Santa Ynez, CA

We are west coast people through and through, so we try to get out there as much as we can. One area we'd been really interested in visiting is Santa Barbara, CA and the wine country of Santa Ynez.

We took the opportunity to drive up Highway 1, so the trip took a little longer than it normally would, but it was totally worth it for the amazing views. We walked along El Matador beach and then made our way up to Santa Barbara. We spent some time wandering around downtown and stopped in at the Sanford tasting room. The wine was really good, but I'd go to the vineyard next time...ambiance is such a big factor for us. Jason made a new friend and we stopped at McConnell's for some great ice cream!

The next morning, we grabbed brunch at Jeannine's in Montecito. Holy cow, this town is adorable. New life goal - be able to afford a night at that Four Seasons! We walked along Butterfly Beach for a while before heading out for more wine tasting.

Less than 1 hour away is Santa Ynez. We went to Sunstone Winery first and this ended up being our favorite. The views were awesome and they offered free bread/olive oil tastings in a huge variety of flavors (roasted garlic, basil, lemon, blood orange, chocolate, etc). We had a lot of delicious Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs here. Honestly, this may have been our favorite tasting we've ever done!

Next, we went to Beckman and tried some really good Syrah's! This came highly recommended and I'm glad we stopped by. It was a smaller set up, but the staff was really knowledgeable. It was right at harvest time, so the vines were beautiful!

We stopped at the Los Olivos Café for lunch. It was good, but next time, I think we'll pack a picnic lunch as all of the wineries had cute areas to eat and drink outside. After that, we headed to Solvang for a quick treat at Solvang Bakery. This little Danish town was super adorable.

We fit in one more winery before heading out - Bridlewood. It ended up being our least favorite, but the wine was still good and the winery itself was beautiful! On the way back towards our hotel, we caught the tail end of the Cowboys' Training camp in Oxnard. We saw Ahmad Dixon, David Carr, Terrance Williams, Jason Witten and more...

All in all, it was a SUPER fun trip and I can definitely see us going back to explore this area more. This time we cut it pretty close, but were able to get back to Dallas and Jason got to be a flight attendant for a few hours. Free nights at our hotel made this trip super cheap as well - always a good thing!!

Up Next: I'll be heading to Albuquerque to visit my grandpa in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to spending time with him (and getting my chile pepper fix).

We're also beginning our final preparations for Japan - we leave in a little more than a month! This means I'm obsessively checking flights, creating Google maps for all of our must-see sights, researching yummy food places, etc...one of my favorite parts. If anyone has recommendations (we'll be in Tokyo and Kyoto), please let me know!

3rd Year: In Review

It all started three years ago! We've passed the official anniversary date of Jason's third year working for Southwest Airlines.  At this point, it's getting hard to remember the life of confirmed seats and advanced planning.

This past year was definitely the year of family and friends. We were able to go to so many weddings and other important events for so very little. All in all, we saved over $7,500 last year - although it's pretty much a certainty that many of those trips couldn't have happened at all without SWA.

We've been so blessed with the ability and resources to travel. Thank you to everyone that has made this easier, especially our faithful crew of puppy watchers! We couldn't do it without you!

Here's where we've been able to travel during the past year:

Domestic:

Orlando, FL

Simi Valley, CA

Portland, OR

Albuquerque, NM

Brooklyn, NY

Lawrence, KS
Oklahoma City, OK (2 times)

San Diego, CA

St. Louis, MO

Tampa, FL
New Orleans, LA
Austin, TX

International:

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Mexico City, Mexico

Ambergris Caye and San Ignacio, Belize

Tikal, Guatemala

For our next year, our (always tentative) plans include Japan (Toyko and Kyoto) in the Fall, and Maui, Toronto and either Greece or the UK in the first half of 2015. Domestically, we'd love to revisit some favorites. Click here to see all of our plans.

Here's some of our favorite travel moments from Year 3:

 Wine Tasting near Portland, OR

Heather & Patrick's Wedding in Portland, OR

Exploring Malibu

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 

Jenna's Bachelorette Weekend in Brooklyn, NY

Jenna's Wedding in Lawrence, KS 

Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

Thanksgiving Trip to Amsterdam with John & Mal

Brittany's Baby Shower  & Meeting Cora in OKC

On top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Running Torrey Pines' trails in San Diego, CA

Snorkeling in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Belize

Exploring Tikal, Guatemala 

ATM Caves in Belize

Our Day Exploring the French Quarter & NOLA

Exploring Austin with the family and pup

Thanks Southwest Airlines...we're having a blast! 

Austin, TX

Austin is a pretty quick drive from Dallas and Houston, so we were able to meet up with my parents for a long 4th of July weekend with the pup!

On our way there, we had to pick up kolaches at the Czech Stop in West, Texas.

Our first stop in Austin was lunch on the patio at Javelina's. Next, we ventured up to Mount Bonnell for some awesome views of Austin. That night, we had a birthday/mother's day/father's day dinner of PF Changs...always yummy!

Fredericksburg is a bit outside of Austin, so we made a day of touring the wine country. It was a cute area with some country charm. My favorite part is that so many of the wineries allow dogs, so we made a strategic plan to hit as many of those as possible.

Our first stop was Becker Vineyards. It was SUPER pet-friendly. They even had a tasting area set up outside. Wonderful! The wine here was also really good! It was a beautiful day to relax on the patio with the pup.

Next, we drove to Chisholm Trails Winery. Again, super dog friendly with a fenced in patio. We got lunch at their pizza kitchen, the Open Oven. Yum! Horseshoes, wine and pizza, who could ask for more? Indy even got to meet a donkey (although he wanted nothing to do with it)!

Our last stop was at William Chris Vineyards. It started off as a pretty horrible experience, which was a shame, because the server and wine were both great! It's an Aggie-run business, so we TRIED to like it, but I wouldn't ever go back. Being dog-friendly was a positive, but man, we just couldn't get over the terrible service at the beginning of our visit.

That night, we went to Maudie's for some delicious Tex-Mex! Overall, it was a great weekend with the family and Indy was SO happy to be included. He was a perfect pup, so hopefully more trips are in his future!

Next up: I'll be trying to head to Albuquerque to see my grandpa this month and we have another trip to either LA or Sedona in our near future as well.