We're still on East Coast time, so we were awake before 6:00am. Bob read and I social media-ed until it was time for breakfast, which was the usual continental fare but with freshly made waffles if desired. I desired! After eating, we got ready for the day. The first order of business was to drive up the coast just to check it out. We discovered that north of us was pretty much small streets with no ocean view once past our hotel, so we turned around and drove down to Encinitas. Our plan for the afternoon was to go to Stone Brewery, take the tour and the tasting, followed by lunch at their bistro. Our path took us on some windy mountain roads. Yay. I managed okay, but finding the actual building wasn't easy. We went to one building, which had a little arrow directing us to the next building over. Turns out that, according to our tour guide through the brewery and tasting, one of the owners really hates signage. Maybe the path lined with GIANT stones (out of place for the area) was a clue.
Anyway, we signed up for the 12:00 tour and tasting, and I checked out the restaurant while Bob checked out the gift shop.
The bistro is light and airy with lots of stones -- get it??!!
Here's Bob hanging out in the gift shop.
And with the iconic Stone gargoyle.
Our tour guide was a former math teacher who now works at the brewery. He was charming and informative although the "tour" was really only two stops. I asked some penetrating questions as did another beer-o-phile in the group. Then we tasted 4 beers. As we were tasting, we got to talking with some of the other people on the tour. The other questioner was here from Houston with his wife -- they had already visited 27 different breweries and had lots of beer paraphernalia at home. The other couple was from North Carolina. They had driven from there in a 20-year-old car to deliver it to their son, who was due in to the San Diego Naval Base from the high seas the next day. Their other son had also flown in to meet his brother. What a lovely story!
We had a delicious lunch at their bistro, sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather. And it was a much easier drive back to our hotel -- mostly freeway.
We were both so full of food and beer that we just lazed around for a couple of hours. I sat by the pool for a while, and Bob took a little nap. We checked out the sunroof to see what the sunset might look like from there.
Apparently, they don't care about the invasive nature of bamboo -- these shoots were about 3 stories high!
Then we walked into town to get some bottled water. We found a 7-11 with cheap bottles, and I found a place that makes ice cream and frozen yogurt using liquid nitrogen.
We took the water back and then walked into town to check out the Pizza Port. On the way, we walked through the weekly farmers market. This sign is for Bob, who makes his own fermented vegetables.
We also saw a really old tree -- not sure what kind it is.
So back to the Pizza Port, which makes its own beer and serves pizza. No surprise there. You pick up your pizza when they call your name, so there's a constant litany of names being called. Interesting. We sat at the bar and watched the Brazil-Denmark game.
We walked back in time to catch the sunset, but no flash of green. :(
Only able to be done on the West Coast!
A view from a chaise lounge poolside.
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