/square surrounded by restaurants and shops. They were setting up for the largest wine event in S. California. Seemed like they had quite a bit for a smaller town and lots and lots of wineries in the surrounding area. Lots.
However, we opted for Taco Bell and headed back to the LQ (La Quinta) for the night.
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