Going Dutch

For Valentine's weekend, Adrian planned a trip to Solvang, which is this Swedish/Dutch community off 101 and surrounded by vineyards.

[1/400 sec, f9, ISO 200, 72mm]

It was a quaint little Christmas town by night.

[4 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm, cropped]

The night of Friday, February 13th we lost our wine tasting virginity.

[1/400 sec, f5, ISO 400, 38mm]

It was a relatively empty wine bar, so we bonded with the bartenders. One girl (Andrea, I believe her name was) actually graduated college, completed med school and her residence, and was lined up for a job. She took a vacation to California to go wine tasting and take a winery internship, during which time her hospital was destroyed in a hurricane, so she stayed! She taught us about the wine and various factors like weather and geography and grape types, etc. They wrote us a 10% coupon on a napkin to a French bistro up the street.

The next morning we walked around town,

[1/125 sec, f9, ISO 400, 28mm]

and got aebelskiver with raspberry jam & ice cream for breakfast, along with Swedish sausage and mustard.

[1/125 sec, f7.1, ISO 400, 28mm, w/flash]

At lunchtime we drove to El Capitan Ranch to go horseback riding; it was beautiful (though very difficult to photograph on horseback).

[1/1000 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 28mm]

[1/250 sec, f11, ISO 200, 28mm]

My horse was a stubborn sweetheart named Mouse. She constantly tested whether or not I'd let her snack on the trail, and she was a chronic tailgater!

[1/400 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 28mm]

Then we drove back to LA, away from beautiful rural California, back to the land of palm trees...

[1/320 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm]

~*~

Dayte

It has been gorgeous in LA. I am talking 80-degree+ weather. Clear, too!

Adrian and I went hiking in Griffith Park to take advantage of the unseasonable sun.

[1/160 sec, F16, ISO 400, 28mm]

We settled at a nice peak for a while to gaze and sunbathe. Butterflies danced around us. One of them landed and posed just long enough for me to take a picture.

[1/4000 sec, F4.5, ISO 400, 105mm]

Of course, I took the opportunity to take in our beautiful surroundings.

[1/6000 sec, F4.5, ISO 400, 93mm]

[1/125 sec, F29, ISO 400, 105mm]

[1/125 sec, F13, ISO 400, 43mm]

I should have felt like I was on the top of the world. But we had fought earlier that day before we left, and Adrian was mad.

[1/200 sec, F22, ISO 400, 28mm]

Luckily he (slowly) cheered up. We stopped by Ralph's on the way home, and he bought me groceries. When we got home, we made a delicious dinner. Adrian seared and then broiled steaks (broiling under my/WikiAnswers guidance), and I steamed the beans and boiled and mashed the potatoes.

[1/125 sec, F5, ISO 400, 28mm, with flash]

We watched Bender's Game, the newest Futurama movie, and fell asleep on the couch.

It was a nice day.
Rain is scheduled later this week.

~*~