SoCal to Silicon Valley

So I must admit I was a bit worried at first to stay at Roni's cousins house. First off, she hadn't seen her in 20 years and her husband is allergic to dogs so I wasn't sure how we would spend two nights here.

The drive begins going up 5 North rather than the 101 which is the scenic extra two hours of driving way.

The sky is super clear and it almost feels like we are driving through Africa as the world seems deserted w no cars anywhere. At one point I even see a mountain lion eating a carcass on the side of the road!

Kinda like Lion King, no?

Now we head to Paso Robles for some sweet delicious wine tastings. 

We originally tried to go to the vineyard information area to get a map of vineyards to go to. Although it is now New Years Day and every other store is closed for business. We get a list of dog friendly vineyards and head on over.

The Lone Madrone Vineyard is way up on a hill.

We opt for a tasting menu and are happy to be served 3 others that were conveniently open.

Pretty setting inside their barn too.

I'd say half the wines were really yummy and the other half kinda blah. They used a lot of Rhone varietals which aren't always my favorite. They did have a great Red Zinfandel.

I'd love to say we made it on time for another vineyard tasting but we were a measly five minutes late!

We managed to find some nice scenery despite the lack of wine.

We have two more hours of driving to go and it is taking FOREVER. I keep asking Roni stupid questions so she'll talk to me instead of sleep herself and manage to keep me awake at the same time.

We get to her cousins at like 8:30pm. I set up my air mattress and head downstairs to sleep w Tommy downstairs in the laundry room by 9:30. All the nights of 6-7 hours or less of sleep has caught up to me.