Paso Robles and Cambria

“Paso Robles is a California city, known for its wineries and olive groves.” – Google

Our stay in Paso Robles is where we finally felt like we were on vacation after over a year of being extra cautious during the pandemic. While there are many Harvest Host locations that would let us stay at wonderful wineries, Harvest Host only lets you stay one night at a time at each host location. We wanted to settle in and check out the area a bit longer, so we booked a couple of nights at Cava Robles RV Resort, a campground in town. The location was great, there were tons of amenities, and because they offered so much the price was high (but hey, this is California, we expected it). Sadly, despite all they offer we can’t recommend this campground. It was so noisy – lots of screaming kids during the day and parties by the parents late into the night (apparently the 10 p.m. quiet time means nothing around here).

But, before we knew all that we parked our little home on wheels and took off to taste some wine. There are so many wineries here that we found our first one just around the corner, and it was lovely.

After a horrible, no good, miserable night – (I mean, c’mon, we’re all for a fun time but the party was still going on at 2:30 a.m.!! And this campground doesn’t even have a camp host, just staff who come in for the day shift) – we got up and drove about 30 minutes to the coast.

Cambria is a cute little town just south of the Hearst Castle and Seal Beach. We’ve been through here many times and always enjoy coming back.

Whenever we come back I make it a point to stop by this yarn shop to stock up (did I mention I crochet while Joel drives? It relaxes me). The owners are super friendly and they always have a great selection. During the pandemic they offered online classes and either mailed or did curbside pick up of their yarns.

One thing you will always see if you follow our travels, Joel touching the water. He never seems to be satisfied just being at the beach, always has to dip either a toe or a finger in. Today he took his shoes off and walked right in. It was a warm-ish day so I’m sure he was expecting it to be nice…

…but, nooooo. Turns out we are far enough north that the water is quite chilly here. He managed to get in and brave a wave up to his knees and then turned and ran out.

All in all this was a great day.

After touching the water we decided to take a stroll along the boardwalk. There are so many little furry critters digging tunnels along side the boardwalk. They seem to be extremely comfortable around people. The squirrel pictured below never stopped eating the whole time we were there. I crouched down and took several pictures and he just kept right on eating his meal.

You see all sorts of strange things when you travel. We watched this man walk his dog up to the railing and lift the dog up. We both thought, “What the…??” But the dog seemed really happy trotting around on top of the railing. Joel took their picture…the dog was happily wagging his tail while walking along.

We also came across this windswept cypress tree which has been cut to form a tunnel over the boardwalk. The entire boardwalk is about 2.5 miles (about 4 km) and follows along the waters edge. We only walked a short section this time.

We had lunch at Robin’s Restaurant in Cambria. I forgot to get pictures but here is a link to their site. They have a beautiful garden patio and the food is delicious. We highly recommend it. Afterwards we headed back to Paso Robles to stop and taste a bit more wine. Our first winery is one that we have enjoyed for many years – Aron Hill Vineyards. Their cabernet is delicious.

After some time on their patio we decided to try something new. We had a list of recommendations yet didn’t realize all of these places were either closed due to covid or required reservations, which we hadn’t made. We finally stopped at this vineyard to see if they had an opening for us to do a tasting. Turns out you don’t need reservations here, and they are a Harvest Host location (we will be back!). Their tasting room was outdoors and very relaxed. They had quite a selection, red and white, and were quite reasonably priced.

After a couple of days here we headed north. Our next stop – Santa Cruz.