Yesterday we (Dave, me, Rosemary & Curtis) did a day trip up to Santa Ynez and the surrounding area for winetasting, a picnic, and alpacas.

We tasted & picnicked at Zaca Mesa, then visited  Alpacas at West Ranch (Orsino!) and had a lovely visit. Hayley and Joan have an incredible set up with gorgeous animals.  Joan remembered me as the person who’d bought Orsino’s yarn last year.

After that we drove out to Lompoc to visit Mette at Ranch of the Oaks and had a wonderful time checking out their mini mill and fondling fiber and yarn (I bought some pretty gray llama yarn for a sweater).

We did a quick tasting at Palmina in Lompoc — very tasty Italian-inspired wines — but unfortunately didn’t have time to taste at any other of the tasting rooms.  I really want to go back to the Wine Ghetto — the group of tasting rooms in the industrial park in Lompoc  — it’s a new area to us.