Sunday, December 7, 2014

Boars, Ponies and Ostriches...Oh My!

This post, my final one of our trip to Paso Robles, has it all: more wine, statues of boars, poodles, miniature ponies, vicious ostriches and heaping bowls of split pea soup. With so much to cover in just one post, let me start from the beginning. On the way home, we visited one last winery in Paso Robles. In my opinion, we saved the best for last because Eberle Winery is the real deal and makes some of the best wine around in my opinion. Its founder, Gary Eberle, is one of the pioneers of Paso Robles and really should be credited with putting the area on the map as a destination for quality wines.

Below I am posing in front of the vineyards of Eberle and a giant boar, because Eberle means boar in German, so boars are everywhere at the vineyard and tasting room as you will see below.




Below are some casks of Eberle wine, which are located in caves beneath the winery. We took a tour to get a behind the scenes look at how they make, store and age their wines.



A few glimpses at the tasting room at Eberle are shown below. Clearly, they have won many accolades for their wines, especially their Cabernet. The boar's head with the goggles shows the owner's sense of humor.



Outside the tasting room is another boar. If you look at the last picture, you will see Gary Eberle, the man and legend sitting and enjoying a glass of what I presume is a Reserve Cabernet with his standard poodle. I seriously would love to own a vineyard and this picture illustrates very nicely why. Starting off the day by sitting outside my tasting room with my dog enjoying a brimful glass of wine? Yes, please!



After Eberle, we hopped in the car and started making our way to Solvang, home of Quicksilver ranch where the miniature ponies roam! I've wanted to go to this place ever since seeing it featured on Huell Howser.


While these ponies sure are cute, it was pretty tough to get a picture of one with its head up. Apparently their lives consist of grazing on grass and it's pretty hard to tear them away from this task!




Another thing we did in Solvang, which was unplanned, was visit an ostrich farm. We were on our way to the ponies and saw the sign and decided we had to stop. How could you not stop after seeing a sign like the one below?



For what comes out to be $5 per person, you too can visit these ostriches and feed them. Let me just offer a warning: these birds are scary! You will feel like you're in Jurassic Park when the Velociraptors are testing the fence by pecking at it and looking at the humans like they are dinner. 


This is never a good sign!


I would not want this beak chomping down on me or poking me in the eye!


This is what it's like to feed these feisty ostriches! It's a frightening experience, as their pecking is violent and they follow your every move with their beady little eyes! 


Good bye crazy ostriches! I hope the next time I'll see one of you is on my next purse!


As dusk fell, we made our way to the last stop on our trip: Split Pea Andersen's in Buelton. They've been splitting peas since 1928, so you know it must be good! 



The inside of the restaurant isn't anything spectacular, but it is quaint; a perfect stop after a long day of watching grazing ponies and enduring the wrath of the ostriches!


Obviously I had to try Andersen's world famous Traveler's Special, which consists of an endless bowl of split pea soup, bread and a milkshake. The fixin's are extra, $3 to be precise, but I would recommend ordering them because you need a little something to jazz up the soup!

All fixin's in and swimming in my soup!

When you're done with your soup you'll see the characters Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee at the bottom of your bowl. I ordered two bowls and I was stuffed. Just like the day before with the wine, I think I got a little pea souped out. It will be a while before I'll crack open another can to have at home. They do sell Andersen's at the supermarket and the 99 Cent Only store, so if you want a taste, you don't have to drive all the way to Buelton.


Well, we've come to the end of the road of my trip to Paso Robles. Below, I am standing at one of the other missions we went to near Solvang, La Purisima. It is beautiful, but I figured that my readers might be a little sick of all of the missions. To be honest, as with the wine and split pea soup, I too got a little tired of missions, but it was a wonderful trip and I appreciate you coming along for the journey!



1 comment:

  1. Hello Katie. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger. I am also glad to stop by your blog and see those beautiful pictures. I have thoroughly enjoyed those pictures. Well let me share with you a program our church in Mumbai, India has for young people as well as adults from the West. I am in the Pastoral ministry for last 35yrs in the great city of Mumbai, India a city with great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poroest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healng to the broken hearted. We also encourage young people as well as adults from the West to come to Mumbai on a short / long term missions trip to work with us in the slums of Mumbai during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai along with your friends on a short /long term missions trip to work with us during your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. Looking foward to hear from you very soon. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. God's rich blessing on you. May you have a joyous Christmas and a very Christ centered coming new yeear.

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