The Channel Islands – Almost

Saturday, March 12, 2022

We checked out of our AirBNB and headed over to the main business district in Palm Desert. We’d been in town for about a week but the tennis tournament had taken up all of our time. We wanted to see some of the town. It was reputed to be a lovely, upscale place.

The main street was lined with your typical upscale shops but there was also swank coffee shops and cafes, lots of art galleries, and tons of high end jewelry stores. It was a lovely little town and exactly what we had expected of Palm Springs.

It didn’t look like there were too many interesting places to stop for lunch between Palm Desert and Los Angeles so we opted to try a local favorite: Sherman’s Deli. It was highly rated. Sherman’s Deli was one of the many food vendors at the tennis tournament. It was a Jewish Style deli. We had intended to give them a try but never got around to it. This was going to be our chance.

As soon as you’re seated they bring you a tray of pickles and sauerkraut. The pickles were somewhere between sour and half-sour but we ate them anyway. Between the two of us we managed to order all of our favorites. We got a corned beef sandwich with potato latkes acting as the bread and we got a pastrami on rye. The potato latkes, which came with sour cream, were very good but lacked onion. The pastrami was first rate. Unfortunately the corned beef was very disappointing. It reminded us of the stuff you get sliced at the deli counter or just about any supermarket. The funny thing was that most of the people there was locals and they were eating things like fruit plates and dry bagels. Welcome to California.

The drive to my brother’s house was over an hour longer than even our GPS said it should have been. Do you ever get used to driving in traffic again?

Sunday, March 13, 2022

Today we were scheduled to go to the Channel Islands along with my brother and his twin fifteen year old sons. We got up early and called the harbor ferry service for the latest go/no-go report. They said that the seas were rather rough that morning and if we’d prefer we could reschedule at no additional cost. Some of our party were a little apprehensive about the boat trip to begin with so this was not good news. Being seasick for hours on end is a lousy way to spend your weekend so we decided to reschedule for the next available date: April 2.

Our new plan was to spend the day at the beach. We drove over to the Point Dume Nature Preserve in Malibu and did a little hiking. There was a trail at the end of the beach that lead up to a cliff with a magnificent view of the surrounding area. Afterwards the trail lead even higher to the top of a fairly high hill. There were interesting plants, flowers and shrubs all along the way and we had fun trying to guess what they all were. I told them I would take pictures of everything and that my computer software would identify them all so we could see who was right.

After working up an appetite we drove over to Paradise Cove. There is a lovely cafe situated right on the waterfront. We gave our name to the maître d’ and walked along the beach for about 20 minutes until our table was ready. We were fortunate to get a prime spot right near the water.

The cafe specialized in seafood. The food was tasty, the portions were huge and we all overindulged. For dessert we couldn’t decide between the Mile High Chocolate Cake, the Key Lime Pie or the Bread Pudding Ala mode – so we got them all! The service was slow but it just enhanced the experience. We all had a wonderful time basking in the sun, eating good food and enjoying each other’s company.

Monday, March 14, 2022

We left early because we had an appointment about three hours away in Buellton⁩. We were going to get a guided tour of a Llama and Alpaca farm. The place was called Zaca Creek Ranch. They gave us very detailed directions on how to get there but the turn off to the farm was right off the highway by a locked gate and so we whizzed right past it. A quick u-turn at the next exit solved that problem and we were only about ten minutes late.

The drive up to the farm was like traversing a parkland. We passed cows, deer, rabbits and all sorts of other animals on the winding road up the hill. When we finally arrived we saw a large number of Llamas and Alpacas in a pen, just waiting for us.

One of the owners, Hayley, greeted us. After introductions she told us all about the farm and the animals. They also had a rescue pig and some goats in another part of the farm. Llamas and Alpacas are some of the sweetest looking creatures you’ll ever see but we knew that they were not open to being petted or caressed. The owner told us that one of the Llamas, a girl named Cotton, was rather friendly and that when she was ready, she’d let us pet her. As we talked Cotton never took her eyes off us. After about 20 minutes she figured we were ok and walked over and sat right between us. She was ready to be petted. Her coat was so soft and fluffy. We wanted to take her home with us!

The farm had a very nice gift store, too. Some of the items were made with the wool that had been shorn from these very animals. They also had their own brand of coffee, which was imported from South America. It smelled wonderful.

After about an hour and a half we said our goodbyes and headed into Solvang for Lunch. Solvang is a picturesque town. You could call it, “Little Denmark”. We walked up and down the main streets and finally settled in for lunch at a restaurant named Arne’s World Famous Aebelskivers. We ordered a Danish sausage, a German bratwurst and, of course, some Aebelskivers. So, what are Aebelskivers? They’re small, round pieces of baked dough topped with some sort of sweetened fruit and powdered sugar. Usually the fruit is apple but ours had raspberry jam. They were very good. Before leaving town we got some danish and some cheese and onion bread for our breakfast the next day.

Finally, we arrived at our AirBNB in Lompoc, which is about midway between Santa Barbra and Pismo Beach. In fact it’s right near the newly christened Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022 – Thursday, March 17, 2022

After the excitement of packing up and leaving Las Vegas, hiking in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, the long days and nights at the tennis tournament, hiking in Malibu and exploring the Llama farm we needed a rest. Our AirBNB was a large and comfortable one bed-room cottage on a property with a gorgeous English style garden. We decided to veg out, recharge our batteries and enjoy the quiet life for a few days. Fortunately, they owners had subscribed to the Tennis Channel and so we spent most of our days watching the later rounds of the tournament.

An update to the picture issue: If you’re using gmail (the web version or the app) the pictures show up just fine in the email. It’s only on Apple devices that the pictures seem to be missing. Ugh! Click here to see the web version with pictures.