Santa Barbara Brewery

Pleep was glad to have Friday roll in. He chauffeured Harry to school and they discussed how nice Fridays were, what TGIF meant and how to spend the weekend. It was the perfect day to head to downtown Santa Barbara for a walk around and shopping. After hitting a number of stores, Pleep insisted we needed to check out Santa Barbara Brewery. He checked out the listing of their beers and saw it included an IPA and another pale ale. Then he decided to check out the process. First was the big brew tank - nice copper setup.

Next stop was the fermenting tanks and finally the serving tanks. Pleep ordered up an IPA and kicked back for a rest from the heavy schedule. It was a nice cool, dark pub and right on State Street. Everyone behind the bar was pleased to have Pleep checking things out and offered to let him go upstairs to the fermenting tanks.

Next stop was Superica. Looking at this humble street-corner shack, you'd never guess it was the late Julia Child's favorite place in Santa Barbara. She lived in Santa Barbara and was a frequent diner here. They make authentic Mexican food, homemade tortillas, tamales, etc. It is one of Ed's favorite places to eat when we visit Santa Barbara. Pleep thought the place was perfect. It reminded him of the divey beach places Zane always finds for a quick, local lunch.

Hello Guiness 250 Toast, Good Bye Bad TV

Pleep was very excited this morning because it is Arthur's Day at last and time for the Guiness 250 toast. He put on his buttons and got out the Guiness. Ed's wearing his "Make History With Me Tonight" Guiness shirt that Pleep got him from the Guiness girls. He really thought Beau & Harry would have the day off from school. No matter, it didn't stop him from toasting Arthur and 250 years of Guiness.

Pleep and Delete are very tired of the bad tv shows Ida is addicted to - One Tree Hill, Melrose Place, 90210, etc. Pleep thinks all the girls in these shows look alike and that none of them looks as though they are youg enough to be in high school. He decided to take things in hand this morning and make his patened monkeybutt move at the tv. He was very glad to see that Mississippi plays football tonight. Harry set it up to record because it is on so early (4:30) here we wouldn't see it. Baseball, homework, and dinner all have to be dealt with before tv viewing.

When we visited the Gainey winery earlier this week we tasted two new wines - Recovery Red and Recession Red. They were both great so we bought a couple of bottles of each. Pleep saw them and jumped right on the idea. He wanted to send a case to his brother in Boca but we told him they were a wine free house for the next few months. Too bad for the brother, more for us. We had one of each for dinner last night.

Another Day In Paradise

The 101 Highway was closed down for most of the morning because someone driving the wrong way ran into 6 cars and caused numerous other accidents behind the main incident. It was a good thing for us that we weren't going anywhere. No issues getting Harry or Beau to school but Ida was stuck downtown for several hours. Fortunately, she was able to head to the beach for her morning workout. Ed, Oscar & I did another nice hike on the Mesa. Pleep was very glad nothing like this happened to us while we were on the 101 heading up here.

Pleep and Delete are a little put out. They've been relegated to the bedroom while the rest of us go out or play with Oscar. We headed to the Boatyard on the beach for lunch. The real excitement of the day was going to Petco and purchasing new toys and bones for Oscar. We aren't going to show Pleep the toys because he'll just start whining or worse try and steal them from Oscar.

While we were out enjoying the day, Pleep and Delete snuck out to the chaise lounges to soak up the fine Santa Barbara sunshine. They hung out there most of the afternoon but did manage to avoid a sunburn.

When Harry came home from school, he started right in on his homework. Pleep thought it would be a good deed to help him with his English homework. Delete just thought the red cover on the Macbook went well with his ribbon. He left all the tough questions to Pleep. An example was, when is Valentine's Day? Pleep also knew the answer to "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"

Santa Barbara - It's All Relative

Pleep loved visiting with his relatives. These guys are British. Beau and Harry acquired these guys four years in London. One of the smaller guys is Merv. We think Harry named him for Uncle Murph but changed it to Merv just to make it a little irritating. Delete enjoys being the only moose plus the only guy with a bow. The Generali red ribbon matched up very nicely in the Parker family room's red walls.

Oscar loved having a few more "guys" around to hang out on the couch with him. Delete tried to imitate Oscar's approach to laying down but his antlers do get in the way a bit. Fortunately, Oscar didn't seem to mind and he left the Generali bow alone.

Beau and Harry were very happy to have company; it provides more people to discuss and debate football and baseball issues. The Yankees are always high on Harry's radar and Monday night football is on at a very kid friendly time out here.

We started the day with a nice hike on the mesa. It was a bit foggy but the temperature was perfect. Oscar was very happy to be out hiking rather than stuck in the backyard waiting for everyone else to come home from work or school.

When Ida was finished working, we all headed over to the Gainey winery to pick up the tickets for Saturday's Crush Party and several cases of wine. Because we are members of the wine club, we also went into the private tasting room and spent a while tasting the current offerings. Ed missed the French guy who was here last time. He's one of the only French guys with whom Ed has ever had a good time.

However, Ed does have a new best friend - Oscar. The "Big O" is stuck to Ed's hip. His new favorite thing to do is to curl up right next to Ed in the chair and watch him compute. We're hoping Pleep and Delete don't get too jealous.

Leaving Las Vegas; Ventura Highwayl

After a quiet night in Vegas, we were up early to load the car, catch the free breakfast and get out of there before the morning rush hour. We also wanted to make certain we were through the Mojave before the temperatures rose. Pleep and Delete were a little put out that they hadn't seen anything except for the inside of the Residence Inn. So we headed down Tropicana Boulevard. Pleep was very excited when he spotted the Statue of Liberty because he thought that meant New York City and a trip to the Emerald Inn. He was not very pleased to find out we were not heading there until November.

We headed out of Vegas and into the Mojave Desert. By 8:30 it was already over 90F. There is nothing but sand and scrub from Vegas until Ventura. There was a brief pit stop in the middle of the Mojave. Pleep was not thrilled to be relegated to the pet area. Delete spotted the rattlesnake warning and the two of them hightailed it back to the car.

Thanks to proper planning by Delete in running the Garmin, we avoided the run into the Los Angeles and the bad traffic. We headed west out of Victorville across to Ventura where we picked up US 101. There was only a brief stretch along CA 14 where we encountered several bad drivers and Pleep had to put his patented monkey butt maneuver into play.

We arrived at the Parker house in Santa Barbara and have now fully unloaded the car. Ed's glad to be done with long drives for the next 10 days. We plan on heading to a few wineries in the next day or so.

A Whole Lot Of Nothing Going On

Another long drive day. 690 miles with only 2 turns to navigate; first turn was when 70 dead ends at 15. Second turn was off of 15 onto Sahara Blvd. in Las Vegas. Pleep dialed in the Las Vegas address. When he saw that the first turn was 423 miles and the second turn as 260 miles after that, he decided to turn the Garmin over to Delete. The theory was even a moose with no navigational assitance should be able to handle 2 turns.

The drive from Breckenridge to Las Vegas offers spectacular scenery. I-70 in Colorado winds along the Colorado River past Vail, Aspen, etc. The run through Utah offers great vistas, canyons, and mesas. We passed by a number of national parks which we plan on visiting at a later date: Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Bryce, Zion. We did stop at a number of the viewing places, including Parachute which boasts the last train robbery in the US. It was pulled off by members of Butch Cassidy's Hole in The Wall Gang. Another spectacular stop was at the Black Dragon Canyon.

On the run along I-70 we saw very few cars or trucks. Most of the exits were unnamed - Ranch Exit XX - with no services. Once we turned southwest on I-15 there were a few more cars but still not much else until we hit Vegas. Pleep was a little put out when he learned we were not staying on "The Strip", were not going to any shows, were not visiting any casinos and that we were going to the pub without him. He registered his complaint with Pam Collins but there was not a lot he could do.

The orginal plan was to head to the Hofbrau Haus which is a Munchen favorite. They were hosting a Oktoberfest party. However, when we pulled into our hotel, we spotted Gorden Biersch right across the street. They were having their own Oktoberfest event. It's hard to pass up good beer in such close proximity. The place was great and even better, we were able to watch NY beat Dallas.

Tomorrow we make the run across the Mojave Desert and the highway from hell to reach Santa Barbara.

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit!

The beer trucks all pulled in around 4:30 this morning. No problem hearing them; they drowned out the otherwise soothing sounds from the Blue River running under the windows. Peggy brought one of the official hats acquired at the Munchen Oktoberfest to wear today. Pleep and Delete were trying it on and practicing singing Ein Prosit since sunrise.

Because the Ein Prosit song is key to the Oktoberfest etiqutte in the Munchen tents, it is important to get the words and process correct. We all know the Germans are sticklers for following the rules. First, you and your tablemates must all order "Ein mas bitte." Then everyone must raise the earthstone litre mugs while singing: "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit. Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit." This is followed by yelling - "Eins, zwei, drei g'suffa! " Then someone yells - "Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke!" Finally, everyone says "Hoi, hoi, hoi!" At the conclusion, make sure to give your table mates a hearty "Prost!" and bang your glass into theirs. No need to get crazy but these glasses can stand up to quite a bit. That's not to say that I haven't seen them break. In fact, one of Steve Soden's fondest memories is doing this at the table in tents in Munchen only to see the bottom fall out of my glass with the beer going everywhere.

The oompah band here was official and taught everyone how to do the proper Ein Prosit with raised steins. They also had everyone doing the chicken dance and polkas. It reminded me of trips to Kubiaks in Niles, Michigan and our many trips to Munchen.

Breckenridge does a great job organizing their fest. The beer is perfect - Paulner & Breckenridge Brewery both have several "tents" along Main Street. Plus they have all the proper food - brats, strudel, schnitzel, bretzels, spatezle, etc. It is a real family event with grandparents, very young kids and all of us who should know better. We bought 2 half litre steins. Pleep and Delete thought we should have purchased the litre steins but Ed explained we already had a full collection of those at home. Ed also explained this allowed him to taste more of the options at the Paulner & Breckenridge tents.

The Germans also have official terms applied to various Oktoberfest celebrants. Eihebn is a person who is dizzy because of having consumed too much beer and who has to cling to something such as a lamppost. Noagerlzuzla is a person who drinks the last remainders from abandoned steins. Gaudinockerin is used to describe luxuriant breasts on a comely Fraulein. Fackl is a term used to describe an indecent behaving person. We're just happy none of these terms applied to our group. It was a perfect day in Breckenridge - weather, music, food, and beer were all excellent. The street party winds up at 6:00 pm but starts back up tomorrow morning. This is good news for our team because our rooms back right up to the band stand.

We head to Las Vegas early tomorrow morning. We plan on hitting their Oktoberfest at the Hofbrau Haus Las Vegas.