We headed up Saturday morning and avoided any traffic.
In Santa Monica, we stopped at a Starbucks for a pit stop and then visited our
favorite wine store from our L.A. days,
The Wine House.
Our next stop was a hike at
Paramount Ranch. This park
was featured in an
episode of California’s Gold and looked like a neat
area. In the parking, we noticed the huge number of ground squirrels;
Sophie would love this place! The first thing on the hike was the western
town. A movie set, the town was pretty impressive especially since it is
open to anyone who wants to walk through it. We then continued on our loop
hike and ended up doing about 3 miles.
We next drove a short distance to the
Reagan Ranch.
One of Ronald Reagan’s former properties, it serves as a trailhead to the MASH
set. We only did a mile here since the weather started to get windy and
cold.
After leaving the ranch, we drove west along Mulholland
Highway. We passed some very nice mountain communities and passed the
legendary
Rock Store biker café. Just past the café, we stopped at a
hairpin turn to check out the views. There were also some
photographers
there taking pictures of the bikers and cars making the curve. We took
the highway all the way down to the beach. From there, we turned right
and headed along the coast. Rather than get back on the freeway, we chose
to take back roads to return to Westlake Village. However, these back
roads had the city on one side and the park on the other; not very scenic, but
better than the 101 freeway.
We got back just in time to check in to our room which was
very large, with a high ceiling, a comfy couch next to a even comfier
bed. There was a gas fireplace but it was more decorative than
functional.
Part of the TZ deal, we got a free wine tasting at their new
wine bar,
Stonehaus. The flight featured five of their private label
wines, wines that we greatly enjoyed. We got a couple of others off their
modest list including a local Los Angeles County Chardonnay, its grapes grown
in Malibu, a wine that turned out surprisingly good. They also had a great cheese plate and graciously left off the crackers to appease our grain-free palates. We then headed over
to the hotel restaurant,
mediterraneo. I ordered a fabulous roasted
chicken and Jyoti go the tuna. We overdid it and ordered two
desserts. It was nice to have a long, lazy evening without having to
worry about getting back to something.
The next morning, we ate again at mediterraneo. I had
the yogurt and granola while Jyoti had the oatmeal. I normally don’t eat
breakfast but the yogurt was quite good. After breakfast we headed on
back to Encinitas. Traffic was very light and we only needed a single
Starbucks stop.
I highly recommend the Westlake Village Inn. They have
a golf course, banquet facilities, great restaurants and a friendly
staff. Being located so close to the mountains, you can get some great
hikes in as well. I would love to visit the mountains again in the near
future for more hikes.
