Friday, February 16, 2018
Breakfast at home: a bowl of cereal with milk for Patrick, an apple and orange juice for me. Sam picked up Patrick and me. We gave him bags of groceries that were likely to spoil while we were gone. He drove us to the Transbay Temporary Terminal. Patrick and I begin our Hearst Castle vacation celebrating 18 years since we met. Amtrak connector bus to Oakland took 15 minutes. We boarded Amtrak train #11 where we had reserved a bedroom, Patrick's first on Amtrak. We boarded just in time for a late breakfast. We shared our table with an actor that Patrick had recognized but we couldn't place his name and he didn't offer it. He was traveling with his wife whom had remained in their room. Patrick had scrambled eggs with grits and a croissant that looked like a biscuit, coffee. I had scrambled eggs with potatoes and bacon and a croissant that looked like a biscuit, coffee, orange juice. We rode the train, enjoying the views of mostly hills and farmland. I began reading The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World by Alan Downs. Patrick napped at some point. We realized once we reached Paso Robles that we could have alighted there instead of at San Luis Obispo. I think my booking error occurred because I had read a web page saying that SLO was the closest station to San Simeon, but that that might have been written by someone in the L.A. area. It turned out alright, though, because rental car agencies in Paso Robles were not as good as those in SLO in terms of choice or ratings. Lunch in the dining car: at our table shared with an older couple, everyone ordered a hamburger but with various toppings. We arrived at SLO. We rode UberX in an Audi to the Avis counter at an Embassy Suites to pick up our rental car, which Patrick had trouble starting at first. We drove to Atascadero and checked in to The Carlton, which we liked. After checking in we asked the front desk to remove the feather and down bedding and while they did that we visited Grape Encounters Empourium, the companion to Grape Encounters Radio. We very much enjoyed the next couple of hours chatting with hosts David and Annie Wilson and other guests, eating complimentary chicken wings, and buying a bottle of Barolo. David was very non-pretentious and injected humor into seemingly every thread of conversation. The power had gone out earlier in the day while David was editing a new radio show episode. We tasted several wines and purchased some pours. We returned to the hotel room and unpacked. Drove to dinner at Thai Elephant with Patrick: cheese puffs, chicken panang curry, mongolian beef, jasmine rice, thai iced tea for Patrick, hot tea for me. Returned to the hotel. To bed.