Santa Barbara: The Urban Wine Trail

For Christmas last year, I gave Brian a sea cave kayaking adventure in the Channel Islands, 

off the coast of Santa Barbara.  

We decided to make a whole weekend out of it, 

and planned a Saturday in Santa Barbara and set the tour for Sunday.  

Luckily, Sunset had just run a whole feature on Santa Barbara 

and the so-called "Funk Zone."

(Do you read Sunset Magazine?  I'm a big fan.)

The name was so awful that I just had to read the article,

and they had me at "Urban Wine Trail."

So I threw my bike in the car, packed my funky pants, 

and we set off to find this magic "zone"

where streets were supposedly lined in wineries and hipsters.

And I'm happy to say,

Sunset totally delivered.

Some deets.

The Urban Wine Trail starts near East Beach and 

takes you past tasting rooms for lots of California wineries,

especially from the Paso Robles area.

Some of the wineries have live music on weekends,

and there are food trucks.

And it's easily bike-able, or walkable!

*Heaven*

We started our tasting at Whitcraft,

which was a tiny little tasting room with the most delicious red wines

and the man who led our tasting was super knowledgeable and helpful --

he even marked all the places we should go on a wine tasting map for us!

This place had the best wines of our trip.

Our second stop was Carr.

This place was hoppin.

They make their wine on site, so there were barrels in the back,

and they had cheese plates (clutch).

From Carr, we rode our bikes into the heart of the Funk Zone

(just sounds wrong)

and parked them on Anacapa Street,

where there's a string of tasting rooms all in a row.

We hit up Kunin first, which had a great zin,
and conveniently,
the Burger Bus was parked right outside.
YUM.

 Our last stop was Municipal Winemakers,
which was the most hipster stop of the bunch,
and of course, the one I loved the most.
It felt like home to this San Franciscan.
And I wanted to hug everyone who worked there
(maybe from all the wine?).

Also, this table.

We left in a happy daze, wishing the day could last longer.

 I kind of want to do this every weekend.

Napa

I loved that NYE fell on a Monday this year because it meant we had a whole weekend beforehand to celebrate!  THREE-DAY NEW YEARS FTW! 

We spent New Years Weekend in Napa with two of our friends from college who ventured out from Texas for a visit.  I had never been to Napa in the winter, and was surprised by how beautiful it was, even though it was past harvest time.  The valley was blanketed in bright yellow flowers (I was obsessed), and all the wineries and our hotel were still decorated for Christmas (so charming!).

We stayed in a hotel called the Vineyard Country Inn in St. Helena, and I would totally recommend it.  All the rooms were suites (with living rooms and fireplaces), and it was conveniently located so that you could walk into the main downtown.  As for wine, we tried to do a mix of mainstream and more boutique-y wineries, so we ended up stopping at Stag's Leap, Robert Sinskey, Mondavi, Opus One, and Rubicon (apparently now called Inglenook). 

My highlights:  Sinskey's wines are always my favorite (and I love that they give you treats made by Sinskey's chef wife, Maria with your tasting); the view from Opus One is amazing (but the wine is expensive); and the grounds at Rubicon/Inglenook are the best place to sit down for a  mini-picnic.

Here are some photos from our time - enjoy!

{Stag's Leap}

{Mondavi}

{Robert Sinskey}

{Opus One}

{Rubicon}

{this tree at Rubicon grew BOTH oranges and lemons!!!!}

(Thanks for the group pic Jessie!)

Sunday morning we woke up and went for a walk into the main town in St. Helena (in a desperate attempt to work off some small portion of the feast we ate at Greystone the night before, in preparation for our brunch res at Bottega...). 



The town is really just one little main street with cute home decor, food, and book shops, and a handful of cafes and restaurants thrown in.  Super cute. 

On the way, we passed this beautiful view of a vineyard and all those gorgeous yellow blooms:

I may have taken a picture or two...ha.

In sum:  We ate too much, we drank too much, and we did 2012 proud!

P.S.  In case you are planning a trip to Napa and looking for some recs, Artesa and Hess (which also has an art gallery) are a couple of my other favorite wineries we didn't make it to.

The Breakfast Ride

{at the Alisal}

Will ride for biscuits.

Pit Stop

These make me laugh.

The Night I Became a Lawyer (and then drove to Vega$)

At 7:30pm, we slammed the car doors, started up the engine, and headed east.  I was tired and giddy and residually sweaty.  Vegas sounded like a dream.

At 12:30am, we caught our first glimpse of the strip!  At last!  And there's our hotel!  None of this felt real, not in the slightest.

{thanks to a very nice friend for getting this room for us at the last minute!}

(I was ready to move in.)

It was champagne that night (morning?).  So much glorious champagne.

And pure, genuine, carefree happiness to go along with it.  It felt like nothing could ever be wrong again.

The next day, I woke up after normal people had finished their buffet brunches (as you do in Vega$), and had to pinch myself to make sure that all of this was really happening.  That I really was a lawyer.  That I really had driven to Vegas last night.  That I really had drunk that much champagne.  (Ohmygosh I love champagne.)  That I really was lying in the world's most comfortable bed.  That I really could just press a button and the shades would open.  (Ohmygosh I love hotels.)  That there really were no open container laws here.  (Ohmygosh I love Vegas.)  That I really had absolutely nothing to do for the next 48 hours but enjoy.

And enjoy I did.

{fabulous flower balls at the Wynn}

{Paris.  P.S. have you seen this site?  So much hilarious awkwardness.} 

{City Center} 

This was my first time seeing the Cosmopolitan and I was in L-O-V-E.  

I mean, the place is draped in strings of sparkly crystals from top to bottom.  C'mon.

{Chandelier Bar} 

You may have to shield your eyes from the pretty.

Why yes, I will have another Rose Mist.  And some tickets to Le Reve while you're at it, k?

 

{no pictures allowed during the show, so I just got this one on the way out} 

It was stunning.  There were people rising out of the water, high diving into the water, circling the ring of the pool, upside-down swimming under the surface (how do they do that?), swinging from trapezes across the aisles...there was just so much.  And then there was the lighting, the costumes, the make up, the music.  It was all so fluid, like a moving painting.

And then it was back to the Cosmopolitan for some tapas at Jaleo (delish) and some good-spirited debauchery.

 

Not Pictured (because life was too insane to find my camera): the part where, just as we were walking out of the hotel to get our car and head home, I decided to gamble the $20 in cash that I randomly had in my wallet (because what kind of people would we be if we left Vega$ without gambling at all?  Lame.  Lame people.).  And then I won $360.  Yeah.  YEAH.  I played roulette (gambling for dummies) and bet $10 on 9 and $10 on 18 (our wedding date because that's as good of a date as I could think of), and the ball landed on what I thought was a 6.  So I said "too bad" to the silly-vested dealer-man and walked away.  But then the dealer-man was calling me back, was waving at me.  Me?  What?  I lost, right?  And then the casino floor boss-man in a suit was telling me "come back, you won!" and handing me $360 in plastic chips.  And then I laughed hysterically for about 20 minutes.  Because who just gives you $360???  WHO DOES THAT?

And that's when you know it's time to leave the Vega$.

The storm clouds moved in just as we started back to L.A.  Brian drove and I curled into the leather car seats, heavy with sweet, content exhaustion.

My goodness, what a life I have.