Back to Cali

 

 

Leo Carillo Beach State Park Camping

New Beige in Temecula Citrus Vineyard

 

Cooking breakfast at South Carlsbad Beach

 

Biking Venice Beach

 

Wine Tasting in Temecula, CA

1/31/12

The next morning I jumped the fence of this ghetto motel 6 where we stayed in San Bernardino, CA and cut thru the gas station catty-corner to the Wal-Mart.  As I was walking thru parking-lot-land I noticed a lady in the back of the lot, not near any store.  I thought nothing of it until I noticed a flock of birds swoosh out from her area.  I thought that was strange.  Then I noticed her pull a box/cage out of the back of her Ford Taurus and pull up the side of it.  A flock of birds whooshed out!  I thought:  Holy Crap!  I’m back in California where there are weirdoes everywhere!

So after getting supplies at Wal-Mart I jumped the fence back to the motel and we loaded up the truck and hit the road on the way to Los Angeles.  After initially going the wrong way up I-15 thru Cajon Pass, we got on the right track and went down thru Pasadena to Wilshire Blvd. and to the travel medical clinic that we went to when we went to India with Uncle Nick and Pan Jim Shard back in ‘07.  The lady nurse there was nice but she tried to sell us all this Gov’t Mind Control stuff that she claimed was for Hep A, Malaria, Typhoid Fever and Tetanus.  But we weren't buying any of her reprogramming serum, so we only got what was required of us to pass borders, Yellow Fever shots for Columbia. 

After that we drove out to Malibu and set up camp at Leo Carillo State Park.  We walked down to the Pacific Ocean beach and felt like one leg of our journey had been completed.  It was January 30.  When we left Massachusetts and the Atlantic Ocean it was January 1.  We climbed around the rock fingers that stretched into the ocean from the mountains until I wandered, slack-jawed, into a sea cave and witnessed an intimate moment between two consenting Latinos.  So, we had to go.  

Back at our camp we had another great dinner of bacon, leek, green bean, and potato stew.  Mmmm, stew!

And then roasted marshmallows for a while.  Until we couldn’t sit still any longer and under the light of the moon hiked back down the beach to the sea cave where hopefully the Mexicans had left.  They had.

Next morning we had a breakfast of bacon/ham, egg and cheese on toast, with tea, beside a warm fire.  We packed up quickly because we had not yet paid the $35 fee for the campsite and if no one asked about it, we did not plan to. 

So we saved $35 and rode on down the road to Venice Beach where we found some free parking and got our bikes down off the roof rack for a ride out to the south end of Venice where the Marina Del Rey starts.  Beautiful, typical Southern California day.  70’s, sunny, dry, lots of people walking, biking and roller-blading around Santa Monica, large coffee in hand, like they didn’t have a job or a care in the world.

At noon we headed out into the notorious LA traffic to drive to Temecula to visit some vineyards.  Multiple times I cut back and forth across 5 lanes of traffic to try to find the quickest lane.  I’m sure I did nothing but reinforce stereotypes that people already have about drivers from Massachusetts. 

Eventually we got to the vineyards and first stopped at South Coast Winery, but they seemed way too commercial and overpriced so we continued on without tasting.  Next was Wilson Creek, where we had purchased our sparkling Almond flavored wine for the toast at our wedding, 3 years ago.  Then Foote Path Winery, where it really is just a wine maker, vineyard and barn, operation.  After talking with the winemaker about everything from the Moody Blues to Electronic Cigarettes, and getting a barrel taste of his ’09 Syrah, we moved on to two others wineries whose names have escaped me. 

Dinner was In and Out Burger* and Stone Smoked Porter, and now we are camped for the night on a hill overlooking the lights city of Temecula.  Tomorrow on to San Diego!  ~Jon

*I (Marcie) did not get to enjoy the much anticipated In N Out Burger because I had drank too much wine and was passed out in the passenger seat of the truck after having vomited on the side of the road.  This is the second time this has happened to me in Temecula Wine Country.  The previous time was on my birthday and Jon and I had planned to go wine tasting and have a fancy dinner.  Well, we went tasting, I got sick and Jon ordered a pizza and watched the Celtics in our motel room.  No fancy dinner.  I had said earlier yesterday that I wasn’t going to let that happen again so obviously I’m not very good at predicting the future or at drinking!