Takin’ a Trip

Last year, my Mom (who is doing just fine after her neck surgery) won a raffle! By joining the local PBS station, she was entered to win a prize through Women & Wine for a a wine tasting and a multi-course dinner with multiple flights of wine pairings at the Wine Cask restaurant in Santa Barbara, and a two-night stay in North America’s only AAA five-diamond Bed and Breakfast Inn, the Simpson House.

Well, the prize expires at the end of 2007, and when my Mom realized that after the surgery she’d be walking around with a neck brace and forbidden to drive until early 2008, she gave the prize to my wife for her birthday.

So we’re off tomorrow morning to put the dogs in their kennel (I’ll try to post a link to the camera late Saturday), then head down I-5 to Tulare to visit my wife’s family, and then it’s off to Santa Barbara!

At least the rooms all have fireplaces that you can use. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s threatening to start fining people who light fires on “Spare the Air” days, which can be up to a third of the days in winter when, you know, you’d probably want to start a fire. I wouldn’t care except we have a next-door neighbor with asthma who freaks out as soon as he smells our woodsmoke.
So I’ve been fire-deprived lately. I’ll probably have that bad boy lit and going 24 hours as soon as we check in.
That’s life in California for ya. Y’all behave yourselves while I’m out.