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.  [...]

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The hiking trip was fun!  We hiked around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park.  We tasted rose hips (bland), wild grapes (sour) and gooseberries (delicious!) as wells as some greens.  We saw banana slugs.  Nat had baked some blackberry scones the night before for us that we ate at the end of the hike — [...]

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There are lots of deer in Washington — at least the places we’re visiting!  We’ve seen deer every day, including in front of our rental cabin on Orcas.
The first four nights we spent in Dungeness, near Sequim, reasonably convenient to Olympic National Park. We stopped at the visitors’ center for maps and info; the people [...]

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The next few days were all about hiking, both in the rain and in the sun. Here are highlights from Russian Gulch (and lots more pics here).
We had Russian Gulch SP by ourselves, in an on & off light rain. Very dreamy and verdant.

The waterfall was so pretty:

We also some some slugs:

We also [...]

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The 128 is a gorgeous drive although slow  — good at the start of a day, it would’ve been bad at the end, and we were very glad we’d decided to spend the weekend in Sebastopol as opposed to driving straight up from LA to Mendocino.
We stopped at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company and shared [...]

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We left early early Saturday a.m. on Spring Break, hoping to reach Sonoma County in time to go to Bella and some other wineries.  We took the 5, which has to be one of the most mind-numbing highways as it traverses the Central Valley, but we made excellent time, stopping only for gas and breakfast [...]

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This year spring break (TOMORROW!) we’re going to Northern California. Two nights in Sebastopol (from whence we can do all our wine club spring shipment pickups in person — specifically Bella and Longboard and our wine futures (!) from Zichichi) at this little place, then on to Mendocino for four nights at the Glendeven [...]

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Yesterday Dave, I and Rigel hiked to Escondido Falls.  It’s one of the few areas that allows dogs so we figured Rigel would like the adventure.  To his great delight he discovered lizards, how to get incredibly muddy crossing streams, and how to scramble and climb like a little mountain goat.
The above picture is from [...]

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Last post I was in New Mexico.  We were home a few days (during which I taught the first meeting of the sweater class and worked one day at my ‘real’l job) then we flew to Austin, Texas to visit my parents (who actually live in Kyle, just south of Austin).  Flew back today.
The lettuce [...]

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….with my mom-in-law Rosemary (wearing the Lady E I gave her).
La Lana is a must-see if you are in Taos.  Hand-dyed, handspun and millspun wool, silk and mohair (and various blends), with primarily native plant dyes…..

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