Sumi got in to Santa Barbara last Tuesday after her many adventures in south east Asia. I showed her around SB but was generally a bad host. Remember, I don't really have time for a life, meaning that I have classes and teaching and work to attend to. Ignoring all my obligations for three days though, Sooms and I took a Californian roadtrip. The plan was to drive up Rt. 1 to Monterey the first day (and stop by Pebble Beach as well), do a bit of San Francisco tourism the next day, and then do a grand tour of Napa Valley on Sunday (leaving the night to drive back down to Santa Barbara). Let's see how we made out.

For those who aren't familiar with the road: California Rt. 1 runs North/South along the Californian coast. This wouldn't be anything special normally except that Rt. 1 is a) right next to the Californian coast and b) the Californian coast (most of it anyway) is designated a national monument. It's rather beautiful and majestic, wouldn't you agree? Of course you would. We tried to stop by some state parks but they were all $8.50 just to drive in so instead we stopped by Port San Luis and various beautiful places along Rt. 1.

Ah yes. The M Roadster fanboy shot. You didn't think I would be driving my Mazda now did you? Rt. 1 + Convertible = bliss, although it was a bit nippy so we had the top up at times. The M got us to Monterey right at sunset so we gave Pebble Beach a pass (temporarily). Got into Monterey, checked into the motel, and went out to get some food and walk around Cannery Row. Monterey is a bit like Santa Barbara in that it can be full of wealthy retired white people. The result? Town shuts down at a bleary-eyed 8PM. Grandma needs her beauty sleep. Yeah I'm being biased as a young hooligan, but that's what I am!

Got up next morning and walked along Fisherman's Wharf. A very touristy spot but like Cannery Row, not some place you can just walk around for a long time. Half an hour and sooms and I are out of there. We do have to go back to Pebble Beach after all. Oh yeah, look at the purty boats.

There's a reason why pebble beach is called pebble beach. OK Mr. smarty pants (ms. smarty skirt), if you knew that, then why isn't it called beautiful beach huh? Spanish Bay is amazing as ever, although Sooms and I questioned the efficacy of the "Chinaman Rock." What a damn windy place to be building a shack...

The "Restless Sea" is also a great place for pictures. My reaction last couple times I was at Pebble Beach: "ooooh...purrrrty." My reaction this time at Pebble Beach: "ooooh...purrrrty. dammit. I need a neutral density balancer for those waves!" I'm also still in desperate need of a polarizer. Yeah I know it's not that expensive but my wine habit (see below) competes with it. And wins.

Sooms spent Saturday afternoon/evening meeting up with old friends and I tagged along. Stopped by the city and climbed up twin peaks (why oh why didn't I bring my camera). Great amount of cold equals much of the suck. But the view didn't disappoint. Also walked around Berkeley (the UC) at night. Nice campus. Right before midnight Sooms and I got into our hotel near Sonoma, which turned out to be a large chunk of fromage straight out of the 70s.

Speaking of the wine habit... Sunday morning Sooms and I drove East to Napa Valley. More specifically, Sooms had a lot of fun driving the M Roadster to Napa Valley. Been a long time since I've been in the passenger seat of that car...so much fun in either seat! Anyway, once we got to Napa, we worked our way through the wineries. First stop was Beringer. The tour was pretty short, which was arguably bad, but we had a tasting, which was good. Then we had a 2000 reserve chardonnay (Carneros district) which was very good but followed up with a sparkling white zinfandel which was just awful. Sometimes you win, dim sum you lose.

After Beringer was Sterling. I haven't had any Sterling wines but their winery is supposed to be quite beautiful. Turns out Sterling has an aerial Tram that takes you up the hillside and then a self-guided tour with four different wines at various spots during the tour (take your glass with you and get drunk as you walk). The lane into sterling was gorgeous, as you can see above, and there was even a Z3 in front of us. Yeah, we Z3 owners are mostly dorks about it. I must have waved to at least 2 or 3 Z3s during the Napa trip. I wasn't even the initiator of said waves.

There was a Sterling Chardonnay that was particularly oaky and had a nice color, despite the bits of cork the pourer added into my glass. So an "artsy" shot was in order. I couldn't quite get it though: in the sun the wine looked almost turquoise...much more blue in the mix. After Sterling, (blah pinot grigio rose, very oaky chardonnay, good fruity merlot, nice cab but nothing special about it, malvasia's way too sweet).

After Sterling we stopped at Beaulieu and found out that there's no tour (only during the harvest season). Did a tasting anyway and all I can say is the blends: not so much. 3/4 cab and 1/4 syrah leaves mean wanting the cab by itself. Then again, it was $5 for 5 wines so they weren't giving us wines on the same level as Beringer (or even Sterling probably). Oh well. Stopped by Hall wineries to pick up a gift for a prof. (named Pat Hall, har har har) and then moved on to Robert Mondavi. Tour didn't start right away so stopped by Sequoia Grove for a visit. Nice little winery across the way from Mondavi with some expensive vintages! And a very nice Napa Valley map I wanted but couldn't afford.

Came back to Mondavi and even though I've been on this tour 3 times before (this being my fourth), Sooms was right: it's the most informative and well organized tour. At least of the group that we went to. It's about an hour long with a wine tasting at the end. I can never resist a shot of their main wine processing room. I just love the glow of the barrels and those giant lamps up there. The wine tasting was also excellent. I forgot what we had first because Sooms and I were both quite happy with the second sample: the 2000 Oakville District Cabernet Sauvignon. After that, the blend (another one!) seemed like a bad Cabernet and the dessert wine (Muscat d'Oro) was too sweet. I know it's over price but it's so good. Remember what I said about the Polarizer filter? Well I could have picked one up if I didn't buy a bottle of wine at the Mondavi store. I am weak and I know it.

We finished the day with dinner at (where else?) the Napa Valley Grille (lexical jokes even influence my culinary decisions now...). Food was quite good though we were wined out. That and seeing wine on the list (that's also sitting in the trunk of the car) for twice the amount you just paid for it seemed very inconsistent. Then it was 5 1/2 hour drive back down from Napa to Santa Barbara. Got in at 1:30, crashed, got up to teach and go to class, and then took Sooms to the airport. Wait, I take that back. Had I been a good friend/Chinese host, I would have seen her off at LAX but time constraints did not permit me to do so. Sorry Sooms! Instead drove Sooms to the bus for LAX.

This being the second weekend in a row where I've not been able to do work because of some big event (last weekend was the conference), I am way behind in work. *big grunt of malaise* But what fun these last two weekends have been!