When I wrote our last blog I was a bit worried how it might be received. Wow was I surprised at number of the comments! Interestingly most folks overwhelmingly agreed with what we had to say and added a few comments of their own. Having ranted about out issues with Northern California we do however have to admit that we are enjoying our stay here at Wine Country RV Resort in Paso Robles, CA, even though it is very pricey to us at 250 per week.
For those that don’t know about this area, Napa Valley isn’t the only place where California wine is produced. There are over 200 vineyards and wineries in the Paso Robles 
area. While here our agenda included exploring this part of the California coastline and to sample some of the wines produced here.
We visited three wineries in the area that didn’t charge for their tastings as many do here. We enjoyed the wines we sampled at each winery and picked up a couple of nice wines to take home with us. We also enjoyed a lunch that we packed at the beautiful estate of the Castoro Winery. Another highlight was having had the pleasure of meeting some of the owners of D’Anbino Vineyards when we stopped to sample their wines. One of the owners was a very 
interesting fellow. In his previous working life he was a professional sound mixer working in Los Angeles and told us some interesting stories about several of the big time musicians he worked with. He even won an Emmy for his work with HBO’s series Deadwood. He also did a lot of work with music for the movie Dirty Dancing. The tasting room is right in the downtown part of Paso Robles and is a must stop if visiting the area
Another day we drove over to Cambria, California on Highway 1 where we were once again greeted with the persistent coastline fog that shrouds much of the scenic views along the shoreline. Fog does have its own beauty but too much of it is not necessarily a good thing. A few areas of blue sky peeked out through the clouds to give us some view of what the area is like in when the fog is gone.
Southern California is one very beautiful area and combined with its weather it has attracted throngs of people to live in this part of the state. As beautiful as it is and what was once a state high on our list of possible places to settle down, it has now be removed from the list. But that is okay with us as there are many more states we have yet to visit. We are still enjoying our stay here but just not as much as we once thought we would…
We really enjoyed wine country also, but did find out that we like Oregon and Washington wine better.
ReplyDeleteOne of the weather things you learn about the coast is that the hotter it is inland, the more likely it is to be foggy at the coast. That is why late fall and winter at the coast are often incredibly beautiful. Any west coast. I have no idea if that is true on the east coast or not, being a Westerner. California taxes are way too high. Oregon has a fairly high state income tax, but if you get any kind of federal pension, (not social security) that income is discounted on your state income tax. A nice little benefit that many folks don't know about.
ReplyDeleteHope you were able to visit some of the Monterey county vineyards and tasting rooms. There are some spectacular wines out there. We like Paso too.
ReplyDeleteWe stayed at the same RV park a couple of years ago. It was expensive, but worth the splurge. We also found a small RV park in nearby Morro Bay that we loved. It was in town and reasonably priced. The entire park was paved with brick. You could walk anywhere in town from the park. We plan to go back there some day.
ReplyDeleteWe will be work camping not far from Napa so hope to visit a lot of the wine country during our stint there. We figure by work camping we may be able to afford it.
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