Taste of the Central Coast

Driving from Cambria to Paso Robles, with a view of Morro Rock and Central Coast hills

     I'm beginning to feel like Groupon is the great Chess Master, determining the fate of Jordi and I. (If you've never heard of Groupon, it's basically a daily deal sent to your email.) Most of the time, Groupon determines where we go out to eat, where we see a movie, or what gifts I buy people. It even determined this last little adventure - a two night stay in Cambria on the Central Coast, which I bought months ago knowing that we always love an excuse to visit the area.
     The excuse came last week - my husband's flexible work as a contractor is great sometimes, but he hadn't had any work in a couple weeks and we were both a bit stir crazy. I had a few days off work and decided that instead of barely putting up with each other, we should enjoy the time that we both unexpectedly had together - and get out of the house to do it! Although zipping off to a motel by the beach when neither of us were working feels like splurging in a time of need, I didn't doubt he would eventually get more jobs and we would be too busy to go later.
     So as soon as I got off work Wednesday afternoon, we threw our suitcases in the car and squeezed through LA before rush hour traffic (this could never work on a Friday), pulling up to the Cambria Palms Motel several hours later. After unpacking, we went for a walk around the quiet town. It was FREEZING - we had to hurry back because I was afraid my face might fall off - that's how cold it felt. Luckily our room boasted a heater, which we took full advantage of, and although the shower wasn't fancy, it was hot.

Biking along the beach in Cambria

     The next morning we used the complementary beach cruisers to go for a fun roll through town and down to Moonstone Beach, which was beautiful. From there we rode the frontage road up the coast for a ways. A nice boardwalk also parallels the ocean, but is for pedestrians only. We parked our bikes in a little parking lot with picnic benches at the end of the road and went for a short but scenic walk along the bluffs.

Walking along the bluffs in Cambria

After biking back to the motel, we quickly changed and headed out for some wine tasting in Paso Robles. We've both been to Paso numerous times, but haven't been back in years. Luckily we had some good tips on where to go from Jordi's uncle and wine connoisseur. We headed out through the hills, Ryan Adams blaring (The Hardest Part - classic wine-tasting song from college. I have absolutely no idea why.) The views from Highway 46 heading east are absolutely gorgeous. For much of the way you can see to the ocean, and at some spots you can even get glimpses of Morro Rock. It was one of the most beautiful drives I've been on, and a fantastic way to be whisked into wine country.

Cork Tree

Vineyards in the wintertime

   
 


         

   
     Our first stop was at a vineyard called L'Aventure, owned by a Frenchman who only recently became aware of the American custom to casually wine taste (Lucky for us!) He brought over his Rhone blends from back home and successfully grows the varietals in Paso, which apparently is primo property for grapes hailing from the Rhone region in France. A very knowledgeable attendant, not much older than us, kept us rapt for at least an hour explaining all kinds of history and methods. But of course the most fun part was actually tasting these wines, which were explosions of color and taste in every sniff and sip - if you've ever seen Ratatouille, you know what I mean. This is NOT your average Trader Joe's wine. I love that although we would never be able to spend that much on a bottle, we had the opportunity to taste and talk for quite some time - all by ourselves! (Better than Temecula? oh maybe...)

Although some vineyards weren't open (we were there on a Thursday and the biggest days are Friday -Sunday) we were able to get to Terry Hoage Vineyard, organically grown yet completely delicious wines, where we once again had the place to ourselves and another friendly attendant informatively chatted with us for a while. We also visited Opolo, and Tablas Creek - more great wines and pleasant pourers.

Santa Rosa Creek Road

      Returning to Cambria, we drove the back way on Santa Rosa Creek Road, another gorgeous drive where we didn't meet a single car the whole time! We cruised by the beautiful beaches and headed into town to find a restaurant that wasn't closed. We got a window seat at Black Cat, and although the food wasn't astounding, it was a cozy atmosphere and a nice night out.
We headed back to the motel to watch the first round of American Idol (this is the most entertaining round) but had to pick up some dessert-to-go first. We stopped by Linn's, famous for their Ollalaberry pies, which we should have bought instead of the so-so cookies.

     The next morning was rainy and drizzly. Jordi braved the cold and brought us back some coffee. We then both went for a walk through town and up to a really old cemetary, which was interesting and serenely pretty.

     We came back and hopped in the car to go see the Elephant Seals about a half hour north in San Simeon. By the time we got there the drizzle had become rain, but the baby seals were loud and they were all fun to watch! Seeing the 700 pound lugs on the beach gave me some assurance that a shark would be so much happier to eat one of those than us bony surfers.

     With that in mind, we went to go find some surf - the storm that was bringing the rain was also causing some good swell.

Elephant seals lying about on the drizzly beach.

  We went back to Cambria and packed up - the surf there looked pretty stormy, so we checked out of Cambria Palms and went to Cayucos. It didn't look very good there either, but we had packed a lunch which we ate on the pier and OF COURSE got some Brown Butter Cookies - my absolute favorite!!

     It started raining in Cayucos, so we raced to Shell Beach, just south of San Luis Obispo.Meeting up with an old friend, we finally found surf that looked fun. We paddled out in the gray rain, and had it to ourselves for a while.

     Once we were sufficiently cold, we got out and said goodbye to our amigo. We headed south to Santa Barbara for a quick dinner, and with no traffic, we were home before 10. We had beat the storm!

There's a saying in Spanish called "Llena y contenta" meaning full and satisfied. Waking up in my own bed the next morning listening to the sound of rain, with memories of wine country, empty surf, and beautiful bike rides, I felt very llena y contenta - at least until the next adventure! 

We stopped to check out Harmony on the way to Cayucos.
With a population of 18, this is literally all there is...

View of Cayucos, coming from the North.

Across the Border

Our balcony at Las Gaviotas

Our living room area 

Walkway to the beach

Puros Burros, near La Mision

Carne Asada Taco

 

Surf spot we weren't allowed to surf. A place here runs around
$400/month - no electricity.

     When is the last time you went to Mexico? Living in Southern California, going to Mexico is like playing in your backyard: Less rules, more adventure, exciting but still safe. However, a backyard becomes less inviting when passports are demanded for entrance and exit , police officers become notorious for pulling tourists over for bribes, and there is a drug war of unknown proportions going on somewhere down there. All that, coupled with our many family changes in the past few years has made for the sad fact that we haven't visited our downstairs neighbors in nearly five years!

But I thought it was high time to get down there - to take advantage of the great rates, get out of California, and see for myself how it is. Besides, we were pretty partied out from Christmas, and escaping to Mexico for a relaxing New Years sounded really nice.
My parents and little sister were pumped on the plan and decided to come with us - an impromptu small family vacay, not unlike the many family vacations we took in the past to our favorite little spot south of Rosarito - Las Gaviotas.
Las Gaviotas is a gated community built in the 70's located on a surf break and even boasting it's own little private beach. It's guarded 24/7 and many of the helpful guards are associated with the Rosarito Police. The houses are mostly built in the Spanish style, with lots of tile and color. My family has always loved Las Gaviotas because there is something for everyone - surf, beach, tide-pools, lap pool, jacuzzi, tennis courts and enough cobblestone streets to go for a morning run. Across the street is a mercado - perfect for firewood, flats of Tecate or some peñafiel (mexican fruit flavored soda) and enough pottery shops to entertain the shoppers. 

So with Las G on our mind, we cleaned out the car, packed our bags, gathered our passports and OH, guess what? My passport was recently expired! I couldn't believe the irony of me putting together this whole entire trip to find that my passport, which apparently you now need to get in and out of Mexico, was four months expired.
I raced to the post office to gather information, but was only handed a stack of papers to fill out. I called the National Passport Information Center, who gave me the number for the Border Patrol. The most I could deduce from all this was that Mexico would probably let me in because they want tourists, and you're supposed to have a valid passport to get back. I figured if I could slide in, I'd worry about getting home later. The getting home part was much more vague. No one seemed to know what would happen if I showed up at the border with an expired passport, but what else are they going to do with me if I'm an American citizen?
"I'll take my birth certificate and Social Security Card, just to be extra safe," I declared to my husband, Jordi. When I got out my birth certificate, written in Spanish and stating my Guatemalan birth, Jordi replied, "Yeah, that'll help."
Hmmm. Finally I called my dad to explain the situation and he advised me to contact the man who we were renting the house from in Las Gaviotas, both to give him a heads up and to get his input.
So I called our knowledgeable half-expat rentor, told him my passport was expired, and asked what he thought I should do. "Oh, you're fine!" he assured me. "Heck, you would probably be fine with just a license, but an expired passport works just as well, I do it all the time."
So I happily took his unworried advice, and continued packing up the car - relieved I would not have to try and expedite a passport in 24 hours.
In true family vacation style, we had to wait two hours for my dad to figure out how to put racks on his car. So unsurprisingly behind schedule, we caravanned down the freeway on our way south.
It's a quick drive with no traffic; before we knew it we had to pull off the 805 at the E exit to buy insurance at MexInsure (affordable and a good idea), and get some Diet Coke at Carl's Jr. next door.
As I slurped my soda I realized we were on the other side of the giant border wall. WHAT! That's it? No stopping, no guards, no one caring about my expired passport, as we flew into Baja.
I like how different Mexico looks from San Diego. It's more interesting to look out the window, maybe just because it's not what I normally see every day. The scenery is beautiful - and lets us imagine what California would look like before it sold its soul to developers.
We pulled into our old stomping grounds of Las Gaviotas, but it is definitely not a secret spot - the place was pretty crowded with Californians who came down for the New Years weekend. We walked around for a bit and surfed before it got dark. Although we had fun, it was weirdly like surfing at home. Every single person in the water and staying at this little place was speaking English and lived in California. Welcome to T-Street, Mexico.
So the next morning we decided to drive out and find our own waves - or at least less crowded ones - after all, the rest of Baja was outside our front door.
A huge swell had rolled in making the point break at Las Gaviotas really fun, but the whomping beach breaks up and down the unprotected coast were unsurfable.
We watched the massive waves at a few different spots, and even found one point break that looked fun - but you can only surf there if you live in the little clifside community.
My dad had mentioned a little taco shop that he knew someone who was the cousin of the owner (or something like that), so we found the place near the highway and stopped for some undeserved delicious lunch. (Or as my brother-in-law would say, 'pre-workout reward' - we were going to surf later...) Abel and his wife took our orders and cooked us up some of the best food ever - the fish and carne asada tacos were amazing, but the carnitas torta might blow your socks off!
We went back to the cold house, with the fire in the fireplace our only source of heat. Although it was sunny and warm when we were packing for the trip, it ended up being extremely overcast and cold the whole time we were there (except the hour before we had to leave, of course) We spent the rest of the day surfing with the crowd, playing tennis, going for a swim or squeezing into the crowded jacuzzi for some pointless "So, where are you from?" chatter through the steam.
My parents made an amazing meal of homemade pasta and our family spent the evening playing games and sipping champagne or Martinelli's, with the distant sound of waves in the background. How much more relaxing can New Years get?
After jogs and surfs, breakfasts and packing, we went up on the deck to enjoy the bit of sunshine finally peeking out before heading back home.
Smooth sailing back up the coast turned into a cauldron of confusion as we approached the border. We went around in loops for at least 20 minutes, following conflicting signs through the barrios of Tijuana before finally finding the back of the line to cross the border (they want to KEEP you in Mexico!)
Once securely stopped in traffic, I hopped out and crossed the highway to the sidewalk looking for a bathroom in the shops, but as luck would have it everything was closed for the holiday, and we were out of luck until San Diego - I really hoped I wasn't detained for questioning!

Border Crossing:
Guard - Hello.
Us - Hi!
How are you?
Great!
So where did you come from?
A little surf trip Las Gaviotas! (Jordi and I stare at each other - we forgot to coordinate who would do the talking)
Where?
A little surf trip.
Las Gaviotas.
     We hand him our passports. He looks at them and asks me to take off my sunglasses (DUH! How did I forget to do that in the first place?)
He hands back our passports and says,
Thank you!


EEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I got back to the States with no questions about my passport!* I KNEW they weren't going to care! We stopped at the nearest restroom, and were back in San Clemente before you could say Bob's Your Uncle. "Gosh, the border took us less time than driving through LA," I commented. We'll hafta drive South more often....


*Disclaimer: This is only my experience. I'm not sure what they will do if YOU go down with an expired passport or only a license.