LA, CA -- Beautiful! (And warm!)

California is beautiful. How beautiful, you ask?

Amazing! At every turn there is something decidedly beautiful and unavailable in Illinois:

Sunsets along the ocean!

Rolling hills!

Vineyards along rolling hills!

Vineyards!

Huge mountain/hills (involving switchbacks and a lot of might from a Ford Fiesta) with beautiful views, lakes, forests, farms, etc...)

On Monday Julie and I had a terrific journey to Santa Barbara wine country. We drove through some winding hills and amazing views. We sipped some decent wines. We ate some delicious sandwiches (at a cafe and homemade for a picnic). We listened to ridiculously wonderful Julie & Amanda music in the car.

Here I am at a lookout along the way home from Santa Barbara Wine Country. Below is a vineyard in January -- pretty sad. Don't worry though, they'll perk up and make some terrific grapes to make into terrific wine soon. These vines belong to Cambria, a Santa Barbara winery that's actually sold in stores nationally.

Tuesday Julie had to go back to work. I decided to go walking in Los Angeles. Besides a few wrong turns and confusing a golf course for a park because of Google Maps mis-labeling, I had a delightful walk. I walked up and down Larchmont Avenue where there are tons of shops and cafes. I walked through a fancy neighborhood and sat in a lovely park reading.

When Julie was done with work we drove to Griffith Park and took a beautiful vista-view hike. We had Korean noodle soup for dinner and went to bed early.

Here's Julie along our hike. The trail was pretty wide and easy, but we covered a lot of elevation (especially for Illinois-born people unaccustomed to hills and whatnot). Below is a view from the hike. City, smog, hills, sunset -- wow!

Wednesday we're up early and here at KPCC! Southern California Public Radio is pretty cool, even though Julie won't explain anything to me about how all this works though.