Adrienne and I finally decided to take a break apart from each other. I know it’s for the best right now, but still it’s hard for me to not wish things could not have turned out better. I tried to keep us together for as long as I could as hard as I could. She was not ready to try and may never be able to. I think now the only chance we have of ever reuniting is some time apart.
“If you love something set it free and if it comes back to you it was meant to be” is how the saying goes I trust. If you’re lost revisit Bowing Out and Once Upon A Mattress for more details. It looks like from here on forward you will be reading about independent single Lisanti. Don’t get your hopes up for drunken tales and sexual escapades. I don’t find pride in those stories anymore. Before I close the Adrienne chapter of my life I would like to tell one last story about us, our last fun day.
This past weekend I took Ades up to Santa Barbara Wine Country. Springtime is beautiful up there. Everything is still green and luscious before browning out during the summer heat and drought. I had been up there many times thanks to countless Jalama and Surf Beach missions that had went awry leaving me extra time to go poking around. Adrienne had never been. I knew my days with her were very limited and that if I did not act now I may not have ever had the opportunity to share one of my favorite places in California with her. There are so many other places all over the world I wish I could have had the privilege to show her.
As an extra incentive to go I knew many of the 2010 vintages were beginning to be introduced to the tasting rooms. I planned the whole trip out to go to two vineyards and do some valley adventuring. Our first stop was Beckmen Vineyards in Los Olivios my current favorite estate wine producer in Santa Barbara County. They grow mostly Rhone varietals (grapes that are grown in the Rhone Valley of France, Syrah, Grenache, etc), which are currently some of my favorites. Syrah is considered one of the grapes that grow best in Santa Barbara.
Ades is the one who actually turned me on to Beckmen, buying one their earlier vintage Red Rhone blends earlier in the year. It was one of the better wines I have had the privilege to drink. Out of all the vineyards up there they were the must stop. We get up there and it is just a beautiful vineyard with all the different varieties neatly trellised. The grounds were nicely gardened with a little lake and rose garden. There is nothing more aesthetically pleasing to me then a well kept vineyard. Staring out at acres of pristine rows of vines is surreal.
We go into the tasting room and luckily just missed one of those large wine tasting buses thus had the sommelier all to ourselves. They had a six bottle tasting for ten bucks and the guy threw in a tasting of the new 2010 Rose for free. Adrienne is more of a red fan then a white, and I don’t really have a preference. The 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was quite exquisite. I ended up buying a bottle. They did a Rhone white blend (Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc) called Le Bec Blanc that just blew me away. I bought a bottle of that too.
Then we tasted the Rose, which I found to be quite refreshing, Adrienne was not a fan. Too sweet for her I think. We tasted their red Rhone blend Cuvee Le Bec, but it was the same vintage Ades had bought that one time so it was not really special to me. Finally we tasted their Syrah. Usually when you buy a bottle they comp the tasting. I bought two and the dude still charged me for the tasting.
Ades said it was because I was not nice enough to the guy, but the dude kept talking about how he was sick and was coughing all over the wine the entire time. How nice could I possibly be? Also I did not really care much for him. Some people just rub me the wrong way. I think it was something about his face.
After the tasting we cruised around the vineyard a bit. I love to walk amongst the grapes, feel the dirt between my fingers. Just imagine how it will look when I come back for another visit for harvest season in the fall. If I ever strike it rich someday maybe I will get myself a vineyard and grow my own Rhone varietals. I can be a Rhone Ranger.
Whenever tasting its good to take a break to give the body a chance to absorb the alcohol. After all if you get too sloshed then you really do not taste objectively. My absolute favorite spot in the Santa Ynez Valley is this little park called Nojoqui Falls. Its this 60 foot limestone water fall that is more like a water slide then a fall thanks to years of limestone being deposited at the base of the falls. It almost does the opposite of most waterfalls.
Instead of eroding the base, all the rich sediment builds it up. It makes for a very breath taking sight. There is all this great moss growing on the limestone and the water bubbles down like chandeliers of foam to a shallow crystal clear pool below. Brennan and I came a across this gem two summers ago when we were doing our 101 Santa Barbara activities. I love it there and make a trip to it whenever I have some spare time. I had wanted to take Ades there for months but never made the time. It’s funny how I always wait till things are over to do something amazing.
After the falls I wanted to get over to Ostrich Land, this crazy ostrich and emu farm in between Solvang and Lompoc. For $5 you get a pail of food and are let lose in the bird pen to feed these monstrous prehistoric angry birds at your own risk of course. I have been here many times. It’s a must stop whenever I go up north with someone new. The place is like a petting zoo gone sadistic. It’s a shit show that you have to experience to fully understand. We both managed to survive the endeavor with all our extremities in tact.
They even had a handful of baby Emus that you could hand feed. I was super pumped on them. I wanted to buy some ostrich meat to cook up since I just recently found out in one of my classes that it is good eating. Unfortunately it turns out the meat has become super popular and is near impossible to get at the moment and they don’t slaughter the birds at Ostrich Land, a fact I always thought the opposite. Turns out the place is just for fun and not for food.
From Ostrich Land it was on to our next tasting. Apparently most tasting rooms close at four and there were a few that closed at five. We managed to luck upon a vineyard a few miles from Ostrich Land that was still tasting called Dierberrg, Star Lane and Three Saints. Those were the three wine labels that are produced there and it was an estate vineyard as well (estate vineyard means all steps in the wine making process happens right at that vineyard). We made the last pouring of the day and the sommelier was super chill and actually poured us a very generous tasting of each bottle. Their pinot noir was very splendid and so was the syrah. I was rather happy with all of the wines poured.
Unfortunately I kicked my budget at Beckmen and the bottles here were a bit too pricey for me to buy one. I offered to pay for the tasting and sommelier said it was free. Well then I had to buy a bottle. I was going to get the Sauvignon Blanc cause it was only $18, but then she pulled out these other wines called Three Saints that are their “table Wines”. I bought a bottle of Syrah for $12.
Their vineyard unlike Beckmen was huge, too large to walk around. As a last stop with the slowly waning sun I took Adrienne to surf beach over on Vandenberg Air Force Base. Surf Beach is one of the eeriest places I have ever surfed and with the recent shark attack I have not made if back since last summer. We got there and it was actually a beautiful afternoon. The beach was closed by the military being that it was passed 6pm (surf beach is only open from 8am-6pm daily), but we could still mill around the parking lot. Between the missile silos, strange non descript huge government buildings and the vast emptiness of the churned up sea it was a breathtaking site.
Ades did not think it was all that eerie, but of course she wouldn’t. She likes creepy places. We muddled around the area for about an hour or so. I tried to do flips off this concrete pillar to no avail, although I did not break my neck so one may consider that a success. I think it was some of the most fun we had together in a while and deep down thought we had a glimmer of hope.
I wanted to get dinner at this famous restaurant called the Hitching Post, but being it was Saturday and around sevenish there was like a two hour wait. Im not about to wait two hours for any food. I don’t care how good it is. We cruised into Solvang this tourist trap built to look like a traditional Danish village. There were less choices then I would have expected considering the nature of the town.
We ended up settling for some Danish themed diner call the Little Mermaid Restaurant. The food was plentiful, cheap and from what I could tell from a quick glimpse in the kitchen mostly heated up out of a can. The dinning experience was great with a bus girl who for whatever reason kept her purse on her at all times thus accidentally clocking me in the head with it every time she took my plate. It was a classic dingy Jersey diner with a Danish theme . We ordered beer to go with the meal, after all that type of food is made to pair with beer. Then Billy Jean came on the radio and I decided to get up a bust out a move or two.
It was a most splendid day. Our last day together, maybe forever? Only time will tell. The situation is out of my hands now. I have done and endured all any human heart could for another person. I can’t force her to love me; she has to figure that out on her own. Sometimes distance makes the heart grow fonder and I can only hope that after a period of time she will realize that she does still love me but has just hardened her heart towards me for the moment.
As for me I need to hang up my hat and walk off into the sunset gracefully alone. She moves out June 1st and it’s going to be difficult but I cannot be the one to initiate contact between us. If she wants to try again she knows how to find me. For now I have to put my feelings for her aside and move on with my life.
A lot of good has come out of this. I learned tons about myself and have went through a complete transformation as a person. I think I have finally learned what it means to be human. I wish Adrienne the very best in life and hope she finds the happiness I was unable to provide for her.
Surfing Ruined My Life 