Home From Hadsten House in Solvang, California: Report Of The Final Day!
Sadly, we bid our adieus to Hadsten House and Solvang early Tuesday morning at about 10:30. We had one more stop to make and that was a reining lesson with Amber Stanchfield the Nojoqui Ranch. I've already mentioned that this ranch has been in the Family for over 100 years
and has a great history behind it! Amber was away in Texas at a "Cutting" competition so the only time we could see her was Tuesday when she got back.
On arriving at the ranch which is situated just off HWY 101 South just a few miles away from Buellton, we found out that her horses received some very high standings out of 300 others. If I'm not mistaken one of her horses scored a third and another took 8th and 10th.
Amber is a very youngish 25 and quite pretty. Her looks remind me a an excellent cross between the sophisticated blonde Californian look and one that is "girl next door/down to earth Texan). Regardless, she is not hard to look at and that smile of hers would warm the meanest persons heart in seconds!
When we arrived she was busy practicing "Cow Cutting" with one of her horses. She greeted us with the same enthusiasm that she always has. One would have never known that she has just arrived from what I think was a three week hard competition.
After talking to us briefly, Taryn and Victoria were able to saddle up two horses and Amber proceeded to give them some Reining instruction. Now, keep in mind that Taryn and Victoria are both Hunter/Jumper competitors and the "seat" is different. That is the way one has to sit and balance on a horse. Victoria had never ridden this type of western activity and Taryn had some intro to it from Amber last year (though she had been given excellent instruction prior by Tim and Lisa Stanton of Stone Ridge Farm in Pickering some years ago).
Taryn and Victoria had a ball galloping, sliding and twirling the prized horses. Amber has a way of getting the best out of people and Taryn profited greatly.
I slipped out and went to Los Olivos to leave a package for Fess Parker and also met with Sam Marmorstein at Los Olivos Cafe in order to give him a copy of the program that I did in 2006 as well as make some arrangements of receiving some of his prized 2004 Bernat Syrah. That still has to be arranged with one of the agents here but Sam did give me one of his bottles as a gift. Thanks Sam and I intend to share this with a good friend of mine who is also a restaurateur, Tino Fazio of Fazio's Ristorante in Oshawa, Ontario!
I arrived back at the ranch while the lesson was still going on and could see that the girls were having a hoot! It took about one hour and forty minutes to get to the end of the lesson and after we bid our good-byes, we were off to Santa Barbara and the Sandman Hotel!
The Sandman is a well run and well kept hotel (or Motel) with usually spacious rooms and a good sized swimming pool. Decorated with mature Hibiscus, Magnolia and various other colourful ornamental trees with a backdrop of a huge mountain I found it always a pleasure visit.
The room the four of us were given this time could have been a bit more spacious and the air conditioning a bit more efficient but I would still give the hotel a passing grade! The girls and I then went for a late lunch.
The Downtown Brewery not far from the hotel was on our list to try partially because the hotel management suggested it and also because it was a hop skip and a jump away from the hotel. On first appearances it looked a dark and ominous but the very pleasant waitress who seated us, the very reasonable prices, the airy patio next to the eatery and the exceptional food made believers out of all of us. Darlene returned to have supper there and were lucky enough to get a two for one special. Imagine: two steak dinners with the trimmings for $14.95 and that is in Santa Barbara, California folks. Two India Pale Ales rounded out the meal and we left satisfied. It was then an early night for all of us since we had to get prepared for the early morning flight to San Francisco and then home.
Now I must tell you all that I am an apprehensive traveller. I firmly believe that if something can go wrong it will go wrong-----especially since I have been "caught" by mid-stream errors that were not of my doing. I am very sceptical with electronic services especially tickets. I wanted to get up and arrive at the airport some three hours prior but was overruled by the girls and Darlene. We ended up getting to the SB Airport at 5 am for a 7:12 flight to San Fran!
The beginning of my problem began when I noticed that the display monitor had 6, 6:12, 6:30 and 8:38 flights on time but no 7:12 am flights as per our tickets. When we got into line, the agent did her computer thing and said "there are four of you". "Yes" was my response.
"Do you have paper tickets?" she said somewhat confused.
"No, just what you see there!"
"This is not enough. I can't give you boarding passes!"
"There must be a mistake! We have flights confirmed with Air Canada!"
"You must call Air Canada because I can't let you on the flight!"
Keep in mind that the flight was now at 6 am not 7:12 am and also that it was now 5:30 am and we had not yet checked in our luggage or got passes!!
She rang the AC number as my heart started to sink and my mind was racing as to what to do next. She gave me the phone and I went through several voice messages until a human being came on. The voice behind the phone was clear, concise and cool seemed very competent.
"What can I do for you?"
"Well I had confirmed tickets on an AC Flight out of Santa Barbara and the the agent does not want to give us boarding passes!"
"Can you give me your "E-ticket" number?" I gave it too him!
"If they would just do their job the reply was. You are confirmed---let me speak to the agent!" All I could see her do was reply defensively and her hand started shaking and her voice started quivering. When it was over, she was quite upset----so much that I had to interject and build her confidence up a bit. She finally came through and gave us our boarding passes and couldn't do enough to help us.
I always tell those who are travelling to prepare for the worst case scenario since if it happens you will be prepared. Arrive at least three hours ahead of any flight in case there is a problem. The rest of the trip was pretty straight forward. Our flight to San Fran came in early and I made the adjustments by contacting Air Canada at the SF Airport. At roughly 1 pm we were on our way to Canada and I relaxed by watching two excellent movies. We arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport at about 5:15 pm and were home by 8pm. Victoria's Mom picked us up.
In general, the whole trip was excellent. With the exception of the incident at SB Airport (the second one I have had with staff in two years) the trip was a very enjoyable adventure.
and has a great history behind it! Amber was away in Texas at a "Cutting" competition so the only time we could see her was Tuesday when she got back.
On arriving at the ranch which is situated just off HWY 101 South just a few miles away from Buellton, we found out that her horses received some very high standings out of 300 others. If I'm not mistaken one of her horses scored a third and another took 8th and 10th.
Amber is a very youngish 25 and quite pretty. Her looks remind me a an excellent cross between the sophisticated blonde Californian look and one that is "girl next door/down to earth Texan). Regardless, she is not hard to look at and that smile of hers would warm the meanest persons heart in seconds!
When we arrived she was busy practicing "Cow Cutting" with one of her horses. She greeted us with the same enthusiasm that she always has. One would have never known that she has just arrived from what I think was a three week hard competition.
After talking to us briefly, Taryn and Victoria were able to saddle up two horses and Amber proceeded to give them some Reining instruction. Now, keep in mind that Taryn and Victoria are both Hunter/Jumper competitors and the "seat" is different. That is the way one has to sit and balance on a horse. Victoria had never ridden this type of western activity and Taryn had some intro to it from Amber last year (though she had been given excellent instruction prior by Tim and Lisa Stanton of Stone Ridge Farm in Pickering some years ago).
Taryn and Victoria had a ball galloping, sliding and twirling the prized horses. Amber has a way of getting the best out of people and Taryn profited greatly.
I slipped out and went to Los Olivos to leave a package for Fess Parker and also met with Sam Marmorstein at Los Olivos Cafe in order to give him a copy of the program that I did in 2006 as well as make some arrangements of receiving some of his prized 2004 Bernat Syrah. That still has to be arranged with one of the agents here but Sam did give me one of his bottles as a gift. Thanks Sam and I intend to share this with a good friend of mine who is also a restaurateur, Tino Fazio of Fazio's Ristorante in Oshawa, Ontario!
I arrived back at the ranch while the lesson was still going on and could see that the girls were having a hoot! It took about one hour and forty minutes to get to the end of the lesson and after we bid our good-byes, we were off to Santa Barbara and the Sandman Hotel!
The Sandman is a well run and well kept hotel (or Motel) with usually spacious rooms and a good sized swimming pool. Decorated with mature Hibiscus, Magnolia and various other colourful ornamental trees with a backdrop of a huge mountain I found it always a pleasure visit.
The room the four of us were given this time could have been a bit more spacious and the air conditioning a bit more efficient but I would still give the hotel a passing grade! The girls and I then went for a late lunch.
The Downtown Brewery not far from the hotel was on our list to try partially because the hotel management suggested it and also because it was a hop skip and a jump away from the hotel. On first appearances it looked a dark and ominous but the very pleasant waitress who seated us, the very reasonable prices, the airy patio next to the eatery and the exceptional food made believers out of all of us. Darlene returned to have supper there and were lucky enough to get a two for one special. Imagine: two steak dinners with the trimmings for $14.95 and that is in Santa Barbara, California folks. Two India Pale Ales rounded out the meal and we left satisfied. It was then an early night for all of us since we had to get prepared for the early morning flight to San Francisco and then home.
Now I must tell you all that I am an apprehensive traveller. I firmly believe that if something can go wrong it will go wrong-----especially since I have been "caught" by mid-stream errors that were not of my doing. I am very sceptical with electronic services especially tickets. I wanted to get up and arrive at the airport some three hours prior but was overruled by the girls and Darlene. We ended up getting to the SB Airport at 5 am for a 7:12 flight to San Fran!
The beginning of my problem began when I noticed that the display monitor had 6, 6:12, 6:30 and 8:38 flights on time but no 7:12 am flights as per our tickets. When we got into line, the agent did her computer thing and said "there are four of you". "Yes" was my response.
"Do you have paper tickets?" she said somewhat confused.
"No, just what you see there!"
"This is not enough. I can't give you boarding passes!"
"There must be a mistake! We have flights confirmed with Air Canada!"
"You must call Air Canada because I can't let you on the flight!"
Keep in mind that the flight was now at 6 am not 7:12 am and also that it was now 5:30 am and we had not yet checked in our luggage or got passes!!
She rang the AC number as my heart started to sink and my mind was racing as to what to do next. She gave me the phone and I went through several voice messages until a human being came on. The voice behind the phone was clear, concise and cool seemed very competent.
"What can I do for you?"
"Well I had confirmed tickets on an AC Flight out of Santa Barbara and the the agent does not want to give us boarding passes!"
"Can you give me your "E-ticket" number?" I gave it too him!
"If they would just do their job the reply was. You are confirmed---let me speak to the agent!" All I could see her do was reply defensively and her hand started shaking and her voice started quivering. When it was over, she was quite upset----so much that I had to interject and build her confidence up a bit. She finally came through and gave us our boarding passes and couldn't do enough to help us.
I always tell those who are travelling to prepare for the worst case scenario since if it happens you will be prepared. Arrive at least three hours ahead of any flight in case there is a problem. The rest of the trip was pretty straight forward. Our flight to San Fran came in early and I made the adjustments by contacting Air Canada at the SF Airport. At roughly 1 pm we were on our way to Canada and I relaxed by watching two excellent movies. We arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport at about 5:15 pm and were home by 8pm. Victoria's Mom picked us up.
In general, the whole trip was excellent. With the exception of the incident at SB Airport (the second one I have had with staff in two years) the trip was a very enjoyable adventure.
posted by Chuck Byers - Wine Consultant | 12:15 PM
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