Christmas Parade and Wine Tasting with Boppo

Didn't take long to snuggle up with Boppo and a good book.

Leave it to Bill to hijack the local Christmas Parade.  During a gap in the lines, Bill took Vinny by the hand and joined in the festivities.  Look carefully right there on the left.  There they are...waving like the mayor.  I love that Vinny is making memories like this with his grandfather.

Then it was off to Central Coast Wine Country.  This is how we roll on road trips:

We arrived at our house, an olive ranch in the middle of nowhere.  Vinny loved the sheep and Great Pyrenees dogs, Bailey and Baxter, on the ranch.

The olive crush was in full swing.  They worked until 1 in the morning, and apparently that was an early night.  Some nights they go clear until 6am until all the olives are pressed.

We may have been in the middle of nowhere, but the views were spectacular.

You can't go to the Central coast for the olive oil alone, right?  When in Paso Robles, you must taste wine!  This is how Vinny occupied his time.  Oh, Apple, how we love thee.

Boppo, you must sniff the wine...

Another jaunt took us up the coast to Hearst Castle.  Once again, the views of the Pacific Coast amazed us.

Took a little sunset pit stop just outside of Morrow Bay...

Those are California sea lions taking refuge on the little dock in the harbor.

Here are some pictures from the Hearst Castle.  What used to be a modest cattle ranch was transformed by the newspaper and magazine mogul William Hurst.  Back in the day, he entertained movie stars from the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, and Clark Gable.  It was beautiful and gaudy all at the same time.  

But the view....

And what we were unable to capture on film on our way off the property were the descendants of William Hearst zoo collection, about a dozen ZEBRAS that still graze on the ranch!