Eric and I enjoyed a get away to Santa Barbara this past week. Uncle Aaron and Aunt Angela watched over our boys and home while we were away!
We stayed at a boutique hotel, El Encanto, in the hills of Santa Barbara. Every morning the fog would roll in and would slowly retreat out to the ocean by late morning. It was so beautiful! We had a lovely view of the ocean. We flew into LA and had a short, picturesque drive up to Santa Barbara.
The first day we explored the downtown and the Funk Zone, where there were plenty of wine tasting rooms to indulge in. We also went to the County Court house which had a beautiful 360 degree clock tower lookout. It is a real working court house with beautiful stone, sunken gardens and hand painted murals.
Our room was at the top of this staircase.
The following days we visited a few wineries and went on a horseback ride thru a small vineyard, thru the hills and high desert. It was so special as it was just Eric and I and the tour guide. She graciously took pictures of us all along the ride so that we could just enjoy the moment and not worry about capturing it on "film".
Our adventures took us to the town of Solvang. Years ago we watched a movie called Sideways. It was about 2 men and their crazy adventures of wine tasting in the area where we were! We thought it would be fun to try and go to some of the places that they visited in the movie. We went to the town of Solvang and to the Hitching Post restaurant and indulged in the wine that they had in the movie. What fun!
We visited a few wineries each day, the favorite being Alma Rosa. We went to their tasting room in Solvang and really enjoyed their wines and chose to visit their winery the next morning.
We got up and going early the following morning as it was an hours drive from our hotel. We went on a guided hike that took us up to the peak and a 360 degree view of the vineyard. What a view! And we hiked with a wine glass in hand, now that's my kind of vacation hike!
After the hike this spread was waiting for us along with a few wines to taste. This was such a special morning!
Scenes from other wineries.
We enjoyed an afternoon sitting poolside at our hotel.
And diners out each night.
On our last day we visited the Botanical Garden. The floral and fauna in California is just gorgeous!
Later that night we had dinner at Boathouse on Hendry's Beach then watched the sunset over the Pacific.
What a lovely time away for us! If we aren't intentional about these kinds of trips away together they won't happen! We are grateful for well behaved, responsible kids that we can rely on when Eric and I vacation together, and are most appreciative of Aaron and Angela to come and spend their vacation time with our 3 boys! I know that they are making memories with, and for our boys!
