These were our last two trips in April. With these trips and our stay in St. Joseph in the beginning of the month, we only spent a total of 10 days in Santa Clarita. It was a busy month, but worth it.
Trip 5 was a three day trip to Temecula to go wine tasting with our friends the Webers and Trip 6 was Cindy and my four day trip to Carmel/Monterey Bay for our 30th wedding anniversary.
Trip 5
We stayed at the Ponte Vineyards in a patio room that was very nice. It had a patio, obviously, and a sitting area with chairs and a tv.
We wine tasted at the Ponte Winery, a short walk from the inn. They had very good wines and we ended up buying a few bottles there. The lodging and wine were very good, so we can highly recommend the Ponte Vineyards Inn. If you are interested in learning about the Inn, there is a link at the end of this post.
The first night we had dinner in the Old Town area and the food was very good. The Old Town area has shopping and a decent amount of restaurants, so there is something for everyone. The next day, we did more wine tasting at several of the local wineries. One wine tasting was at the Doffo Vineyards. The wine was very good, but way overpriced. The average bottle of wine there was around $100. A little rich for our taste.
We finished the day at the Wiens Vineyard. The wine was pretty decent there as well. Plus, I finally found a wine glass that is just the right size for me.
On our last day, we got up early and took a walk around the area. There were hot air balloons all around the area. Some were taking off and others were landing. It was pretty amazing to see.
Overall, the majority of the wineries in Temecula did a very good job and the wine was very good as well. The downtown area was great for shopping and eating. We really enjoyed ourselves and will return sometime in the future. Next time I will try and remember to take pictures at each of the wineries so I can post them. I was so excited about all of the wine, I just forgot. If you are interested in more information either the downtown area, or the wineries, or both, there are links at the end of this post.
Trip 6
To celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, Cindy and I went on a four day trip to the Carmel/Monterey Bay area. We stayed at the Embassy suites in Monterey Bay, and after checking in, had an experience we have never had before and hope to never have again. While checking out our room, we noticed it had fresh towels and a card on the dresser explaining their covid cleaning protocol. So it had to have been cleaned, right? Not so fast. I found a lot of crumbs in a chair, and there was a streak of what looked like yogurt down the front of the dresser, just beneath the card telling us how clean our room was. Then Cindy found black make up smeared on the bathroom sink and……..drum roll please……..there was a yellow liquid ON the toilet seat. We were out of that room. I went to the front desk and received an apology and a new room that was cleaner, but still not clean. I would have rather had a discount. I did complain when they sent me the customary survey, but nothing. We do not recommend this hotel when staying in Monterey Bay. However, we were not going to let this spoil our trip and it did not. Here are a few of the positives about the hotel. Our room had a view of a little bay next to Monterey Bay.
Here is the view of the atrium looking down from our floor.
We had some free wine at the evening mixer and it wasn’t too bad. We also had dinner at the hotel restaurant the first night and it was pretty good. The next morning we had our free breakfast in the atrium, and it was pretty good too. After that, we got some exercise by walking around near the beach by our hotel.
From a distance, our hotel’s size really stood out.
We returned to the hotel, cleaned up, and went out to get Cindy’s anniversary gift. She has always wanted to own a piece of jewelry from Tiffany’s, so I made an appointment for her to have a consultant help her find exactly what she wanted. It was quite the experience and Cindy got to leave with a Tiffany blue bag with her gift inside. A ring and a set of earrings.
My gift was a new wedding band made from whiskey barrel with a thin line of cigar leaf closer to my hand.
Our next stop was to do some sightseeing at the Old Fisherman’s Wharf.
We finished the day off with an amazing meal at the Chart House overlooking Monterey Bay.
The next day we did our exercise walk again, then went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is a truly amazing place and a must visit when in the area. There is a link to the aquarium at the end of the post. Here are a few general pictures from our visit.
Here are the sea otters. They are cute as heck and very playful.
Here are some jellyfish.
And these Skate fish were just happy to see us.
We had dinner at Monterey’s Fish House, which was a house converted into a small restaurant. The food was outstanding.
Our last day we did our final walk, and purchased some fruit and vegetables from a small produce market along our walk. Our drive home was uneventful and safe.
Once we got home, Corrianne flew in for a week to spend her birthday with us. We had a great time and enjoyed her company. We were even able to do the Taste of the Town event while she stayed with us.
LINKS
That ends the month of April. May was a really busy one as well. Trip 7 was my trip to June Lake for the annual guys fishing trip, Trip 8 had me travel to Dallas for a long week end to see a Zac Brown concert with Corrianne, followed by an OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark) concert at the Greek Theatre. The month ended with us seeing my friend Dan Burdick fly in from Texas and perform in Orange County with the Millennial Choir and Orchestra. Busy, busy, busy. But in an enjoyable way!