Paso Robles Area Trip

[pblasco]

Originally Posted by foodguy

yeah, what he said... i like slo a lot more than pr. access to better wines, too, as far as i'm concerned. paso is hot, hot, hot. wines tend to be really ripe and really alcoholic (my views on that should be clear by now). slow, you've got access to the pr wines if you want (it's about 45 minutes, something like that), but also edna valley and surrounding areas which are cooler. you can even make a nice day trip down to the santa ynez area.
slo thursday is terrific ... i really like the farmers market, though it has turned into more of an outdoor dine-a-thon than a true fm. great tri-tip, though.
also like Big Sky cafe ... eclectic but they do everything pretty well. also, the old port inn in avila beach is a good place to visit ... you can eat seafood and look down at the waves through your table (seriously ... they have plexiglass windows in them).

Big Sky is great! Can't believe I forgot that. It's worth going there for their cornbread muffins alone.

 

[Piobaire]

SLO or slow = ? San Luis?

 

[pblasco]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

SLO or slow = ? San Luis?

Yeah.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by pblasco

Yeah.

And I might be better off staying there? That Hotel Cheval in PR looks great (the suites seem pretty nice) but I'm not stuck on it. If the experience would be better in SLO, I'll start looking there.

 

[Manton]

SLO is a far nicer town than Paso. No comparison, really. But Santa Barbara is far nicer than either.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Manton

SLO is a far nicer town than Paso. No comparison, really. But Santa Barbara is far nicer than either.

I gotta look at some maps this weekend. Now you guys have my interest in this trip rekindled.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by Manton

SLO is a far nicer town than Paso. No comparison, really. But Santa Barbara is far nicer than either.
Santa Barbara is great (mmmmm, Super-Rica!). but i don't really think of it as competition. In the first place, it's a whole different experience ... especially for wine visiting ... the "Santa Barbara wine country" is actually about an hour north. Also, it's way pricier. Probably double and even triple what lodging in SLO or paso is. Santa Barbara is much more of a "California Riviera" kind of experience. Not that that's a bad thing.

 

[pblasco]

I would recommend staying in SLO rather than Paso. Paso is only about 30 minutes north, so you can easily make trips up to wineries there. SLO is also about 90 minutes north of Santa Barbara, which would make a nice day trip.

Or, it might be worth it to stay in Santa Barbara and make a day trip to SLO/Paso. I haven't actually spent much time there, which is something I'm trying to remedy, but from my experience it is a nice town. A bit bigger than SLO, 80-90k people compared to 40-50k.

How long of a trip were you thinking?

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by pblasco

I would recommend staying in SLO rather than Paso. Paso is only about 30 minutes north, so you can easily make trips up to wineries there. SLO is also about 90 minutes north of Santa Barbara, which would make a nice day trip.

Or, it might be worth it to stay in Santa Barbara and make a day trip to SLO/Paso. I haven't actually spent much time there, which is something I'm trying to remedy, but from my experience it is a nice town. A bit bigger than SLO, 80-90k people compared to 40-50k.

How long of a trip were you thinking?

Proabably arrive on a Monday, leave Friday.

 

[pblasco]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Proabably arrive on a Monday, leave Friday.

Might be worth it to spend a few days in the SLO/Paso area and a few in the Santa Barbara area.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Proabably arrive on a Monday, leave Friday.

Five days in Paso will bore you to tears.

 

[foodguy]

^^^^+1
5 days in paso isn't a vacation, it's a sentence.

 

[Piobaire]

LOL, okay, not staying in Paso.

 

[BDC2823]

Perhaps you'd like to stay in Avila/Pismo? It's on the water (if you are into that as I'm a huge ocean person) and a short drive from SLO/Morro Bay, and you can spend time going south to Santa Barbara as well.

 

[A Y]

Let me know if you decide to visit Santa Barbara. I live there and would be happy to suggest things to do. Paso's good for a day trip, but I wouldn't spend a whole week there unless you want to get away from everything.

SB wine country is more like 30 minutes away from downtown, BTW.

--Andre