Endings

Yesterday winter ended. How is it that I survived all winter without getting sick, and then the first day of spring, my head swells like a balloon?

Spring break also ended. And I made my last drive down I-5 from San Jose to Los Angeles -- the last time for school, anyway. Less than 2 months left, and then college will be over. And I'm kind of freaking out.

The drive was gorgeous. The rain and the high winds cleared out the central valley, and the rolling hills were green and breathtaking. Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries, so the moment I tried to take a picture mid-drive (Adrian was a doll and took over halfway down because I felt like my eyes wanted to seal shut they stung so bad), I couldn't. I thought I would actually get a good shot!! Oh well, they were beautiful to look at on one of the few drives I was actually a passenger for.

Adrian brought a power inverter so he could DJ half the trip with his laptop, so I gave my camera battery a quick charge, and when we stopped to pee in Valencia, I got a quick shot from the parking lot as the day came to a close as well.

[1/1250 sec, f10, ISO 400, 105mm]

~*~

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]

~*~