SLO, BBQ, and sleep

Day 24/ Paso Robles and SLO: Today, a miracle happened. For the first time on our trip ALL the kids slept in. Not like, all day… but until about 7:30. I’ll take it and give thanks for the small blessings. After a slow start, we realized we didn’t have much of a plan. We knew we wanted to find some good Central Coast tri-tip BBQ, maybe find a family friendly winery or cidery, hit a museum or something, and then come back and swim. We also figured we’d probably stay close to Paso Robles and skip going to San Luis Obispo (SLO). But our plans developed and pulled us to good BBQ, so we ended up in SLO anyway, at Firestone Grill. I don’t usually take pics of food… I meant to take a pic of the giant and delicious maple buttermilk bar from Surfin Donuts… the one I ate in honor of the Ironman race…that one… but I didn’t. But today’s tri-tip sandwich seemed worthy. Great food and atmosphere, cheap, and the kids loved it.

Next we took a short walk to the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. It was founded in 1772 by Father Junípero Serra, and was beautiful, peaceful, and surrounded by fragrant gardens. The kids learned about the early settlers to the area, but were disappointed when we walked right through the gift shop without buying the pan flutes they “always wanted”… who knew?

We drove back to Paso Robles and ran a couple errands. On our drive we tried to get some pics of the beautiful central coast wine country, but our filter “windshield bug guys” takes away for the actual beauty…. hopefully you get the idea. We decided to skip wine tasting when we worked it out that trying to taste wine in a picturesque vineyard setting with six children under ten could be a disaster. So we returned to Cava Robles and took the kids on a nature hike featuring informational signs about local wildlife. We skipped the pool due to chilly and windy weather, but played outside at the playground and on scooters most of the rest of the day. The grounds and facilities at Cava Robles are super nice, and we are already planning our next trip back. Looking forward to a day in the future for some adult wine tasting.

We ended the day with pizza, and an amazing sunset through red oak trees, which adorn the central coast hillsides and are the only approved grilling wood for the local Santa Maria BBQ.

Hitting the road again tomorrow, with three final stops ahead… each just a place to lay our head. But along the way those stops have turned out to be fun for everyone anyway. Hoping for less wind and smooth roads ahead.