Life of the Mayers: California

....a week of PURE bliss and relaxation. Adam and I were more than ready for a vacation and when our friends invited us along for the ride we were more than obliging! Shawna and Jeremy (you will remember them from the California wine trip last year) have been working so hard on completing their ER medical residency, and Shawna is currently wrapping up, so it was time to celebrate! Jeremy only has a year left, so we are excited for the celebrating yet to occur! We had such a great time last year, we decided that this trip should be along the same lines, but to include more states, so California was the first stop, followed by Oregon and Washington. I am going to dedicate at least one blog post per state to truly give them their honor. This entire trip was absolutely amazing, as awesome as some of our Europe trips; measured by the relaxation it brought, the delicious food and beverage consumed, and the breathtaking beauty of our surroundings. Not to mention the company, Jeremy and Shawna are the perfect couple to travel with, all of our personalities being very different but meshing extraordinarily well.
First stop was California, for only 2 days, just because we had such a fantastic time last year and really wanted to go back and stay at the Demetria Vineyard Estate. So we landed at LAX and immediately headed North, with our first stop being at In-and-Out Burger. It is the West Coast equivalent of Five Guys (I am not getting into an argument here, yes, they are different. Yes, one is better than the other, but I am not getting into which one that is). We stopped over in Santa Barbara to stock up for the festivities at Whole Foods. We almost lost Jeremy and Adam here because not only did they have a huge craft beer and wine selection, the butcher department was overwhelming, and there was a charcuterie bar. A CHARCUTERIE BAR. Adam stayed here for the entirety of our time in the store. We came away with dry-aged steak, bread, olives, chicken skewers, lamb skewers, many cheeses, prosciutto, and the makings for guacamole. Oh yeah, and wine, of course there was wine. All for dinner. Gluttony was strong with us this day. We stopped in Los Olivos for a wine tasting before heading up to the vineyard for the evening to stay. I know I emphasized this last time, but honestly, this town is awesome! Its entire purpose is wine tasting and things that go well with wine. It is significantly less busy and snobby than Napa and Sonoma, and always a really nice and quiet time. We stopped first at the place that had the wine and cupcake flight last time, but they didn't have cupcakes, so we just left without wine (Shawna was so disappointed about the lack of cupcakes) but ended up at Presqu'ile and signed up for our first wine club.

Their wine is AMAZING

The happy crew: Adam, me, Shawna, and Jeremy

Jeremy and Shawna signed up for the Demetria wine club last year on our trip, and one of the benefits was staying at the estate "cabin" (really nice house that is not cabin-like in the least), so this was the whole purpose for our return to CA (You better believe that we signed up for their wine club this time around as well!). We got in mid-afternoon and relaxed into the evening, drinking wonderful wine and eating delectable treats. Yes, we were full. The food coma had us all in bed by 8p.

We've been in the state 8 hours and this is our haul so far

This is the only picture of food you get from the first night, we were not focused on photography

Between the early bed time and being on East Coast time, we were all up bright and early. It was a breath-takingly gorgeous morning. Completely quiet, beautiful sunrise in such a picturesque location, you could literally see this as being heaven. Had I died right then, I would have been okay with that because it was one of those perfect moments. I also felt that I had already been on vacation for a week, there was that much calm, peace, and serenity washing over me.

Good Morning Demetria

Adam is taking it all in

Ahhhhhh

I found my bench, there was a meditative state achieved here

So much peace in this moment

We spent the morning hiking around the estate, absorbing all of the beauty being offered. The freshness of the air, the warmth of the rays of sun, it was.....indescribable. Being there just made me want to abandon all that we currently have to live the vineyard life.

Of course there was a wine tasting before we left

After making a hearty breakfast we headed back into Los Olivos to do some more wine tasting.

Appetizers at Los Olivos Cafe

Olive oil tasting??? OF COURSE!

We then worked our way back down to Santa Barbara to revisit La Super Rica Taqueria. BEST MEXICAN FOOD EVER. There are 20 items on the menu, we ordered and shared 10 of them. When Julia Child visits and loves a mexican joint, you know it has to be awesome. Again, we forgot to take pictures. Along the way we stopped at some breweries and to watch the Pens game. Boys love beer. Two stops: Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company and Firestone Walker Brewing Company