We took this past weekend off (no work! only one computer!) and drove up to Solvang for the second annual Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon, which is fast becoming a personal favorite of mine. That’s despite the utter lack of organization in the registration process and finish line. Last year we thought they needed to wok on a few things. Apparently at their debrief after last year’s race, they got together, reviewed what they did right and vowed to be sure NOT to do those things again this year. Example: last year, they had mile markers. This year there were none. You read that right. There wasn’t a SINGLE mile marker the entire way. At the mile 11 aid station somebody said that we had two miles to go – that was our first real indication of how far we had gone (that and we knew Los Olivos was near the halfway point). So it goes. It was still a great race – the weather was perfect, there was lots of water on the course (at least they got that right!), and at the finish all we had to do was turn right, go half a block and we were at the place we were staying, the Storybook Inn. It’s a really cute place built in 1993 to look old and quaint. It’s a bit pricey, but the rooms are very nice, they have free wireless, the breakfasts are lovely, and you’re in easy walking distance of downtown Solvang. We finished in 2:21, a much better time than we’d anticipated as we hadn’t trained as hard as we ought. Our friend Mary came in third in her age group, and our friend Dave came in first in his age group (I will keep their age groups to myself – but if you look at the Flickr photos or the website, you can figure them out pretty quickly).
After finishing the run, we showered, came back for the awards ceremony then headed out for lunch and some wine tasting. We hit Babcock and Melville on Saturday, and enjoyed them both. Dinner was at Bacchus in Solvang (yum! ow! $$). Sunday we drove along Foxen Canyon Road, ignoring all of the big name wineries and finally stopping at Foxen, who sent us on to Riverbench (thanks!). 
Foxen is grand, and well worth the drive. They’re sold out of their signature Pinot Noir, but we tasted and bought a really super Syrah. Riverbench is new but worth keeping an eye on. They were doing tappenade tastings as well – yum!! Their Pinot Noir was really good. We wound up the day at Alma Rosa which is a new winery owned by older winemakers: Richard Sanford sold his Sanford label, and is now making wine again under the Alma Rosa label (it’s organic!). They use screw top bottles (so it’s really easy to open!), and delicious! The tasting room is the old Sanford tasting room which was confusing to Chuck but also a trip down memory lane as he remembered tasting the old Sanford wines in the same tasting room.
Luckily we drove the Mini so our total purchases were limited to two cases. We’ve decided, given the scaled back purchasing of the past year, that our annual party this summer will be the Sorta Good Shit Wine Party, as we may need to supplement the good shit with some cheap shit.
Oh, I nearly forgot: on Saturday we were driving around and wine tasting with our friends Mary and Gerry. We were headed back to Solvang and as we drove by Ostrich Land, we all thought it would be interesting to stop. Once Gerry saw that he would have to pay FOUR WHOLE DOLLARS to see the ostriches he said, “Forget it!!” so we drove away without going inside. 🙁
The next day, having dumped their sorry asses (ha-ha! we love you guys, just a little dramatic effect here, really! ;-), as we drove back to Solvang Chuck and I passed Ostrich Land again, and this time we stopped! And Gerry, this video clip says it all about what you missed. Eat your heart out! The next time we say, “Hey, let’s stop and see the ostriches!” you may not be so quick to pooh-pooh the idea! If you have kids (or are a big kid) you can’t miss this place; it is too cool for school!