When we decided to sell our beautiful home in Irvine, California, everything happened fast. The house sold in two days and we had just 10 days to finalize our plans. Our first thought was to take the time to enjoy a drive across the country to the Sarasota, Florida area. Our goal was to stop in cities and areas of the country with amazing bike trails and restaurants.

• First task, get Nancy’s car transported to Florida….Check
• Second task, and probably more important, ship the wine to Florida….Check

• Third task, get everything into storage…check, check, check….done!

Needless to say, they were the first two things to arrive. We were so grateful for family and friends who agreed to store each of those items for us and Ronnie and Cyrena, our realtors who helped us with the sale and then when we needed to get things out of storage.

All we took with us was McCartney’s (Mac) trailer which becomes a crate when the wheels are taken off, our trikes, our clothes and a cooler to carry water, sodas or anything that needed cooling along the way.

We stayed in moderately priced hotels that would allow a Mac (our Lakeland Terrier) to stay the room with us. We also rented twice VRBO. The first was a cottage on a horse farm in Sarasota so we had a landing place once we reached our destination; the second was a house in New Orleans. There will be more about our VRBO rentals as I write about the various places we visited.

Since it was the end of February, our goal was to stay as far away from snow as much as possible. We left on February 24^th and drove up to the Santa Barbara Wine Country to enjoy two of our favorite things to do; ride our bikes among a beautiful grape growing region and drink some of our favorite wines.

We needed a breakfast stop so we looked for a place that was close to the beach and sort-of on our way up the coast. We stopped at Uncle Bill’s in Manhattan Beach. It is a good, very local breakfast and lunch restaurant and, best of all, it was a block from the beach and we wanted to see as much of the Pacific Ocean as we could before we headed inland.

Onto Santa Barbara Wine Country.

The wine country in Santa Barbara is made up of a number of small towns with lots of beautiful country and wine growing areas surrounding them. Some of the towns include: Buellton, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Solvang, and Lompoc. It goes up to Santa Maria but it mainly centered on the previously listed towns. We stayed around Solvang, Buellton, Los Olivos, and Santa Ynez.

We stayed at the Hadsten House 1450 Mission Drive, Solvang, CA 93463. It is in the middle of Solvang, and is very comfortable. The staff is friendly and the hotel is clean. It was a good choice for us because we could stay there with Mac.

They have breakfast and there is a pool. Neither of them are very good but certainly sufficient. There are so many good breakfast places in Solvang to try that it is worth going out if you would like. The town is very touristy, in fact, it is the first time I ever stayed there in 14 years. It is supposed to look like a Danish town but it isn’t, of course. It is a very funny place.  I particularly like the store that sells “everything that has been ever sold on TV”.  It is like a throwback to another era.  There are lots of shops selling things you didn’t know you ever needed as well as plenty of pancake places and a couple of wine bars. One of the most amusing things was to see Chinese signs in a fake Danish village.

We stayed there for 3 nights and decided to go back to a favorite restaurant in the area. We had dinner at Brother’s Restaurant at the Red Barn 3539 Sagunto St, Santa Ynez, CA 93460.  It was the second time we visited this restaurant because it is one of the best in the area.

The next day, we rode our trikes from the hotel to Santa Ynez and then over to Los Olivos (one of my very favorite places) and back to the hotel. Los Olivos was first built in the 1860’s when the pony express went through.  The stage coach hotel is now a restaurant called Mattei’s Tavern.  There is a community hub at the intersection of Grand and Alamo Pintado Avenues. It is full of good restaurants, wine tasting and is just a great way to spend a day.

When we ride, Mac travels in a trailer behind Mike and he just loves it. He seems to have the ability to make the world smile when they see him.

We got back from our ride in time to go to one of our favorite wineries (Ken Brown) but it was closed so we just went to an early dinner at an amazing restaurant called Industrial Eats. It is in Buellton, a bit off the beaten path but definitely worth the effort. If you are anywhere close to Buellton for lunch or dinner, go, you won’t be disappointed. It is probably the best restaurant in the area food wise. It is fun, eclectic, and absolutely delicious.

The next day we started our journey south and east to Scottsdale.