We had no idea that there was wine country in Southern California (or SoCal, as it is often called). Anyhoo, we took the short hop from San Diego to Temecula -- love that name -- and our home for three nights, the Pechanga (love that name, too -- Puh-CHANG-ah -- sounds so cool) RV Resort.
Downtown Temecula is quite new and made to look like an old West town. Very picturesque, with great shops and restaurants.
Our first night we ate dinner at Texas Lil's Mesquite Grill, where Beau was charmed by the young waitress Kelly. Gee, wonder why?
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| Kelly and D.O.M. (Dirty Old Man). |
The food was good, the spelling, not so much....
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| Wonder what "dinning" is? |
The Temecula wine country is just gorgeous. Rolling hills, green vineyards, lovely countryside.
Our resort is on Indian land, so, of course there must be a casino! We avoided that pitfall to save some money, and instead took a great jeep wine tour with Temecula Valley Jeep & Wine Tours. The tour combined tastings at three boutique wineries and an off-road jeep trek.
Our first winery was Stuart Cellars, a family operated winery featuring a very pretty Tuscan-style tasting room.
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| Our tour guide Julie at our first stop. |
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| Oh boy, the first glass... |
Then it was on to Longshadow Ranch Winery. Wine and horses -- nice combination.
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| Mikey the bartender was an adept multitasker. |
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| Maybe it's me, but we seem to be getting "happier" as these photos progress. |
We lunched at Longshadow (thankfully, since I was getting drunk), and then did some off-roading.
We had gorgeous weather the entire day!
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| Buddy came along, of course! Beau and our terrific tour guide, Julie. |
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| Buddy was a big hit with our young companions on the tour. |
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| Julie drove us to the top of a steep hill where you could see the entire Temecula Valley. Beautiful! (Especially when you're drunk.) |
And finally, the last stop, Danza del Sol, a somewhat new boutique winery located on what is called the "De Portola Wine Trail" -- whatever the hell that is.
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| Can't figure out how to take nice shots inside with this camera!! |
We had a great time, needless to say. And bought a couple of bottles of wine, of course.
I will end this with an oddity of sorts that was along the road in Temecula:
Next stop, Long Beach, near La-la land, Hollywood, and southern CA beaches.
Tanks, Panky
Hi Guys - Just caught up with a few days worth of blog - If you are going to be in Long Beach for a couple of days, you should consider going over (on the ferry) to Catalina Island. It's one of my favorite place in the world. Very European looking and there are great tours of the island that you can take. It's a great day trip. Have fun...
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