California Central Coast

We're now in the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so on Friday, December 6th, we leave the Stockton area for Bakersfield, where Tom and Tank will spend the night while Wendy takes her sister and mom back home to Pasadena.

The next day, when Wendy returns to Bakersfield from Pasadena, we continue over to Morro Bay on the central coast. The Morro Bay area is one of our favorite areas in California to spend time. The weather is generally mild and agreeable, and the coastline is beautiful.

He's a little early, but while we are at the campground, we get a visit from Santa.

Before heading north, we take a side trip inland to Paso Robles to check out the wine country. We get a nice site at Paso Robles RV Ranch & Campground as the base camp for our visit. The campground is the only privately owned RV park left in Paso Robles and was a very well-kept and relaxing place to stay.

Our first stop was Oso Libre Winery. The wines were good and our server was very informative. We probably lingered a little longer than we should have, at the cost of seeing more wineries.

We had planned to have lunch along with our tasting at Oso Libre, but their kitchen was closed, so we stopped at the next food joint, which turned out to be AronHill Vineyards. Yay, we were still able to get our tasting and lunch!

Final stop for the visit is to Fratelli Perata Winery. Wendy wanted to visit, if for no other reason than to support a UC Davis viticulture and enology grad. Unfortunately, the day was winding down, so visit was very short.

Now it's Dec 16th, so we need to start making our way north. We've snagged a spot on the beach (ok, ok, it's winter, so there's all kinds of availability) at Seacliff State Beach.

We have a great visit taking walks along the beach.


There was only one stormy day with waves lapping at the camping area. Guess Tom thought the best remedy was to take Wendy to lunch at Cafe Sparrow, a must visit French cafe.

Unfortunately, Wendy was not enamored with the flavor of her pork belly sandwich. When the waitress asked how things were and noticed Wendy's hesitancy, she immediately made it right, and brought a new dish.