Paso Robles trip Oct 2025

 Paso Robles Oct 2025

Truss winery

Another trip to Paso! It's the time of the year to collect our wine. This time Joe and Cathy joined us in this trip and we had a lot of fun. 

Who are the good looking people!

Since we didn't get to do the entire Pioneer Day Parade last year, this year we decide to go back during the same weekend to do the full experience! 

Pioneer Day Parade 11 Oct 2025

Driving up via Santa Barbara, Bill found a Argentinian empanada place Buena Onda. Their empanadas are tasty but can be overwhelming with cheese if you do the options that has melted cheese.  

Empanada at Buena Onda

Before getting to Paso, we stop at Tin City for cider and shopped for truffle gnocchi and Italian crackers at Etto. 

Cider at Tin city Cider

After checking into the Paso rental apartment, 

Our apt in downtown Paso

We went to Bushong to collect our wine and get free tastings. We still like Bushong and will keep our wine membership! Had a lot of discussions on their tasting notes with descriptions like wet asphalt =) 

Bushong tasting with Cathy and Joe

Dinner on Friday night is at Grace & Rose. I found a good review of this restaurant that I never heard of. Turns out they used to do a wine bar in the food court area and only got their own place in August. They restored a 110 year old farm house and the project took so long that the owner gave birth to a 2nd child  during the process. Turns out Grace & Rose are the middle names of their 2 children. Very good restaurant with well executed dishes. I'll go back in a heartbeat. 

Grace & Rose dinner. Pics not great due to low lighting

Sat 

We got some pastries from Just Baked in downtown Paso. Last year I noticed it's a really good bakery but didn't have the chance to try their products till now. And took a bunch of their Halloween decorations

Just baked. I can eat anything and everything in there!

After everyone is happily stuffed with baked goods, we joined the parade

Fun in the parade. Joe without whiskers need his button to avoid jail 

Horses and more horses for the parade

Tractors and more tractors for the parade

We were finally able to join the entire parade and got fed by the Bean Feed! 

The whole parade is extremely well organized and efficient. They have 4 lines going through the beans, with everyone collecting a bowl of beans, a bread roll and a water. And you can bring a pot of any size and they will fill it up. 

The Bean Feed

And Joe Joe Gelato is giving away vanilla gelato for dessert. 

Eberle winery

We decide to try a bunch of new wineries this trip and Eberle is top of the list. First is they do free tasting and the atmosphere is very casual but crowded. But their red wines did not finish quite right for me except for the cabernet. 

Pretty tasting room in Eberle

Fun merchandise at Eberle

Sculptera winery 

This winery was recommended by a friend. They have interesting sculptures. Their wine is again not quite right for me to justify their price range. The reds are not complex enough except for the $80 bottle and the white is ok but not worth the $45 price. 

Sculptera winery

Sculptures at Sculptura

Hoyt 

We went to this winery downtown before dinner. It's meant to be a quick pop in and try their wine as we heard they are quite casual. Sure enough there's a cute doggie inside! We had a lot of fun tasting with Janice and once it's just the 3 of us, she totally was entertaining with stories. We end up purchasing some wine from her as they are reasonable and quite good. Esp their Temperanillo taste very similar to Guadalupe valley

Hoyt very casual and fun tasting room 

We had a easy steak taco with zucchini dinner at the apt on Sat night with our friends and called it a night. 

Sun 

We have the full day for tasting. So after a nice breakfast on the patio with more Just Baked quiche and croissant, we head out for more wine! 

Peachy Canyon

This is another very friendly and low key winery. We were there early enough that it's quiet and the pourer is chatty. The only wine we truly like was the rose as the finish isn't there for the other reds. They also waive the tasting with a bottle purchase so we end up buying the rose. They are one of the first 10 wineries in Paso and moved a few times. The current building is a school house so their wine names are quite cute. 

Peachy Canyon

Austin Hope 

We tried to get into the place but bailed once we realized it's a 90 mins tasting and the place is super crowded. Their welcome rose also didn't pass our sniff test as it's very weak. Maybe next time if we can do it at Paso downtown. 

Fratelli Perata

We went to collect a wine shipment for a friend and they comp our tasting. We still like their wines but I do notice their later years have a sweetness that seems more unique to the wine maker Cathy. They have a fun zinfandel that's carbonated for no reason. So they called it the fizzy Zin and it's light and fun. 

Truss

This one was an unexpected stop. I saw they only have 5 yelp reviews so figured they are new but good. So we decide to stop by and luck out that they are giving tasting even without reservations. Their lineup was very similar to Russian river as they bought the current place with the wine ready to go. But the previous owner must have chardonnays and pinots in barrels so they are selling those. But we also barrel tasted some GSM that is stunning. So we joined their club as I thinik they will have some good wine coming our way. 

Truss tasting with barrels and bottles

Ecluse

This one was also recommended by a friend. When we got there it's crowded as it's the wine collection day and everyone is doing their free tasting at the same time. We didn't get any wine as we know our taste buds are busted at that point. What's interesting though is Ecluse got bought by a bigger winery. And their wine is split into 2 sections. The bigger winery is totally uninteresting while Ecluse wine has much more complexity. It will be interesting to see what they will continue to do going forward with this merge. 

Final breakfast with the park view and Just baked goods before we got out of Paso

We are set again for Xmas and New year

Canada gulf island day 9 - Galiano day 2 and Campervan thoughts

 Galiano Day 2

Foggy summit

Did a hike to Mt galiano today and it's foggy at the summit! 

Mt Galiano hike

Waited for 10 mins and saw partial Mayne Island!

We end up bailing and went to check out the japanese charcoal kiln

Japanese Charcoal Kiln

We had lunch this time with Meg, Bob, their neighbour Jan and Martin at the Galiano Inn restaurant Lena which has great pizza. 

Lena pizza

We also saw a studio show that has a few paintings that reminded me of our trip

Exhibit

Our trips through the islands is summarized by these 2 pictures

Today is our last day of the van rental

A little sad packing up the van after it's been our home for 10 days. And a little relieved that we are not handling such a big vehicle anymore

I want to put some of my thoughts and learnings in campervan for my own future reference.

I would do a van trip again especially in a low population area. I don't want to drive it in a freeway getting to campground. The mileage is also top off at 18mpg so I won't want to drive a long way to go camping. It's fun and great to have your home with you where you go. 

Learnings

Safety and tools

Important to have a reputable company with reliable van. They also provided flares,  heat gloves and a simple first aid kit. We brought some basic tools like a Swiss army knife, a sharp tool knife, masking tape and strings. Essential are flash lights and a simple camping light, insect repellent and need basic long sleeves shirt and pants for buggy places. 

It would be nice that the van can provide an indoor space to escape the outdoor if needed. 

Access to driver side without going outside is safer. 

Bring a long cable power plug with usb connections as inverter can be at awkward places. But keep an eye on battery level when using it, especially for heating appliances. 

Solar panels is essential to avoid plug in. 

Eat shit shower  

I like the idea of not having open flame or food smells in the van as the bedding is so near. but the propane is a simple answer which means you need a way to cook outside the van. A electrical kettle to boil water efficiently indoors is ideal. 

Electric fridge is superior to a soggy ice box but that depends on availability. 

Bathroom is the toughest. The bucket is not a bad solution and potentially setting up a bucket indoors might be unavoidable in cold weather. 

Outdoor showers using sun showers  is impossible if campground does not get sun or it's too cold. Indoor showers with heater waters is almost unavoidable 

Organization

Packing cubes is crucial for this trip in order to keep our clothes organized. We also have a hanging organizer to keep things handy and visible without stuffing drawers. It's very similar to boat organization that we are familiar with. 

Put the trash can and coolers in places that you can access from outside the van. 

We need a way to keep dirt out of the van that really just include constant sweeping and not wearing shoes in the van. 

Also during showers we need flip flops that gets all muddy and wet that we had to dry and clean

After getting to Vancouver and returning the van, we stayed a night at the accent hotel which is a hoot.

We picked them as they are 30 mins walking from the van place and has a free shuttle to bring us to the airport in 10 mins. But they had the cutest things ever! 

Cute captain Ducky

Good dinner at Fogg N Suds that's walking distance from the hotel

Canada gulf islands day 8 - Galiano day 1

 Galiano Day 1

Back to Bob and Meg house in Galiano!

View from Bob and Meg's house

It's nice to sleep in a real bed after a week and even better with warm showers and indoor plumbing 😁

So we went for some chores with Meg before getting some souvenirs in some of my favorite shops. 

They have really good jigsaw puzzle in Canada!

I can't carry all of them back... nooo....

 

And there's a tea shop in Galiano that has the best peach rooibus tea. 

We had lunch at the Hummingbird Pub and met their neighbor Martin that we missed the last time we came. 

Hummingbird Pub with the best fish & chips

After lunch, we had a hike around Montague park bay and it's equally as lovely as I remember. It is also slightly less smoggy so I can start to see blue waters again 

Blue sky and Blue waters back again

Hiking around the Montague Harbor Bay

Bob also made a lovely Irish stew with homemade bread for dinner. Yum 

Bistro Bob Irish stew with fresh baked baguette

After that we went for a concert at the Yellow house by 3 local kids that's quite interesting

Concert by 3 local kids

Canada gulf islands day 7 - Pender day 2

 Pender Island Day 2

South Pender Gowlland Beach

Getting ready to do south Pender today. We are realizing a few places on the island don't open on mon-wed as mentioned before. So today was an opportunity to see some places that's not open as it's Thursday. 

We decide to pack a picnic breakfast at Hamilton beach. Got a  salmon eggs Benedict from otter copper, a Jamaican beef patty and a mushroom brie croissant from vanilla Leaf Bakery and went to the beach with our chairs. Yum

Our picnic breakfast (do note the smoggy sky)

Our picnic breakfast

After that we went to hike Mt Norman which is a steep hike but has great views of the island

Mt Norman

After that we went to Gowlland and saw the zigzag international line through the islands that's quite funny

Gowllands Beach

The Zigzag international line looking across to San Juan Island

We went back to north Pender to go to the cider place but unfortunately it's closed. But the locals told us the ports mouth restaurant carry their cider on tap so we are off to drink more cider! Their cider is also wild yeast and great tasting too. Unfortunately we didn't get to taste all of their different flavours. https://www.twinislandcider.com/

Portsmouth bar for more cider from Twin Island Cider

We went to hub at hope Bay to get some Pender island chocolates. Way better quality than Rogers and very interesting flavors

Pender chocolate

selection of 9 chocolates. Very pretty!

After that we decide to take an earlier ferry to Galiano as the restaurant we want to try only opens at 4pm which is too late for the 425pm ferry. It's great as usual to see Bob and Meg. Bob made dinner for us. Yum! 

Pork stew with bok chop and rice from Bistro Bob =)

Canada Gulf islands day 6 - Pender day 1

 Pender Island Day 1 

Smog is obvious in this picture on top of Mt Menzies

Pender island is back to the wilderness after Victoria city

Here comes our ride!

View from the ferry on the way out

On the way out of Swartz bay, there is this little sign store at the ferry terminal that has the most amount of hilarious signs.  It provided a lot of entertainment before the crossing

Little sign shop at Swartz Bay

Funny signs

It's not clear how much we can do on the island as after labor day things are starting to shutdown

We end up enjoying this island a lot as it's similar to Salt spring Island but smaller

Hike Mt Menzies 

Pretty sign at Menzies

The most useless hiking map =)

We got up there and got another breath taking view of the islands. We are also starting to see the smog that clouded the islands and Vancouver for 2 days too. But still pretty! 

More views

The islands at the crooked tree views

After the hike we went driftwood center which is the local town center. 

Drift wood center: The center of civilization on Pender Island

Had to check out the book store and saw they have some puzzles too. Canada has some of the best puzzles.I bought a Charles dickens story in Galiano that's not easily found in states. This time I got a Sherlock Holmes one

My new puzzle!

We went to sea star vineyard as the cider place is not open on Wed. But it's what we feared after the Russian river experience. The wine are not full bodied enough without the heat to build that flavor. While the bubbly style isn't bad, it's just not special enough to justify the $31 price tag. 

Seastar Vineyard

View of the pretty cove from Seastar vineyard

Unfortunately Amy bread shed is empty twice that we tried to pick up something there. 

Bummer.. end of season for the bread shed

We also have limited selection at truss Farm Food on Wed and with the season winding down. End up we picked up a pre-made noodles from truss Farm Food and added some zucchini and rotisserie chicken leftover and it's very tasty. 

Dinner with stir fry vegetables noodles and added zucchini and leftover chicken

The prior Centennial Campground is run by BC parks too and have facilities like pit toilets and potable water. Enjoyed going back to the 5pm happy hour kicking back at the campground. 

Back to campground