Plop Mrs. Jones down in the Santa Ynez valley, add some Santa Barbara – throw in fifty percent of her offspring and you have the recipe for SOME KINDA FUN! First on the list – the reunion!!
How about a little wine tasting tour of beautiful Los Olivos? Stop in at Carhartt for the great wine and live music! The cool thing about this town is that all the Vineyards have little storefronts in this quaint village… so, it’s a lovely stumble about town, no driving required! Side fact, The funny movie Sidways was filmed here!
Next it was time to shake off the campsite dust and head to Santa Barbara for a little wedding dress shopping! Yep, Mrs. Jones is on her way to being the mother of the bride… Could her daughter have picked a more gorgeous venue than THE historic Santa Barbara Courthouse? (Hmmm, maybe it’s time to plan Mrs. Jones’ next wedding?) Hooray that the youngest offspring could make it back from world travel to meet up with mom and number two offspring! Shout out to the best most fantastic friends of the bride-to-be, Nicole and Avery. Mrs. Jones’ California baby is in good hands with this crew. Did we find the dress? Mrs. Jones isn’t talking…
No way was Mrs. Jones passing up a pic of this Quinceanera beauty!
After a morning and afternoon filled with pomp and circumstance it was time to head back to the Santa Ynez Valley to meet the boys… Sunstone Vineyard sounded just right! (Can’t stop calling it Sunstroke, though!). After a day together in Los Olivos, do the fellas look a little suspect?
Don’t miss the Maverick in Santa Ynez, it’s a fantastic western style dance bar – exactly where you need to be when the wheels come off…
With the baby dolls headed back to work and school, it was time for Mrs. Jones to drag her guy all over the county… Check out Cold Spring Tavern, an historic old stop off for the stagecoaches running money and goods all over the West coast. Visions of the wild, wild west linger in this special canyon. The best tri tip sandwhiches in the country, maybe. Even a jail cell for the unruly!
Last but not least, time to dig up a sport’s bar to watch Monday night football – and SURPRISE the power is out in the entire valley due to a wildfire… We’ll be OK, right? Evacuations aren’t ordered for Lake Cachuma Campground, right? Dude, is that smoke in the sky? No worry, the ranger assured Mrs. Jones that they would come knocking on the RV door when they get the evacuation orders… Sleep tight, relax. 
Time to google the Chumash Tribal rain dance ritual… Maybe it worked! No evacuation in the night, Good morning wild turkeys!
A quick fact about Cachuma Lake is there is no swimming permitted. The Lake is a reservoir for drinking water, so no human contact! That goes for furry friends, too. Poor Otter was so disappointed he couldn’t show off his swimming skills again!
Seriously, living in this part of the world with the threat of fire, evacuation, devastation of your home at any minute is truly heroic. Hooray for the brave Firefighters that beat back the flames while Mrs. Jones slept soundly. There’s not enough thanks in the world for the risks they face and protection they offer us. Adios beautiful Santa Barbara,
Hello badass LA traffic. For the first time in many many days the careening RV will be taking a left and headed back East! Watch out, Vegas, baby!
Mrs Jones on the Road 
It has taken me a while to catch up with you two – but have had such fun reading about all your adventures , eating and drinking places and can’t believe you are STILL on the road! Sounds as if you may be almost on the home stretch after having missed all the Dorian excitement!!
In case you are wondering who the hell this is- remember Missoula in the doggie park with Sophie and Haggis and the two 70 something chicks?!!!!! Enjoy Vegas!!!!
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Doreen and Donna and we love you two!! We have run into a person or two from Lethbridge since meeting you! We are in Vegas and heading east toward home! Xoxo
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