PART 2
The next day, we headed over to a diner we had seen while tootling around. Margie's Diner was housed in a very cool building with late '50's/early '60's space age architecture. Zowie!
I was enamored with the place instantly, if only for the building...and for the fact that (according to the menu) everything served was "real food"---nothing prepackaged, canned, frozen.
Erich was more skeptical. He was basing his opinion on the lack of customers in the joint. It was late morning (duh! When do we ever get going early?) and, as evidenced by the piles of used dishes on the counter below, they'd had a pretty busy breakfast period already.
Erich was also turned off by the prices. Admittedly they were high. $15 or so for each breakfast. Ouch! But there was a pile of food. You could really feed two people from each plate. The photos below do not do the massive mountains of food justice. It was Erich's contention that they could have charged less and served smaller, more appropriate portions.
After breakfast, we explored downtown Paso Robles...such a cute city square.
And, of course, no trip to Paso would be complete without a visit to Brown Butter Cookie Company. YUM!
Hmm. There seems to be a package of bourbon (!?!) -flavored cookies missing from this display. Jeepers, I wonder who would buy those? Hee hee.
I'd love to explore this old theater...and raid its poster room! Dang!
After a leisurely afternoon in Paso, we headed for the new release wine party at one of my favorite wineries, Chronic Cellars. It was a private tasting for members only (and I'm a member. Whoo hoo!).
We got there a little early because I was worried about the parking situation. The parking lot is rather small. Sure enough, the lot was pretty much packed already...but we found a spot along the driveway in. We then headed up to the patio at the main entrance...
We checked in here and were given special glasses to use for the evening.
On this terrace, we sampled the new release whites.
We soon headed over to the other side where the main part of the party was held. It was still early so it hadn't gotten crowded yet.
On this side they served the new reds.
For dinner, they had hired a crew that served street tacos.
The stuff I thought was guacamole was very hot hot sauce! ARGH!!!! I had to drink a lot of water. It was embarrassing.
As the evening progressed, it got more and more crowded. And we sampled the various wines, um...several times. Ha!
Here are the wine glasses.
Pour away, pal. CHEERS!
As we were sitting and sipping our wine and chatting with the older couple, just like in the movies, someone burst out of the building asking if there was a doctor or nurse in attendance. Huh? Oh dear. For the briefest of moments, I considered saying nothing. But, I raised my hand and said I was a nurse. I was hauled inside. It seems that one of the party goers had had a seizure. Crap. I was stressing out. What was I going to do? There's a reason i do NOT work in the emergency room. i don't like surprises. EEK!
The man was on the far side of the room, around the tasting bar. When I got to him, three other women (including his wife) were on the floor next to him. They already had him on his side. One lady was cradling his head. His seizure (thank goodness) had already stopped.
He was an older guy. He was an amputee with an artificial leg. You could also see that he'd had some sort of abdominal surgery in the past as a scar was showing on his belly where his shirt rode up. His color was good. His pulse was good. I talked to his wife and asked her what had happened. She said that they had been to a few other wineries that day already. It was rather warm and they were just about to leave when he cried out and fell to the ground, hitting his head, and had the seizure. She said that she thought he also may have had a stroke, that she was having trouble understanding him just before it happened.
I told her that when he woke up, he was liable to be confused and disoriented, he may not know who he was or where he was. That was common for the postictal phase of a seizure. He started to wake up about that time. Also about that time, an RT (Respiratory Therapist) and a nurse practitioner showed up. I was thinking, great...maybe I can sneak away? I mean, the NP out trumped me. He just stood there and offered a few words of advice. The wife called the three of us and the other two women helping her "guardian angels". The EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) showed up (thank god) and took over (Phew!). Before disappearing back into the crowd, I told the wife to tell the doctors what she had told me about his possibly having a stroke just before the seizure. The sooner they treat him if he did have a stroke, the quicker they can slow/stop the damage. She squeezed my hand, smiled at me and thanked me...and then I backed away and went back to the others outside.
Here is the gentleman being put into the ambulance.
we had a bit more wine, but it was hot and we were tired from the sun.
The next day, after a quick breakfast at Starbucks, we headed out on the Paso Robles Wine Trail...which I dig as it is among these rolling hills out in the country on a dirt/gravel road.
Before heading home, we were planning on visiting Pear Valley Winery, another winery I really like (and am also a member of). The grounds and facility are beautiful. They are having a wine release party in October and I hope I get to go to that. But for now, we would have complimentary tastings (for members) before heading out.
Our plan was to be on the road home no later than noon. We'd only spent a half hour at Pear Valley and it was only 11:30. Did we want to stop at another winery?
As we drove towards the 41/46, we decided to stop at Steinbeck Vineyards. I had long wanted to visit the place as I wondered if they were related to the author John Steinbeck, who hailed from Salinas originally, not too far to the north. Steinbeck had also been the name of the school I taught at for years in Fresno.
The owners, amazingly, were NOT related to the famous author (and you know that a LOT of people probably stop there assuming it IS a relative). The wines didn't work for me or for Erich (and the prices were really outlandish, especially for such poor wines), but the tasting room was nice. It was like a mini-museum of local and Steinbeck family history.
Erich and I each bought one bottle of wine there though, just to be polite. And all too soon it was time for the long, long drive back home.
Until the next adventure...
CHEERS!
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