Vineyard Cottage Somewhere in Central California

Vineyard Cottage in Templeton

Vineyard Cottage in Paso Robles

Vineyard Cottage in Cambria

Vineyard Cottage Somewhere in Central California

Barbara and I are on our fourth stop of our summertime California trip.  We are staying at a lovely cottage near Paso Robles (www.vrbo.com/170229). This cottage is as nice as the one we rented in Los Olivos (see previous blog post) and actually more scenic. A renowned silversmith, Randy Stromsoe (www.randystromsoe.com) owns the cottage.  Randy and his wife, Lisa, live in a large “barn” down in the valley below the cottage.  The first floor of the building is his workshop and the family lives upstairs.  They have several acres of grapes under cultivation and a friend and neighbor actually takes the grapes after harvest to make some fine wines.

The cottage is located on a property at the intersection of Old Creek Road and Route 46.  Old Creek road winds, and I do mean winds, about twelve miles to US1 near Cayucos.  Route 46 runs from Templeton to US1 just south of Cambria. The drive to Cambria goes over the mountains protecting the shoreline at 1,741 feet and has some spectacular costal vistas. We have done most of our food shopping in Templeton, but the town lacks a full grocery store, yet has a Trader Joe’s.  We also found a local fruit stand with delicious heirloom tomatoes.  Next to Trader Joe’s are a fish store and an adjacent meat market.  Both are small but adequate.

The afternoon we arrived, we had lunch in the center of Paso Robles.  The restaurant food was okay, but we had a wonderful bottle of wine, Epoch Estates Blend.  We wondered if we would come across the winery in our travels.  We were somewhat shocked at the restaurant, Artisan, when a toy poodle of one of the women sitting in a booth across from us jumped up on their table.  Soon after the dog was on the booth seat lapping water from the owner’s water glass.  After the meal we mentioned this to the hostess, who seemed not to be concerned.  She said the poodle was a “service dog” and thus allowed in the restaurant.  I wonder what service except companionship a toy poodle can provide.  We cancelled our Saturday night reservations at the Artisan restaurant.

Did I mention that it gets very dark at night up on our hill?  It does.  We have had no moon in the early evening and there are more stars visible than I can imagine.  It is possible to sit out on the front porch after dinner and enjoy the evening breeze with little or no harassment from insects.  The only break in the evening silence is the buzzing of insects in the trees and the occasional car traveling along RT46 about 1,500 yards away.  I did have one insect visitor in the afternoon that I wish I had missed.  Walking to our car that we park about 50 yards from the cottage – the driveway up to the cottage is not one where you want to use reverse gear at anytime.  We park at an area we can turn around easily to head back down to civilization. Coming back from the car I noticed something ambling along a large graveled area at the side of the cottage.  Taking a look, it was a spider, a large, very large spider.  Using my foot it took about three kicks to get the beast back into the forested back of the house and into the fallen oak leaves.  Heading straight to Google, I was able to ascertain that I had encountered a California tarantula. I am not a big fan of spiders.

We played golf twice this week.  It was the Ying and Yang of golf courses.  The Links at Paso Robles was rather “rustic”.  No water, no sand in the traps, no benches, no shade and long.  The gas golf cart sputtered and belched every time it was started.  The only foliage besides grass were coyote bushes.  Beyond the rough (and everyone knows I play beyond the rough) were expanses of hard packed soil.  Your ball could roll another 50 yards in this outback area.  The clubhouse is a double wide.  It was cheap, $33 each with a cart.  We did get to see a rocket launch that took place at Vandenberg AFB while playing!  Two days later we played Hunter’s Ranch merely a mile and a half from the links.  This was a very nice course.  Like most California courses we played, it was not set up for a woman’s game.  Barbara found it very hard.  The slope rating is 131 from the white tees.  I shot a 93 even though I shot a double bogie each of the four par fives (with a good drive on each of those holes!).  We went through three bottles of water and four Coors Lights during the round and were glad we took the pro shop’s advice to fill our cooler with ice at the restaurant.  We walked off the course and the temperature was 102.  Dry heat or not, we were roasted.

I am really rambling on this post.  Let me sign off with one more light coincidence.  Remember that nice bottle of wine we had at our first meal in the area?  Later that afternoon we headed from the cottage to Templeton to purchase some groceries.  Less than two miles from the cottage, Barbara notices a billboard up on a mountain surrounded by trees indicating the next left turn is the tasting room for Epoch Wineries.  The next day we stopped in and tasted and bought three fine wines.  The 2009 Reserva Tempranillo and the 2010 Authenticity are the two best wines we have had on this trip.