A Wonderful Weekend at Slow Bowl 2013 Part 1

Some background

Slow Bowl is an annual event which takes place the weekend of the superbowl football game. On the weekend of "Slowbowl" many of my "Slow Traveler" friends gather to have some fun, reunite with old friends and meet new friends that share the joy of travelling.  We usually end up exploring different fun places in various areas of California. This year 50 of us gathered together for food, fun and wine tasting the weekend of Feb. 1-2-3. Friends came from many different areas of the United States and as far as Alaska.


Our destination this year was Los Alamos in Santa Barbara County.

*Los Alamos, Spanish for "the cottonwoods," is located approximately fifty miles north of Santa Barbara beside Highway 101.

It was a beautiful warm and clear morning when we left Los Angeles. It took about 3 and a half hours of leisure driving to reach Los Alamos from our home in Long Beach. This area is rapidly becoming a well-known wine producing area with vineyards stretching for miles on either side of town.

Our group booked all the rooms at the Skyview Motel. This is a rustic Western Americana themed place which resembled something from a 1950's movie. It actually was a perfect place for us as it is so conveniently located and is serene and peaceful on a hilltop overlooking ranches and vineyards and is just off the 101 freeway at Los Alamos. It has the feel of "The Bates Motel" as you enter up the hill.  It's funky in a good way and since this was the 2nd year our gathering was held here we knew it was a perfect setting for "party central" !

Mike enjoyed the view from here.

and I found a comfortable spot myself too.

This is Kurt the General Manager of Skyview* and his dog Indie, resident mascot.

We check into our room and greet other friends as they arrive.

Getting ready for a great weekend...the FUN is about to begin...

*For information about The Skyview Motel contact Kurt Jimenez :  Kjimenjez@theskyviewmotel.com

The World Within

“Think... of the world you carry within you.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke

Right Place, Right Time

Don't you just love it when you can say this:


"I  was exactly where I needed to be tonight!!!" - L. Viramontes

The Key

"Many a book is like a key to

 unknown chambers within the castles 

of one's own self."

-- Franz Kafka

New Worlds

Be a Columbus to whole new continents

 and worlds within you,

opening new channels,

 not of trade,

 but of thought.

- Henry David Thoreau

The Pillow

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon 

which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. 

And let faith be the bridge you build to 

overcome evil and welcome good." - Maya Angelou

Undefinable

"You cannot define electricity. The same can be said of art.
It is a kind of inner current in a human being, or something which needs no definition." -Marcel Duchamp

Three Duchamp brothers, left to right: Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon in the garden of Jacques Villon's studio in Pateaux, France, in 1914. All three participated in the 1913 Armory Show in New York. Photographer unknown.  Smithsonian collection

Marcel Duchamp (28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968;    was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist   movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art. He advised modern art collectors, such as Peggy Guggenheim   and other prominent figures, thereby helping to shape the tastes of  Western Art during this period.-Wikipedia