20° south of Holy Island (and 120° west)
Apr. 22nd, 2012 07:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomust- that's what ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler told me when I asked him how far south we are. Anyway, it's as far south as we will go on this trip, at Cayucos on the Central Coast, south and west of Paso Robles. Our original plan had been to take a couple of excursions from Sunnyvale, down to the coast and north to the wine country of Napa or Sonoma; then we talked to klwilliams's brother and his partner, who gave us such a glowing account of Paso Robles and its wines that we decided to make a single longer trip south. They also recommended the Paso Robles Inn, but we had left it too late to find a room in Paso Robles itself, and we have ended up in the much less elegant - and less pricey - Beachwalker Inn (warning: site plays music) on the coast at Cayucos, where they have upgraded us to a suite (ie we have a kitchen corner) and we are very comfortable. We had a ocean view when we arrived, but today the coast has vanished into the fog.
It was fine when we arrived yesterday, and we had time to explore downtown - that is, to walk the length of the town along Ocean Avenue, checking all the eating places (plus a detour out to the end of the pier) before deciding on Hoppe's, where we had a very enjoyable meal, and were out in time to see the last of the sunset fading over the pier, and back across the little creek where the noise of the frogs was deafening.
Had we been staying in Paso Robles, I suppose we'd have spend the day lurching from one wine tasting to another, staying within the town so we could do the whole thing on foot. As it was, we had to drive into town, which meant more work and less drinking fordurham_rambler; I hope he thinks it was worth it. I enjoyed the scenic drive and the different selection of wineries to visit, and think we gained on the deal.
Almost as soon as we turned off the coast road into the hills, we were driving in sunlight, through avocado groves. Our first stop was at the Wild Horse Winery, where we stepped out of the car into blazing heat. Fortunately the tasting room was cool, and we wre greeted with a glass of refreshing sangiovese rosé (named after the lama whose name I have forgotten but whose job is to mingle with the sheep and protect them from coyotes).
Then on into Paso Robles, where there was a small market in the park. I managed to buy a rather strange bonnet - I hadn't brought a hat with me, and have been looking for one - anddurham_rambler bought some almonds from the producer.
We lunched at Artisan, which was delightful, and very swish. We both chose 'small plate' options: I had the cheese, anddurham_rambler the charcuterie, with a side salad each. This brought me a large rectangular plate, bearing a tiny skillet of Lamb Chopper (thank you, Google. I wouldn't have identified it as sheep's milk, I'd have compared it to cheddar) melted over a sweet fig preserve, a wedge of Mt. Tam, a camembert-style cheese, pleasantly creamy and just a little bland, and the Central Coast Creamery's Big Rock Blue, a characterful blue served with caramelised walnuts. With these I drank a 'flight' of white wines - I could get fond of this practice of serving small glasses of a group of themed wines - Silver Horse Albariño, Clavo Vermentino "Voluptuous" (which was) and the star of the bunch, the Hearst Ranch's "Three Sisters Cuvée" (a marsanne/ grenache blanc/ roussanne blend, and the second Rhône-style white I've tasted on this trip which has made me reconsider my dislike of marsanne. Better draw a veil over the desserts...
We completed our tour of downtown Paso Robles, which didn't take very long, then hit the road again. We had come into town from the south and east, and we looped round to leave to the north and west, along Peachy Canyon road. Another winding road, dotted with wineries, bordered with vines and orchards, and at the end of it Limerock Orchards, where they make perfectly acceptable wines and absolutely delicious toasted walnut oil and walnut butter. Old Creek Road brought us through green rolling hills, startled us with views of a beautiful lake (Whale Rock Reservoir, apparently) at the end of which we could see a white bar of mist into which we descended at Highway 1.
Undaunted, we ended our excursion with a walk on the beach in the fog. Tomorrow we go north again, back to Sunnyvale.
durham_rambler told me when I asked him how far south we are. Anyway, it's as far south as we will go on this trip, at Cayucos on the Central Coast, south and west of Paso Robles. Our original plan had been to take a couple of excursions from Sunnyvale, down to the coast and north to the wine country of Napa or Sonoma; then we talked to klwilliams's brother and his partner, who gave us such a glowing account of Paso Robles and its wines that we decided to make a single longer trip south. They also recommended the Paso Robles Inn, but we had left it too late to find a room in Paso Robles itself, and we have ended up in the much less elegant - and less pricey - Beachwalker Inn (warning: site plays music) on the coast at Cayucos, where they have upgraded us to a suite (ie we have a kitchen corner) and we are very comfortable. We had a ocean view when we arrived, but today the coast has vanished into the fog.It was fine when we arrived yesterday, and we had time to explore downtown - that is, to walk the length of the town along Ocean Avenue, checking all the eating places (plus a detour out to the end of the pier) before deciding on Hoppe's, where we had a very enjoyable meal, and were out in time to see the last of the sunset fading over the pier, and back across the little creek where the noise of the frogs was deafening.
Had we been staying in Paso Robles, I suppose we'd have spend the day lurching from one wine tasting to another, staying within the town so we could do the whole thing on foot. As it was, we had to drive into town, which meant more work and less drinking for
durham_rambler; I hope he thinks it was worth it. I enjoyed the scenic drive and the different selection of wineries to visit, and think we gained on the deal.Almost as soon as we turned off the coast road into the hills, we were driving in sunlight, through avocado groves. Our first stop was at the Wild Horse Winery, where we stepped out of the car into blazing heat. Fortunately the tasting room was cool, and we wre greeted with a glass of refreshing sangiovese rosé (named after the lama whose name I have forgotten but whose job is to mingle with the sheep and protect them from coyotes).
Then on into Paso Robles, where there was a small market in the park. I managed to buy a rather strange bonnet - I hadn't brought a hat with me, and have been looking for one - and
durham_rambler bought some almonds from the producer.We lunched at Artisan, which was delightful, and very swish. We both chose 'small plate' options: I had the cheese, and
durham_rambler the charcuterie, with a side salad each. This brought me a large rectangular plate, bearing a tiny skillet of Lamb Chopper (thank you, Google. I wouldn't have identified it as sheep's milk, I'd have compared it to cheddar) melted over a sweet fig preserve, a wedge of Mt. Tam, a camembert-style cheese, pleasantly creamy and just a little bland, and the Central Coast Creamery's Big Rock Blue, a characterful blue served with caramelised walnuts. With these I drank a 'flight' of white wines - I could get fond of this practice of serving small glasses of a group of themed wines - Silver Horse Albariño, Clavo Vermentino "Voluptuous" (which was) and the star of the bunch, the Hearst Ranch's "Three Sisters Cuvée" (a marsanne/ grenache blanc/ roussanne blend, and the second Rhône-style white I've tasted on this trip which has made me reconsider my dislike of marsanne. Better draw a veil over the desserts...We completed our tour of downtown Paso Robles, which didn't take very long, then hit the road again. We had come into town from the south and east, and we looped round to leave to the north and west, along Peachy Canyon road. Another winding road, dotted with wineries, bordered with vines and orchards, and at the end of it Limerock Orchards, where they make perfectly acceptable wines and absolutely delicious toasted walnut oil and walnut butter. Old Creek Road brought us through green rolling hills, startled us with views of a beautiful lake (Whale Rock Reservoir, apparently) at the end of which we could see a white bar of mist into which we descended at Highway 1.
Undaunted, we ended our excursion with a walk on the beach in the fog. Tomorrow we go north again, back to Sunnyvale.
