Frangipani Winery

I 💛 Frangipani Winery.  I have never not had a wonderful time there.  (I think this is more meaningful than if I were to say that I have always had a wonderful time there.) 

We had planned Raya and Josh's final farewell to be outside by the bocce ball courts but when the day rolled around, although it was only 71 degrees when we left Oceanside, it was 108 degrees in Temecula... so that wasn't going to work. 

The owner, Don, when he heard we had 25 people coming, opened up the private room next to the tasting room for us.  It was even cooler than the main room, and absolutely perfect for our party.

Besides the local folk (Raya and Josh's friends), our cousin, Nancy, and her family drove over from Orange County for the event.

Don and his wife opened up the winery in 2003.  

They create 5,000 cases per year, which is fairly small in comparison to other wineries like Leoness Cellars, which makes 30,000 cases.  What I love about Frangipani is the fact that the owner is there, working to make our experience special, for no extra cost.  You cannot beat that!

Taylor Guitar Tour

Taylor guitar offers free factory tours weekdays at 1pm, where guests get to see the entire process of making guitars from wood selection to final assembly.  You can sign up as early as 12:30pm, which is highly recommended as tours fill up.  

Taylor is a wonderful company, makes excellent guitars, and is located in San Diego county (at 1980 Gillespie Way in El Cajon, California.).

The factory is so large that bikes are used by employees to get from  one building to another.

The owner, Bob Taylor, is considered a visionary regarding acoustic guitars.  Taylor received the award for corporate excellence for working with other countries on sustainable wood practices and environmental protection.  

Wait, who's the wise guy?

Eric!

The bracing on the back of the soundboard helps add rigidity and enhance the acoustics, without adding too much extra weight.

The sticker in the upper left hand corner is an RF ID chip which carries all of the information about the guitar.  It is used during production, and remains in the guitar after production.  It can be scanned to determine ownership and product specifications.  (So don't steal a Taylor guitar... or a banjo for that matter!)

600 guitars are shipped from the factory daily, 200 of those are made here while the other 400 are made in Tecate.  The Tecate factory allows the business to keep their costs lower for certain models.  Some guitar models, like the Baby Taylor, are made exclusively in Tecate.  

There is also a warehouse in Amsterdam although no guitars are produced there, they ship and repair guitars for countries in Europe.

Afterwards we went to Alpine Beer Co Pub for beer and food.  Alpine Beer is regularly on tap at our local tap rooms, and it is always amazingly delicious.  Every beer we sampled was yummy, and is unavailable to us elsewhere.

The actual brewery is down the street so we decided to go there next to try out some different beers, and just take a looksy.

The production area is on the smaller side, compared to other breweries.  It is amazing that they are so well known.

The tasting room is located next to this quirky bookstore. 

Train to trains

It isn't too often that we take the train down to San Diego, and even less often when we bike while there.  Raya and Josh do this once or twice a year, and they live in Idaho!  

We had a blast cruising around downtown, Hillcrest, and Balboa Park. 

 There isn't a lot of room on the Coaster for bikes, but since we live at the end of the line, or the beginning depending on how you look at it, we are the first to fill up the bike area.  

As we were about to bike past my old place in Banker's Hill I remembered the suspension bridge nearby, and was also able to find it.  

That's a two-fer.  

Fabulous Hillcrest indeed.

The sidewalk messages say it all...

Eric and I saw the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park just days earlier on TV, so we were amped about checking it out.  When I told Raya about it she reminded me that we went when we were little.  That brought back old memories... big sisters are good for something!   Haha.

The museum is less a museum and more a model train club.  The "museum" dates back to 1935.  

It preserves the history of California railroads, and is well worth the $11 admission ($6 for students...).

It didn't take much to get 'backstage.'  I asked some questions over the tall glass to a club member about how fast he could take it, and we were almost immediately asked if we wanted to come inside.  

Yes, please!

The model train fanatics were more than happy to show us around.

He told me that he could go 65mph.  But when I asked him to prove it, he backed down.

Little did I know that he meant 65 scaled mph, which is far less impressive but is a lot more believable.  

This area is for kids, and budding model train fanatics.  

It sounds like 50 circuses in one room.

The day ended with our bikes parked at Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy. 

These are our desserts, but we shared them so it isn't as bad as it looks!  

Four divided by four, times four.  

Next stop, Oceanside!