A weekend of wine and Reagan

This past weekend (over July 4th), Tracy had the rarest of rare: a 3-day weekend! This was reason enough to put together a spontaneous road trip. We narrowed our options to San Felipe, Baja or Santa Barbara (both about equidistant from San Diego), before eventually settling on a domestic trip. Tracy really wanted to follow the Sideways script and go to wine country, while I wasn't too thrilled by the idea, but was interested in stopping by the Reagan library and museum in Simi Valley, which is on the way. We compromised by doing both of them, and really had a fabulous time.

We reserved Saturday morning for two hours with Reagan. Tracy was silly enough to think that we'd be the only ones there when the museum opened, but we had plenty of company (it's July 4th weekend!). The museum didn't disappoint, and I actually liked it a bit more than the Nixon museum we went to last year. Even the food was tasty. They had a completely reconstructed Air Force One plane inside the museum that we got to tour -- neat stuff!

That afternoon we spent wandering the streets and pier of Santa Barbara, a small city teeming with tourists. I can't really say there was anything particularly noteworthy about the city -- it reminded me of a much large version of Hanover, NH. We also toured the Santa Barbara Mission, and I was reminded of a visit I made almost 15 years ago to a monastary in Assisi. Not surprisingly, I learned, they are both Franciscan.

We spent Sunday in wine country, beginning with a brief stop in Solvang -- a Danish-themed town that resembles Leavenworth, WA. It was as quaint and picturesque as you might expect, complete with a museum dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen. Afterward, we headed on to the wineries -- four total -- where Tracy went to town tasting various wines. I tasted at the first stop but came away unimpressed (I'm not a big fan of wine), and continued on as the designated driver. We also stopped at a berry farm to pick a pint of raspberries, which is always a treat for me.

During our long ride home, we hit some traffic in Santa Barbara, but after that it was pretty clear sailing. We took the beautiful coastal route home as much as possible, including a stop in Malibu for dinner. It's amazing how isolated that area feels even though it's only a short drive from L.A.!