Autumn Day Trip

We have had a few cool nights here which is always a sign that the leaves are going to start changing.  One place that both my husband and I love to drive through is the wine country.  It is not only fun to see what is happening in the vineyards, but it is a gorgeous day trip.  On Veteran’s Day my vet husband and I jumped in the car and took off.


It is really only about an hour’s drive to reach the area, but there are some gorgeous sights along the way.  The surf was up and it is always fun to watch the surfers catching their waves.  This is the view from a piece of property that my BIL recently purchased.  They are planning on building a home up there.  Isn’t the view spectacular?




Can you see the surfers?  They look like little dots on the water.  The beach is a well known surfing beach called “the Rincon”.  We were fortunate to have been able to purchase one of the homes on the point about 30 years ago when real estate at the beach was affordable.  The family has enjoyed many wonderful times there and made some fabulous memories throughout the years.
 



It was a glorious day with warm temperatures and clear skies.
From there we headed north and into the wine country.  The leaves on the vines were all changing and made for a beautiful drive.









Do you think they have enough wineries on this one road???  This is the area where the movie Side*ways was filmed.




You can even see a little greening of the hills starting after our early rains of the year.

We took a side trip up to Figueroa Mountain – a climb of about 4000 feet.  It is mostly a one lane road – some paved and some not – so meeting another vehicle is always an adventure.



At some points there were even cows on the road!  They were probably wondering what we were doing there.









I loved how this tree looked like it was busting out of its bark.




These gates might look familiar to some of you who watched the Mich*ael Jack*son trial on television.  This is where the media waited to get a photo of him as he left Never*land Ranch each day to head to the courthouse.


I always have a hand project that I work on in the car when we are driving.  This time was no different as I wanted to finish up this months Raggedy Ann and Andy BOM. 



I have been working away on my blocks for the Thread Head Quilt Along too.



Lastly, I got caught up on the Christmas Cactus Quilt Along blocks.  Each block requires making four identical blocks, but the are really just nine patches and go up quickly.









This week I have a large order of embroidery work to do so there won't be much quilting to show in my next blog.