Grayton Beach

The boys had a week-long fall break, so we decided to take a quick trip down to the beach for a few days.  Typically, we stay in Destin or Ft. Walton Beach; but on this trip we decided to try a different atmosphere and chose Grayton Beach.  This was our first time to stay on 30A, and we LOVED it!  I get it now - why everyone loves that area.  Not one t-shirt shop, go-kart track or fast food joint around.  It was heavenly.  We stayed at the Grayton Beach State Park cabins.

We headed down a day earlier than our cabin reservations and spent one night in Destin.  While there we hung out at the Seafood Festival.

We had dinner at Margaritaville, with a table by the water.

From our table we enjoyed the first of several sunsets during our trip.  It didn't matter that it was cloudy...we were at the beach!

The next day we decided to play a round of mini-golf before heading to Grayton Beach. Guess who got a legitimate hole-in-one...all 3 kiddos.  Try as we might, Ty and I just couldn't make it happen!

The cabin at the state park was great!  It had 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a kitchen, living room and screen porch.  The best part, though, was the fact that it didn't have a TV or wifi!  We brought games to play in the evenings and actually spent time together as a family.

Cabin pics are courtesy of our 5 year old photographer.

Not a tv to be found!

Our view from the screened porch.

Where we spent our mornings.

Overall, we really enjoyed the cabin.  It had all the basic necessities.  One thing that I wish had been different would have been to have a view of the beach.  I do enjoy sitting on the balcony each morning with my coffee while watching the waves.  In reality, we were only a quick 10 minute walk to the beach.  While there, we rented bikes for the length of our stay and could bike to the water in about 5 minutes.

There were hardly any other visitors on the beach each day.  We practically had it to ourselves!

Each night we made sure to head down to the water to catch the sunsets.  They were AMAZING.  We stayed until well after dark each evening.  Because we weren't surrounded by city lights, you could see hundreds of stars in the sky.  It was magical.  I think that was my favorite part of the trip!

See, we had the place to ourselves!  At the most, there were maybe 7 or 8 families on a stretch of beach that ran for hundreds of yards.

Our little ballerina doing her thing.

Donut Hole for breakfast is a MUST!

I just love these little people.

Even though it was a quick trip, it ranks right up there as one of my favorite family vacations yet.

Have a great day!

Angela

Santa Ynez Valley

A while back I shared with you about our trip to Santa Barbara but am just now getting around to sharing our experience in the Santa Ynez Valley.  After spending a few days at the lovely Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara, we wandered up to the Santa Ynez Valley to explore that area.  Basically our trip can be summed up with 2 words: wine & food!

Our first day there, we took a wine tasting tour with Stagecoach Wine Tours (highly recommend!).  Our guide, Kurt, was very knowledgable and took us to 4 different wineries.  We were so busy enjoying the beautiful scenery and the enjoying the wonderful wines, that I didn't take any pictures!

Andrew Murray Vineyards

Andrew Murray was our first stop of the day and was a fun place to get started.  We enjoyed the very modern tasting room at the vineyard.

photo from Andrew Murray

Buttonwood Farm

Buttonwood was a complete contrast to Andrew Murray.  It is a true working farm and the tasting room atmosphere was more homey and felt like you were in a farmhouse.  We were able to meet the winemaker, Karen, and she autographed a bottle of wine for us!  A picnic lunch was served on the grounds along with a bottle of their delish sauvignon blanc.  It was a memorable meal!

photo from Buttonwood

Santa Ynez Wine Club

Next, we were taken to the Santa Ynez Wine Club, where we enjoyed a tasting by the pond.  It was an intimate setting, as we were the only group there.  The view was gorgeous and the wines were great!

photo from Santa Ynez Wine Club

Bella Cavalli Farms and Vineyard

Bella Cavalli was probably my favorite tasting of the day.  Of course, the wines were great, but the setting was incredible.  A true working horse farm, we enjoyed the views of beautiful horses (and even petted a few), stables and the friendly company of the owner, who sat with our group for a long time discussing everything under the sun.

photo from Bella Cavalli Farms and Vineyard

On our second day in the Santa Ynez Valley, we decided to visit the little towns of Solvang and Los Olivos.   We passed through these towns on our wine tour and both peaked our interest, so we went back to explore.

Solvang is a Danish community in the middle of southern California.  We started our day with a delicious breakfast at Paula's Pancake House, which several people had recommended.  Yum! 

photo from Paula's Pancake House

After breakfast, we walked through the town exploring the quaint shops that lined the street.  We kicked ourselves later that we didn't buy pastries to enjoy later from one of the several Danish Pastry shops.

photo from Solvangusa.com

Next, we headed over to Los Olivos.  It is a very small town, but the downtown is packed with cute shops and LOTS of different tasting rooms.

photo from Paradiseretreats.com

photo from 10best.com

This was one of our favorite tastings of the day - Carhartt Winery.  It has a teeny-tiny tasting room with a relaxing courtyard in the back, which was full of shade.  It was HOT that day, and the shade came as a welcome relief!

photo from trip advisor

After visiting a few more tasting rooms, we enjoyed lunch at Sides Hardware.  It was an old hardware store turned into a restaurant.  The food was delicious!  

photo from daytripsocal

Our time in Los Olivos was wrapped up with a visit to the Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company taproom.  Hubby enjoyed a new favorite beer- Davy Brown Ale.

After a day full of food and wine (and a little beer), we Uber'ed our way back to our hotel to call it an early night.  Our 4:00 am wake-up call to catch our plane back home came early!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley!  We found some great new wines to enjoy and hope to make it back some day soon!

Have a great day!
Angela

Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara

My wonderful husband works so incredibly hard for our family.  Through his dedication and perseverance, he earned a trip for the two of us to the Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara.  The trip just so happened to be around the same time as our 15th wedding anniversary, so we decided to extend the trip and spend some time in the Santa Ynez Valley wine country.

Bacara was beautiful!  The grounds were stunning, the service was impeccable, and the views were breathtaking.  We've already decided that we need to go back for our 20th anniversary!

Of course, we were having such a wonderful time, I failed to take many pictures!  

Photo courtesy of Bacara

Photo courtesy of jetsetter.com

There was a beautiful trail that ran along the coast.

Photo courtesy of Bacara

 The pools were gorgeous, but it was a bit too chilly for me take a dip.  That was one thing that surprised me the most - we left the south with a heat index over 100 degrees to go to beautiful southern California with temps in the high 60's.  What a welcome change!

Photo courtesy of Bacara

We ate at Ocean House restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.  It was wonderful!  We had reservations to dine outside; but as luck would have it, a quick rain shower caused them to close the terrace.  We were able to get a table by the window overlooking the ocean and were exceptionally thrilled with our view:

We saw a beautiful double rainbow as we enjoyed our special meal.  That must mean double good luck!

We absolutely loved our time at Bacara and really hope to make it back again!

Thanks for stopping by!
Angela