Spring in Southern Cali

Sending our love from California! Life updates to come soon...we promise!

Hoooray Beer! And Wine.

When we used to visit Tall James in Northern Virginia while in college, we used to call him our tour guide, due to his detailed knowledge of all the monuments in DC. He did his research on San Diego before visiting, reading in a magazine about a world renown brewery in north San Diego County. We visited Stone Brewery and received the best brewery tour we could have asked for. Angela learned the basic brewing process in an interactive 45 minute tour and then we were able to do a free tasting. The FREE part was amazing as everything out here costs money… The brewery was a fairly new facility and had an odd theme of gargoyles, but the beer was of high quality. They focused on darker, high gravity beers including a decent IPA and Russian Stout. Since we were in the area of the San Pasqual Valley that had several wineries, we took James to our favorite local one. Orfila winery was started by an ex-US ambassador, and creates quality wines from grapes grown locally and up north near Monterrey. Angela and I loved their Syrah buying two bottles, and James liked the whites, but decided he couldn’t fly easily with them. We hope to get up to Napa and Sonoma Valleys before we leave California, but had a great afternoon with libations with a good friend.

Winter Blues?!

Written during the East Coast snow storm...) While the rest of the country had a lovely snow day full of sleet, power outages, and slippery fender-benders, we spent the day at work. While at work, we had no need for extra layers, ice scrapers, or salted sidewalks. Though the simple beauty of freshly fallen snow escaped our gaze, we experienced a spring like day that is often the norm here. Mid 70s temps, gently cooling ocean breezes bring in plenty of sunshine. While we struggle at times with our actual jobs, days like today make the Mediterranean climate fantastic. If we could afford a view of the ocean we would catch the sunset every day with a glass of wine! We will only be here for one more year, so we are trying to experience the outdoor lifestyle in a place centered around a ceiling-less atmosphere. We love that we can go to the beach year round here!