Looking At It Sideways
When I started this online journal about 20 months ago, it was driven with the intention of relaying the random events of my life. The purpose was to provide my friends and family the opportunity to see what I was doing while away at school, while also allowing me to share some of my creativity and random web-browsing finds. As time went on, this site evolved to encompass all of these things with different magnitudes and mixtures. Recently, however, the site has run dry of those elements that I truly enjoined and creative/amusing posts have been replaced by sporadic summaries of weeks (or even months) passed. The obvious reasoning behind the idling of the site has been my recent employment, which has kept me occupied during the day and restrained from the internet at night (not technically, but the impact is evident). I look forward to the day when I have my own place to live with an internet connection that I can use to get back into the mix of things. The other reason behind the sporadic posts is that I no longer need to update to inform people of my activites. Now that I see most of my dedicated readers on a daily basis, the obligation to post seems almost moot. Between these two factors, progress has been slow, but if people keep up with the comments, I will try to post a bit more often.
There is one last issue that seems to be more of a challenge than a hinderance (or what they refer to at the office as “opportunities”), and that is finding something unique to post about. Most of what goes on can usually be summarized in Rachel’s, Robert’s or Rebecca’s own accounts. This means I have to be a little craftier in what I post so as to not reiterate topics. A good case in point of this is the camping trip that we took this past weekend. While Robert and Rebecca (and hopefully Natalie soon) have given their own abbreviated versions of the entire trip, I will try to impart some more detail on specific aspects of the trip. Like I say, it’s a bit more challenging.
We indeed were in “Sideways” country over the weekend, passing through Solvang, Los Olivos and Buellton. We saw some of the more familiar landmarks such as “The Hitching Post” and seemed to stumble on a few unbeknownst to any of us. While looking at a map of the wineries (which would have been helpful the first day) I saw a winery called Sanford. Somehow this sounded vaguely familiar, and anyone who knows my family knows how often random bottles of wine pass through our doors. So it seemed worth checking out as we took the Santa Rose Rd. and drove up to a very secluded but very crowded winery. The instant we walked in I suddenly recalled where I recognized the name from: we were at a “Sideways Winery”. The wine tasting lesson that Miles gives to his buddy Jack occurs at this winery and looking around I gathered a sense of familiarity of the place. The pourer in the movie was also there, outside behind a table swarmed by wine junkies. It was a neat little tourist stop, but we immediately left because it was not worth the wine tasting ($10 per person seems a little steep).
The last winery we visited for that day (Kalyra) was also crowded, but after eating lunch there, we managed to squeeze in during a slight lull in the excitement. Like the aforementioned winery, this one had a big “Sideways” poster on the wall, but the atmosphere was not as distinct. I debated whether it was in the movie, until as we were leaving saw some photographs on the wall of the cast members. Okay, so it was in the movie, but it seemed too unique not to remember. When I finally got home from the trip and unloaded most of my gear, I put in my copy of the film to see where exactly we had been. Looking at it, I could definitely identify Sanford from the outside and even the road leading up. As I continued to move on, I did indeed see Kalyra in the movie. It’s the winery Sandra Oh works at and she even mentions the name of it later on. The reason I could not recognize the place was because the interior shots were very tight and omitted most of the Australian themes. Even the exterior shot of the place was missing their big Australian flag. Nevertheless, it seemed rather amusing to just unintentionally end up at two of the more familiar wineries featured in the film, and then to go back and watch those parts now knowing about what they actually look like. I guess that explains why they both were crowded. Only one was worth staying at, and I think this “Sideways” business has gotten out of control. One winery sported a sign saying, “Not in the movie Sideways”.
I think I can summarize this trip with the phrase Veni. Vini. Vino: I came. I saw. I drank wine.
There is one last issue that seems to be more of a challenge than a hinderance (or what they refer to at the office as “opportunities”), and that is finding something unique to post about. Most of what goes on can usually be summarized in Rachel’s, Robert’s or Rebecca’s own accounts. This means I have to be a little craftier in what I post so as to not reiterate topics. A good case in point of this is the camping trip that we took this past weekend. While Robert and Rebecca (and hopefully Natalie soon) have given their own abbreviated versions of the entire trip, I will try to impart some more detail on specific aspects of the trip. Like I say, it’s a bit more challenging.
We indeed were in “Sideways” country over the weekend, passing through Solvang, Los Olivos and Buellton. We saw some of the more familiar landmarks such as “The Hitching Post” and seemed to stumble on a few unbeknownst to any of us. While looking at a map of the wineries (which would have been helpful the first day) I saw a winery called Sanford. Somehow this sounded vaguely familiar, and anyone who knows my family knows how often random bottles of wine pass through our doors. So it seemed worth checking out as we took the Santa Rose Rd. and drove up to a very secluded but very crowded winery. The instant we walked in I suddenly recalled where I recognized the name from: we were at a “Sideways Winery”. The wine tasting lesson that Miles gives to his buddy Jack occurs at this winery and looking around I gathered a sense of familiarity of the place. The pourer in the movie was also there, outside behind a table swarmed by wine junkies. It was a neat little tourist stop, but we immediately left because it was not worth the wine tasting ($10 per person seems a little steep).
The last winery we visited for that day (Kalyra) was also crowded, but after eating lunch there, we managed to squeeze in during a slight lull in the excitement. Like the aforementioned winery, this one had a big “Sideways” poster on the wall, but the atmosphere was not as distinct. I debated whether it was in the movie, until as we were leaving saw some photographs on the wall of the cast members. Okay, so it was in the movie, but it seemed too unique not to remember. When I finally got home from the trip and unloaded most of my gear, I put in my copy of the film to see where exactly we had been. Looking at it, I could definitely identify Sanford from the outside and even the road leading up. As I continued to move on, I did indeed see Kalyra in the movie. It’s the winery Sandra Oh works at and she even mentions the name of it later on. The reason I could not recognize the place was because the interior shots were very tight and omitted most of the Australian themes. Even the exterior shot of the place was missing their big Australian flag. Nevertheless, it seemed rather amusing to just unintentionally end up at two of the more familiar wineries featured in the film, and then to go back and watch those parts now knowing about what they actually look like. I guess that explains why they both were crowded. Only one was worth staying at, and I think this “Sideways” business has gotten out of control. One winery sported a sign saying, “Not in the movie Sideways”.
I think I can summarize this trip with the phrase Veni. Vini. Vino: I came. I saw. I drank wine.
posted by Chris Burzlaff @ 9/13/2005
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