Day 470

It was a travel day for Nana and Papa... Off to Visalia for Lee's memorial services (at which Lynn is speaking). We met up with Trevor and Jen and crew at McLintock's Saloon in the Village of Arroyo Grande, a favorite every Saturday haunt for the whole clan when Robob was with us. However, it was profoundly different, not in a good way. The walls had been painted an antiseptic white that obliterated all the ranch brands that had been on the walls. It was about as exciting as a Denny's. And there was virtually no one there. Bummer. We made our reservation time at the Vintage Press in Visalia for dinner (after some swimming in the pool!). We had been there decades ago, but it seemed practically a brand new experience for us, at least for Jamie. Robob was always very proud to take folks there when in Visalia. Great food, great service, great fun. And Trevor selected a Justin Isosceles which turned out to be the perfect choice for this meal. Today's photos start here.

Meanwhile, back at the Compound, shenanigans are occurring and we officially have a nursing student. And The Sound of Music opened to rave reviews.

McLintock's Saloon in the Village

 us

Shenanigans back in Colorado

Vintage Press in Visalia

Officially our nursing student!

Day 469

Nana and Papa walked a few blocks to The Landsby for a wonderful breakfast in Solvang. Note the Nana-style llama painting in the lobby. It was winery day in Santa Ynez and we first visited Sunstone Winery. Lovely spot to hang out for a while tasting wines, and the red blends turned out to be quite appealing. And two, Eros and Rapsodie, had James Paul Brown artwork on the bottles that Lynn recognized right away. Robob had some pieces of Brown which got passed down to Candace's family, so we got her a bottle. We got a couple others, too, for our artsy friends in SLO. We were still too full from breakfast to get anything at the Lucky Hen Larder which Trevor and Jen recommended (along with Sunstone), but the smells were fabulous. We did manage to buy a portable "fireplace" a few doors down, however. Then on to Vincent Winery, a high-end new winery also with some good wine, great nibbles, and a very comfy spot to sit and enjoy. We sent home a case. We finished the day with a nap followed by dinner at a favorite spot, Trattoria Grappolo in Santa Ynez. Today's photos start here.

Landsby breakfast

A Nana llama

Sunstone Winery

by the Luck Hen Larder

Courtyard and pool at the Kronborg Inn

Trattoria Grappolo

A James Paul Brown on a Sunstone blend

Day 468

While William was at day camp, Hannah and Abby joined Nana and Papa for a fun-filled day of hiking to Nojoqui Falls, blueberry picking not a mile up the road from Nojoqui, exploring more of the Ballard and Los Olivos area, including ice cream at the Los Olivos Market, and swimming at the hotel pool. We also stopped by the Quicksilver mini-horse ranch, but they were closed. We met up with the rest of Trevor's family for dinner at Kanpai Sushi in Shell Beach (very good!). I had never seen Lego chessmen before.

Quicksilver Ranch

Los Olivos

Pismo Roll at Kanpai

Lynn and Amos

In front of Kronborg Inn

Day 467

Off to California! Did you know fuel tanks are underground at the airport now (look carefully in the first pic). After a quite issue-free travel day we made it to Solvang, CA - a little Danish-themed oasis about 40 minutes south of where we lived while in CA. We stayed at the Kronborg Inn. The effects of the movie Sideways are still felt around here. Quite by accident, we were escorted to a table at an Aebelskiver restaurant with a plaque that read "Academy and Golden Globe Award Winning Fox Searchlight Feature Film SIDEWAYS, Scene #5, Breakfast. Filmed in this booth October 2003, Solvang Restaurant, Solvang, California." We made it to the Nipomo Fosters' house for a great dinner of homemade fajitas, the big hit of which were the strips of corn sliced off the grilled cob. The fun evening conversation was punctuated with some wonderful Daou wine and included some details of their upcoming remodel. All the photos of this trip are (or will be) here.

Every chance she gets.

Day 466

Nana and Lexi have made a habit of early morning plant checks with watering as needed. The twins were beside themselves when they heard we were going to Buttermilk for breakfast. And Matteo and AJ were quite jazzed that they get to sleep under the stars tonight in the courtyard.

The best at Padrino's

Day 465

It was a rather odd Sunday in that Matt and Tracy put the littles in Sunday School and took the olders to the service. The first time that's happened since Tracy took over Kids. Lunch at Vaqueros. Their new place, by the way, down where CB Potts was, is coming along; should open this summer. Pretty cool Fathers' Day, including a new phone for Papa! This post is somewhat short as Papa spent a lot of time getting the new phone all set up, info transferred, etc. (and didn't quite finish, more tomorrow). Fina took the opportunity of the "blob" having been filled with water (toy like a water bed mattress) by sleeping under the stars. Well, under the easy-up cause it was gonna rain (Jamie's first iPhone pic). Sandy always gets depressed when the suitcases come out.

Lexi's pumpkin plant...

New dish at Vaqueros. Seafood soup without liquid.

The new "blob" water mattress toy.

Happy Father's Day!

Day 464

About the same time we were dropping Fina and AJ at rehearsal, Matt was setting the rest of the kids up at the pool. Lunch at the pool, too. After a little reshuffling due to confusion with the rehearsal schedule, things got straightened out. And Nana and Papa were on their way to Cripple Creek for a live show at the Butte Theater. But first, a dinner stop at Paravicini's, a favorite Italian place in Old Colorado City. Jamie tried their Chicken Corsoni (pictured below), an in-house recipe; excellent! It took us about 90 minutes from home to Cripple Creek where we stepped back in time in at least two ways. First, and obviously, when you see the place, it's an old Colorado mountain town - saloons, gamblin' houses, and all. But tonight it also took us back to live theater, in this case, melodrama. And we were constantly reminded of Jeff Salisbury, a friend from back home in California, who not only worked at the Great American Melodrama in Oceano, CA where we saw his shows many-a-time, but he also worked a few seasons at the Butte here in Cripple Creek! We looked for Jeff's fireman's hat at the Butte, but no luck (lots of 'em and some quite high and hard to read). As luck would have it, the next live show we'll see will be at SLOREP on the 27th with Jeff Salisbury, Suzy Newman, and Billy Breed starring in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.

Chicken, creamy pesto sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms.

In the men's restroom at Paravicini's...