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Fall Adventures: La Jolla Wine & Art Festival

After an ankle x-ray (just sprained; no fractures) and getting both my flu shot and bivalent vaccine last Friday, I wasn't sure that I'd be up for another weekend birthday adventure. I planned Saturday as an at home read-a-thon, where I enjoyed finishing one book, reading one book from beginning to end, and starting another book. Yes, this was a glorious Saturday.  

On Sunday, I felt pretty good, well-rested and ready to get out of the house.  So, I put on my "beautiful shoes" (what I'm now calling my Sketchers walking shoes to make myself feel better about the lack of style and heel) and we took an Uber up to La Jolla Cove, where they had a street blocked off for local artists and winemakers to share their creations.  

It was really cool to walk along the art "gallery" and see how different people have interpreted our beautiful ocean scenery, from very detailed realistic art to photographs taken during different times of the day and even abstract splashes of paint on canvas. 

The wine tasting was also fun; we bought 10 tickets each for the tasting.  That might sound like quite a bit but it was actually only the equivalent of about 2 glasses of wine, to put it in perspective.  Some of the wine was better than others, and we did discover a "new to us" winery to visit in Ramona.  Also, there were a couple of companies sharing tequila (!), so the "wine tasting" tickets also included tequila shots, and not small ones, either!  

The people watching was extraordinary, and the 4 p.m. band was fun.  We danced on the sidewalk because  I didn't want to hurt my ankle on the crowded dance area in front of the band. 

Did we have enough drink tickets?

Another couple gave us their extra drink tickets, and we actually had extra tickets at the end.  I think we would have been just fine with the 5 tastings, as we wound up using a few of our tickets to buy charcuterie.  And took a mid-day break to leave the wine garden to eat some protein (chicken) between drinks. 

Was it a pet-friendly venue?

This was a pet-friendly venue; I met a dog named Walter, who came over to stand with me when William went to fetch our next round of drinks.  The dog-parents said it was the calmest he'd been all day, so I guess I must have been doing my Enneagram Type 9 thing: "don't let others pull you into their storm; pull them into your calm." 

What do I recommend?

A fun afternoon with a high danceability score!  I recommend eating lunch first, arriving about 2 p.m. and planning to stay until 6 so you can enjoy the music.  Uber was about $30 per ride, but it was great because we didn't have to find parking or worrying about William being the designated driver.   

The only drawback was that we typically get grocery delivery and do food prep on Sunday afternoons, so we had to reconfigure the beginning of our weeks.  I had a lot to juggle on Monday morning, but the fun was worth it.  

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