Chillin' In Wine Country

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What Goodreads reviewers are saying about "Equal and Opposite Reactions":
"It's Hallmark meets the Sopranos in this fun and engaging read."
"The characters are well developed with lots of sass, drama and wicked humor."
"The characters were hilariously and perfectly flawed."
"Cleverly plotted and exceptionally well written... part drama and part slapstick comedy."

     On Wednesday, February 6, I woke up at 3:45 am to catch a flight from Columbus,

...via Phoenix,

...to San Luis Obispo, California,

...to spend a few days exploring the California Central Coastal wine country with my sister Romaine, who drove down from Portland, Oregon,

...with her pooch Lucy.

     Romaine and I didn't plan on visiting  any wineries while we were in wine country; as neither of us drinks to speak of, neither of us had any particular interest in tasting the local product. We'd heard, however, that there were other things to do and sights to see beyond the vineyards, and these were what we set out to discover.
         Romaine had rented a place in Atascadero,

...a small town in San Luis Obispo County halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

    Upon exiting the airport I had my first view of the green, green hills of this part of the California coast.   

          From the airport we drove into San Luis Obispo,

...where we sought out a place for lunch and found a cute Mexican-esque restaurant called Big Sky.

     The waitstaff and service here was over-the-top. This I learned when, unbeknownst to me, the contents of my grilled cheese, tomato and eggplant sandwich arrived  on slices of super-spicy chipotle bread― that is to say super-spicy to me, sorry excuse of a spice wimp that I am.

     One bite was enough to set me into paroxysms of coughing and choking - okay small paroxysms, but dang, that bread  was hot.
       Much as I hate to complain about my food in restaurants, I did call our server over and meekly asked if he could scrape the contents of my sandwich onto a different piece of bread.
          The server was tout á fait apologetic for the spiciness of the bread, whisked away my sandwich, and quickly returned with a whole new plate of food down to the hot, crispy French fries, this time with the sandwich on a delicious, non-spicy cheesy bread. Now that was a good cheese, tomato and eggplant sandwich.

   Romaine likewise gave kudos to her to her black bean veggie burger and and fagioli soup.

      After lunch we drove the 17 miles north on U.S. route 101 from San Luis Obispo to Atascadero through more velvet green hills.

Atascadero

       Romaine had rented half of a a lovely little duplex,

...on a quiet street,

...with a mountain view.

      We  spent some time in the town, and after we returned to the house we planned to spend the rest of the evening just sitting around chilling.  

    Which we did.

To be continued...