California Vacation - Phase 2

After spending about a week in the SF Bay Area, visiting Rebecca in Marin County, Ben in San Francisco, and First Congo people in Oakland, I began phase 2 of my California vacation. I was travelling on my first solo vacation. I stayed at a hostel in Pescadero for 2 nights, drove down hwy 1 and then stayed 2 nights in San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo is about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It's a cute little city. It actually reminded me of Madison.

One day, I went to Pismo beach since it's supposed to be one of the nicest beaches on the California coast. But, it was a windy day and only about 62 degrees on the coast so I didn't stay long. I decided to head inland and check out the Paso Robles wine country I'd heard about. I heard it was like Napa 15 years ago, before it exploded. Don't get me wrong. I like Napa. It's gorgeous and I had a lot of fun visiting there with Eric's mom, Bob, and Carrie a few years back. Eric and I even watched the sunrise from a hot air balloon ride! But, Napa is a huge tourist destination. It is very expensive and can be quite crowded. Paso Robles on the other hand has many opportunities for free wine tasting, is supposedly less pretentious, and less crowded. You may familiar with the region if you saw the movie Sideways.

I did a little wine tasting, but was traveling on my own so I couldn't do much. It was fun - and free! After the tasting I drove out to the rolling hills to capture a few images of the vineyards. I only wish it had been sunrise or sunset. Next time.