Celebrating a Milestone

Last weekend, my partner turned 30, ehem, 21.  Whatever - it's irrelevant.

(A homemade sign, with recycled Anthropologie literature,

tacked on a blank white wall.  Canvas to be filled shortly.)

To celebrate the freedom to embibe, we hopped into our unpopular but incredibly fun PT Cruiser and took to the hills.

Santa Barbara wine country unfolds like Paradise.  Maybe I'm biased after a decade hooked on the soap that carried it's name, but traveling through it's breathtaking valleys mile after mile is like being in your own movie or a series of postcards that you can't wait to bore your office mates with.

Global Gardens offers $3 olive oil tastings.  Take the opportunity to

coat the belly with the elixir of the gods before hitting the wine trail.

This time, we visited Los Olivos, a spit of a town just behind a great barn that I think has been turned into an Inn.  While SB wine country is full of cute, small towns, this is it's crowning glory.  The small Victorian village, with its down home charm and walkable streets, has several tasting rooms and inspirational galleries.  I thought I would miss the ambience of the actual vineyards in Happy Valley, but the sweetness of this place has a seduction all of its own.

When it was time to go, I lingered a moment, as the sun softly sunk below the hills, a slow, silky finish to an organically happy day.

(Click HERE to view more our "postcard" selection.)