Winnie surfs up to San Clemente

Bright and early Sunday morning, Winnie and I surfed the coast to a new meeting place, "Zebra House Cafe", in San Clemente to meet our friends for morning coffee and muffins.

And a cheerful group they were, too! It was a bit chilly but promised to be a gorgeous day.

Dig this little Classic, it's the cat's meow! When those horns go off, the sound volume is remarkable. Everyone sits up and takes notice!

Here's Dan talking to the Zebra House Cafe owner, a very enthusiastic fellow who welcomed us kindly.

Most of the line up shows in this picture, but a few more came later and a couple were parked opposite, there were quite a few cars attending!

Above is one of those pretty Ice Blue MINIs, this one is a Clubman. (two door but larger than the regular Coopers) They are new to the club I think, and had a darling little pug too.

Phil explains to mOstyn that when the horns go off, truckers soil their undies. (not really but it could have been true)

What does everyone do at a breakfast? They mill around and talk, they look at each other's cars, they mill around some more, they eat, then they talk one more time before they wave goodbye.
This, then, is an 'action shot'.

This lovely silver grey convertible was parked on the other side of the aisle...

Winnie, amongst her friends. We bought new, upgraded wheels from a club member really cheap, they aren't the shiny chrome ones that I lust after but they are nicer than her original wheels and will tide me over until I have more money to spend. :-)

No 'run' today, just a leisurely breakfast at a new little place whose proprietor loves cars and used to own a MINI, and then back home again. Jiggity Jig.

Winnie gets washed, and goes to Julian

This weekend, Winnie met her friends right around the corner, at Ruby's in the outlet mall for breakfast. It was a foggy morning in Carlsbad, and a lot of the MINIs drove down from Los Angeles and Orange County. There were about twelve total cars, which a nice turnout for a new event I think. The first photos are of Winnie being washed, and the 'detail kit' that I use to wash her. Must be shiny and clean for the party!

Gasp! See the dirt? SEE IT??? Oh good gracious, that has to come off!

Bucket, sponges, microfiber cloths, chamois, Meguiars Gold wash, Adams polishes and various cleaning products. Shiny cars need more cosmetics than I own for myself!

Then we meet everyone in the parking lot of Ruby's:

Had a nice breakfast, including door prizes for everyone. Craig won a free breakfast coupon, and I won a Mini Cooper magazine issue. Yes, dear, now I WILL have to subscribe. You guessed it. :-)

We ran twistys up to Julian, through Ramona. Here we are at the parking lot in Julian.... well, some of us. We didn't all park together, it was too crowded. And much more so when we arrived! We walked down to MOMs pies for some tasty pie and a bathroom break.

Because MINIs drive better when their drivers are not hungry, we all met again down the road at Wynola Pizza, for some really delish oven baked thin crust gourmet pizza. I was not hungry yet but I ended up getting some tiramisu that was great!

Then we headed home, after a very enjoyable and relaxing day. Hard to believe, I've almost put 6,000 miles on Winnie in three months. That's almost a years worth of driving when I had the Nissan... hmmmmm, wonder why?

Grill badge installation

Here's how to install the SCMM grill badge, I'll load photos now and text later. :-)

Winnie goes to Solvang

When MINIs go somewhere, they travel in packs. Winnie the MINI went to Solvang the weekend of October 8th to be with her friends, and for Craig and I to belatedly celebrate our 28th Anniversary. We arrived a day early, on Thursday, so that we could take our time and be rested when everyone else arrived on Friday. Staying right in downtown Solvang, in the delightful Royal Copenhagen Inn, was great because we could walk though the town and visit the shops that we like so much. (We did buy a few Christmas presents)

Here's the view from our hotel room, looking down on Winnie in the parking lot, all by her lonesome.

We headed off to the meeting place just before noon on Friday, to meet the rest of the MINIs as they rolled up in a caravan from the south. Promptly at noon, the gates of the Mendenhall Museum opened up and the MINIs scooted in. We hadn't looked up what the Mendenhall Museum was all about, so we were enthralled when we looked around and saw the glory of this incredible private collection. Here, amidst a stunning display of petroliana, we had a deli lunch on a long bench. It was hard to concentrate on the food as we craned our necks to catch every gasoline pump, sign, and classic car that surrounded us. I'm glad that I took a lot of pictures so that I can really study them! Remember, you can click on any photo to see a larger version.

Seriously, that's not even half of the collection, I have a slew more photos! There were also racing boats, motorbikes, and many more cars tucked into bays that were completely filled with memorabilia. It was almost overwhelming!

We headed back to the hotel, and this time there were MINIs in the parking lot. People started hanging around outside of the rooms, sitting in metal chairs and folding chairs, munching on dips and cheese and sharing wine that they brought. I did decline the wine-- no rum in sight, what's a Pirate to do?-- and later, Craig and I went to dinner by ourselves, having a nice quiet evening (and I had an Australia lobster tail as big as your two fists! It was divine!)

The next day, after breakfast, we all headed out for the Run. I think that there were something like 15 MINIs that headed from Solvang, westward to Jalama Beach. That route was chosen because it is twisty and scenic, and the MINIs kept pace behind the leader who called out the road conditions on a two way radio. When we reached the beach, we ate lunch at a great little snack stand, and chatted about the day, our cars, and each other.

The last photo is of Scott, who owns Motoring Magic and is caught red-handed putting one of his stickers up on the window of the snack shack, to show that the MINIs had been there.

Everyone met later that evening for a catered dinner, to honor a club member who had passed away two years ago, and amidst the scrumptious Santa Maria style barbeque held in the clubhouse of the Alisal Ranch golf course, the celebration was concluded in a gracious and delicious manner.

Home, now, seems very quiet and mundane, but we have many new friends who welcomed us and made us feel a part of their group. We look forward to future events and to joining our MINI companions on their twisty runs.