The California Central Coast is a wonderful area, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a four hour drive either direction. San Luis Obispo County is a newer destination for “wine country” with over two hundred wineries offering samples (sometimes for free).  We have some larger wineries (bottling 1,000s annually), along with many “boutique” wineries (with just a couple hundred bottles produced each year).  There is also growing olive industry, and even some lavender farms in the area.

Recreational fun is all over the place, with rugged, Montana de Oro State Park with great hiking trails along the coast in Los Osos, Morro Rock (sort of like Gibraltar) sticking up high along the coast and a great estuary for kayaking in Morro Bay, winding up the coast along Hwy 1 to the quaint village of Cambria.  Although a little on the “touristy” side, there are several wonderful art galleries, including a great one with locally, blown glass (e.g., jellyfish suspended in a large glob of glass). 

A little further north on Hwy 1 is San Simeon with Hearst’s Castle (no, you can’t make an overnight reservation)- think of a castle on the hill incorporating and built with parts of other castles and palaces from all over Europe, the outdoor Neptune’s swimming pool (and the indoor one with real gold tiles), luxury of the very rich and Hollywood at its heyday in the 1930s, and now a state park. 

Driving north, just past “the Castle” you can visit a couple of places along the beach where giant elephant seals visit for most of the fall, winter and spring.  Early in January, you might be able to see some very small ones amongst the males 40 times their size.  You are now just about at the south end of wild and scenic Big Sur coastline. 

We hear tell that there is some great surfing along Avila Beach and Cayucos, the pismo clams can sometimes be dug in Pismo Beach, and orange, monarch butterflies still congregate by the thousands in Oceano, along with miles and miles of coastal dunes ready for dune buggy adventures.  We have miles and miles of bike trials, both “urban” but mostly in the rural areas of the county (we only have about 265,000 residents).

Inland, our main town, still only having 45,000 residents, is San Luis Obispo, one of the original Spanish missions (from 1772) and also a state university town, Cal Poly.  Mission Plaza, in front of the “working” mission church, usually has something free-for-the-wandering going on most weekends.  Our annual week of  GLBT pride ends with a large celebration on the plaza in front of the mission.  Every Thursday evening, for the past 25+ years, SLO closes its main street so that the weekly farmers’ market can provide fresh produce, flowers, a place for groups to set up their informational booths and offers some tasty BBQ (the competition is tough between a half-dozen restaurants). 

If you like unique inns, be sure to check out the hot pink Madonna Inn with its one-of-a-kind rooms, and its over-the-top decorated restaurant and lobby (you should see it during the holiday season!).  Be sure to find the downstairs’ men’s room for a rushing waterfall urinal and giant clam shell sinks. 

Cal Poly houses the county’s main live-theater which brings world-famous entertainment productions.  There are a few local, community theater groups, as well as our symphony and orchestras.  Downtown SLO usually has a handful of live musical groups most days of the week.

From the beaches of the coastline to downtown are seven wonderful peaks that are actually of volcanic origin.  Several can be hiked (watch out for the poison oak).  The Santa Lucia range divides the southern part of the county from the north, so head up (or down) “the grade” to get to the other part of the county.  At both ends of the 3 mile stretch are highway signs showing a mama bear and cub, warning drivers to be on the lookout for jaywalking wildlife.  Being a rural county, native wildlife abounds, including wild turkeys, boar, deer, red-tailed hawks and even a few mountain lions and bobcats.

A majority of the wineries are in the Paso Robles area, with mostly red wines, but some great whites, too.  Summer days are very warm in the north county, with the Mid-State Fair always in the 90s in August. 

All over the county, there are fine restaurants serving all kinds of cuisines- Thai, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, fusion, organic, world ethnic, Indian and of course freshly caught seafood.  There are numerous, local sandwich places that can provide a simple lunch to take to a winery for an afternoon treat.  Almost every weekend, there is a winery somewhere in the county that offers some sort of live entertainment. 

Atascadero (Spanish for “mud hole”), our small town of 28,000 residents, was founded as a planned, utopian colony in 1913.  The third largest community in the county is the home to the small local Charles Paddock Zoo, Chalk Mountain Golf Course, a community lake where you can rent a canoe or kayak, and a brand new “Faces of Freedom” Veterans’ Memorial.

“Casa del los Quercus,” our home and the guest apartment, is at the southern part of the north county, but because we are on the western side of the 1,500 foot crest of Hwy 41, we have a cooler, climate due to the marine influence from Morro Bay.  On a clear day from the top of Belmonte Peak (Dana’s last name which means “beautiful mountain”), you can see the Pacific Ocean off in the distance.  Enjoy the small patio at your front door, while sipping a glass of local wine and watching the sunset through the wild oak trees.

Presently, our 11 acres are starting to put on quite a show with all kinds of wild plants and flowers (like shooting stars, star lilies, maidenhair ferns, monkey face plants, hummingbird sage) and there may still be a small, seasonal creek trickling in Click’s Meadow. If you want to take advantage of the “wild” scenery, we have a few benches for resting on your way up the hill (a 300+ foot change in elevation), so take a bottle of local wine and wine goblets from the apartment, and enjoy a hike up for the views.

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