Sunny, Warm, Blue Skies. It Must Be Winter...

...In California

Before we learned that we'd be returning to Tucson this winter we'd planned another trip to Paso Robles. We settled on a vacation rental just over the hump of the Santa Lucia Mountains, a few miles commute east down the mountain to the vineyards, and 15 miles up and over the mountain west to the ocean, giving us easy cycling access to both. Our hillside cottage was situated off a backcountry road with more horses than people. As a bonus it had a long, steep driveway that made for a fun climb up to the house at the end of our rides.

Cycling Headquarters

View from the deck
Darn, another sunny day

Central California has been in drought mode for seven years and the hillsides were noticeably browner than when we visited two years ago. (In fact, as I write this a New York Times headline reads, "California Marks 2013 as Historically Dry Year"). Bad for vineyards, farmers, and ranchers but we enjoyed shaking off the moss, even if only for a week.

We repeated some old favorites and explored some new routes. Ride highlights included Santa Rosa Creek, Chimney Rock, Peachy Canyon, Figueroa Mountain, See Canyon/Perfumo Canyon, Dove Canyon, Nacimiento-Fergusson Road/Fort Hunter Liggett, and York Mountain Road. We don't have pictures of all of these rides because sometimes the photographer was lazy.

Santa Rosa Creek

Santa Rosa Creek

Santa Rosa Creek

Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock

Figueroa Mountain

Figueroa Mountain

Figueroa Mountain

A rest day for me. Waiting for Chris and Todd to arrive at Montana de Oro State Park via See Canyon / Perfumo Canyon

Dove Canyon

Another rest day for me.  Chris does the hard work riding up Nacimiento-Fergusson Road while I relax at the coast

Nacimiento-Fergusson Road

After giving Chris a head start on his bike up Nacimiento-Fergusson I drove up and met him at the top. From there, the road drops precipitously down the other side for a few miles before leveling out and meeting up with Fort Hunter Liggett, an Army Reserve training base. Fort Hunter Liggett is occasionally closed for brief periods during tank, artillery, and other firing exercises. But Chris has never been one to let a STOP sign stop him from riding a new route.

Chris authorizes himself to enter Fort Hunter Liggett

As I sagged along in the car Chris rode on for another 20 miles or so through very pretty grasslands. We saw nary a tank nor heard any artillery. Very serene for a military base.

Fort Hunter Liggett

Fort Hunter Liggett

Fort Hunter Liggett

Following the conclusion of another successful vacation, Chris celebrates the only way he knows how:

Bottoms Up

Record Low Temperatures....

....for a ride.

My previous low temperature ride was around 34 degrees. Today it was 28 degrees at home, and a few degrees less in the hills above the city. This west-facing climb was nearly clear of snow and ice because it gets good sun exposure most of the day, whereas other roads in the area were too sketchy to ride (I tried). So I parked at the bottom of this hill for a climbing workout. Chris was out riding with his little crew and thanks to cell phone service that actually worked we were able to meet and do hill repeats together. Not very interesting, but much needed exercise for me after getting skunked (no riding) all week.

Baby It's Cold Outside

34 degrees. Smudge always finds the sun spot.

sun hog

Santa Fe encore

The week before Thanksgiving the tourists were gone from Santa Fe but the sun was still out, at least for a few days. Later in the week the weather turned very cold and gray. Pretty frigid, actually. But it was a dry cold.

Walking up Alameda, the Santa Fe river to our right

colorful doors

art on Canyon Road

Ed Larson's Studio, a favorite

Canyon Road

Before leaving home I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on TV which featured a restaurant in Santa Fe called Casa Chimayo. When a Portland restaurant is featured on DDD it is weeks or months before you can get a table. Recently DDD featured Frank's Noodle House down the street from us in Portland. For the few weeks following there was a line out the door. On our most recent excursion there to pick up our take-out meal (you can't get a table) a sign on the door stated he was closing early because he was running out of food. That's been our typical experience with Portland restaurants featured on the program. So I warned mom and dad that we might not be able to get into Casa Chimayo. But apparently, this is not a problem in Santa Fe. Casa Chimayo was featured on the program on October 31st, but when we visited a few weeks later there wasn't a sole in sight, outside.....

er, where's the line?

....or inside. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves for lunch.

anyone home?

Possibly it has to do with the fact that the restaurant was FREEZING. It's an old adobe that was the owner's home when he was growing up. I guess he had no heat in his home as a child. Anyway, it was pretty cold in there. But the enchiladas were hot.

Enciladas, "christmas tree" style