Paso Robles Sept 2026 day 4 and 5

Recovery Day 

We did an extra day on Sunday to recover from the tasting. 

Also, Sunday is where a lot of tourists will go home and Paso becomes nice and quiet again. 

The hotel has free bikes for so Bill and I decide to try a bike ride. We went up the Salinas River Walk in Paso which is a 2 miles path (4 miles total). 

It took us about 1.5 hours total but was a good way of seeing different parts of Paso. 

Dorky Bikes and helmets =) 

After the bike ride, we went for breakfast at Just Baked.

Favorite breakfast joint at Paso : Just Baked Bakery. You won't regret the quiche!

After that we went out for more wine tasting 

Fratelli Perata

This is a place that we usually stop by in Paso to pick up a wine shipment for a friend. And we enjoy their wine and it's nice that they usually give us free tasting for picking up the wine. 

Fratelli Perata where we picked up wine for a friend

Truss 

Last year we found Truss by accident and tried their barrels tasting. Also, they were still building the tasting room last year and we sat at the pond with a very peaceful wine tasting. We also got a couple of pinot and white wine last year as they are good So this year we wanted to see how the wines turned out. So they finished their tasting room which is very nice. Their wine is very Bordeaux style but I was surprised that they got a lot less bold from what i remember in the barrels. The whites are not very flavorful too. Again, seems really overpriced with all reds at $75 so we just paid the tasting fee and went on our way. 

Truss and Miss Dottie the dog!

After that we went to J Dusi and then head back to our hotel room for a simple lunch. 

J Dusi!

Simple lunch at our room patio

We went to 915 Lincoln winery in downtown Paso as we wanted to try their wine after the Taste of Paso yesterday. The owner is very nice and their wines are very big and bold. Definitely worth visiting again. 

915 Lincoln

Olive oil and vinegar tasting at Pasolivo

We wanted to go back to Junction for Spanish tapas and paella. The chef is very good but it's not a cheap place. $54 for a paella that barely feeds 2. 

Well executed Paella and Pulpo

Spending the rest of our hotel credit with churros and a drink

Our Paso Loot this year =) 

Paso Robles Sept 2026 day 3

Taste of Downtown Paso 

Today is the main reason why we came to Paso. It is an event call Taste of downtown Paso

https://pasoroblesdowntown.org/downtown-event/taste-of-downtown-and-arte-de-tiza/

They do a 11am-4pm tasting with 44 places participating (wine and food)  over a 2 block area around the park. 

Map for Taste of downtown

It was a bit of a blur eating and drinking solidly for 5 hours but u need that time to finish that many places! 

We got to 42 as one of the place Catch didn't prepare for it. It was our first stop and the employee went "my boss didn't tell me anything!!=) "

It's quite funny that they just closed down for the day instead of just pouring some wine for tasting haha.

The last place is Oxford street Bistro which is a little far and we didn't feel like going for the after-party. 

Anyway, we walked around town till 1045am and joined the queue for getting our wine glassa and wrist bands.

We are good to go! 

 

We started at the Pine Street and 11th area first. 

Beef empanada, Monarca has a nice flauta, Pappy has a really good truffle Mac & Cheese with bacon bits and the wine tasting inside the cinema

Crossing 12th street for Austin Hope with Caviar and Cab, Alchemist vegan croquette, and a new coffee place with their cold brew

Went to 13th street area for wine tasting, aracino balls, Street side mac& cheese and Tapenade and pumpkin soup at a bistro place

Kept going 13th street for cerviche, Hatch potato chips with pimento dip and Calipaso champagne. 

Turning around to 13th street and Spring for pizza, Just baked desserts and cocktail in Grains & Grapes

Turned to 12th and Park. Justin wine, Allegretto wine and food, and Indigenos wine with very good truffle cheese

Jefferey's BBQ with pork belly Mac & Cheese, Boba, and mediterranean salad

915 Lincoln wine, and 2 brewing company with their backyard. Enjoyed a seltzer and a beer

Went for dessert course. Ice cream with lemon olive oil and sea salt, peanut butter cheesecake from Paso Robles Inn, Ice cream from Slo Sweets and chocolate from Templeton Chocolate

Our record cards after the event! 

I do remember a few highlights. 

Pappy McGregor has a really good truffle and bacon that I would go back next trip. 

We went back to sunshine olive oil as their goat cheese ice cream with olive oil and sea salt is really special. 

The place beside Hatch served a Arancini ball that's really good but their menu is pricy. 

Junction ran out of paella but we went back the next day for dinner as their paella setup looks authentic. 

Allegretto Vineyard resort has really good wine and food that I'm tempted to check them out next trip. 

There are some places that didn't hit the spot. 

The cabernet from Hope at the park just isn't my favorite but i like their caviar =) 

Jefferey's Mac & Cheese is good but their biscuit and gravy is too weird. 

The bakeries just had small samples but Just Baked is still my favorite place in town! 

We had a lot of fun and it was not too crowded. The impression is 300 to 400 people participated but it's spread out and most places are prepared to serve quickly. There's a sense of fun descending as a mob on places that's prepared to handle the crowd and happily introducing their restaurant and wineries to us. 

The Chalk art in the side walk by the kids

2nd breakfast at the hotel before the Taste of Downtown

Paso Robles Sept 2026 day 1 & 2

Paso Wine Tasting Trip Day 1 & 2

It is time to collect our Bushong wine and I got a good deal with Ava Hotel with Hilton. 

On top of that, I noticed a downtown Paso tasting event that seems fun. So off we go to Paso! 

I saw this article about top 10 waterfront resturant and Mersea at Avila beach is on it. As it's on our way to Paso, we decide to stop there for our lunch to break up the 6 hours drive. 

https://www.timeout.com/usa/restaurants/best-waterfront-restaurants

The whole area is super cute too. Might be worth an overnight stay next time. 

Mersea with good chowder, fried seafood and fish sandwich

The craziest thing though is that AM Paso has a high speed chase through the 101. 

https://www.ksby.com/paso-robles/pursuit-ends-in-crash-shuts-down-portion-of-hwy-101-in-paso-robles

They closed the freeway and Paso downtown and the areas around it was gridlocked but we totally missed the whole thing. 

We wanted to check out Caelesta winery https://www.caelesta.com/

So we got off the 101 freeway at Atascadero and took the scenic route through the wine country!

Anyway, Caelesta is an interesting find. Brian & Brian are the young wine maker with the dad financing the winery. The wine maker is very enthusiastic about wine and we really like his white wine. His red is good but too pricy at $75 range. What's interesting is his truffles growth! Turns out they have a truffle farm and they do truffle butter etc. We got a tasting and it's really nice. But they don't make enough to sell, only for their members pickup party. 

Caelesta

Anyway, we got to Paso Downtown and checked into our hotel. We checked in at the hotel and started our adventure! 

Ava Hotel with Hilton at Downtown Paso

First stop is Hoyt winery.  It's still a good and cute tasting room in downtwon Paso. But the wines are very similar to last year. So we just got a bottle of Dylemma to even up the tasting fee. 

Hoyt Tasting room in downtown

After that we did a tasting at Bushong to get a feel for their release. But we went back the next day to taste again before deciding what we want for the wine club releases. 

Discussing with Mike on the releases this year

After that we called it a night and went back to the hotel room for some cheese and crackers for dinner. 

Day 2 - Scavenger hunt day

We slept in a little and had breakfast at the hotel bistro. 

They gave us $30 a day to spend at the hotel and another $100 for miscellaneous expenses. 

So it make sense to get coffee and breakfast almost every AM and it's a pretty good breakfast. 

Breakfast at the hotel Bistro

After the breakfast, we went out to do our scavenger hunt. This was something that I found on Viator where you can find clues and solve puzzles in downtown Paso. 

https://www.viator.com/tours/Paso-Robles/Paso-Robles-Scavenger-Hunt-Adventure/d24369-10211P16

It turns out to be quite fun but I'm not going to reveal the questions here. Just took some pictures of the places that we went to: 

The realm of inner peace and healing, with a sculpture garden and Hotel Cheval

The library and Paso Hotel and a 1945 old menu from Paso Hotel Ballroom

Paso park with the Time capsule and the plague showing it's a gift

The art gallery that featured the realm of inner peace and healing

It took us about 1.5 hours to finish the scavenger hunt before we head out for wine tastings. 

Thacher is our list this year as they have funky Friday which has weird wines for tasting and a regular wine list. It's an interesting natural style wine making concept but again, the wine is just not quite worth the price tag $65 and up. We end up getting a bottle of cider and a bottle of their sparkling wine to offset the cost of the tasting. 

What's interesting is they got a huge barn and there's 2 owls living up there.. Elton and John =) We only saw Elton 

Thacher with Elton the barn owl

Our 2nd stop is Dilecta. This comes recommended by a couple of people. Very cute wine labels and their wine is good but again, not worth the price tag. We end up just paying for the $30 tasting as everything is at $75 range. 

Dilecta winery

After that we went back to our hotel room and had lunch with the cider from Thacher. We went to Bushong to do another tasting and finally decided on our wines. 

Our dinner that night is Grace and Rose. https://www.graceandrosepaso.com/

We found them last year and the food is so good that we wanted to go back. 

They do not disappoint.  Everything we got are well executed and on point. The Branzino is crispy skin and perfectly cooked. Pork chop is still pink with flavourful beans. Their figs with goat cheese and spicy honey is inspiring and the mushroom and artichoke dip is very tasty. 

Dinner at Grace & Rose

Catalina August 2026

Catalina August 2026

It's time for our annual Catalina trip!

View of Whites Landing

We debated staying at ocean side or Dana point on our way to Catalina. 

But oceanside YC is full and Dana point harbor cost $85 a night.and will only take more time. 

It's cheaper and faster to go straight to Howland with overnight crossing again. So we left on Thursday and got there on Friday AM. 

Making a beeline to Howland at night again

After getting to Howland in 14.5 hours, we went directly to sleep for a couple of hours. 

View of Howland when we got there

Bill started the process of the inflate party, as we need to get dinghy, swim float and splash the paddle boards in the water. 

First day at 3pm we took a dinghy tour to the snorkel area and realized it's so clear!It's ironical as we had a hurricane and high swell warning 2 days ago and boats are chased off moorings! 

First sunset at Howland

So the next day we made a beeline to the snorkel area with the paddle board and snorkel gear and snorkel all the way to emerald cove! Saw a lot of pretty and big fishes

After that it's time for micheladas and our first steak and zucchini dinner.

Had a couple of Steaks nights and a couple of Lox/Cream cheese Morning

The next day it's hiking day. We started early to avoid the hot sun. We hike towards emerald cove and the boy scouts camp. 

We keep going towards Parsons landing and saw the camp ground for hikers with camping permits

Saw a red fox along the way too but he's too fast for pictures! 

View of Howland from the trail

Emerald Bay clear waters!

On the last day at Howland's, in the morning we took the paddle boards and went for a paddle early in the morning. Saw a turtle and seal. Had a spam breakfast sandwich after that =)

Spam sandwich!

It's quite entertaining on the last day to see the talent show and obstacle course of the kids camp. They string a bunch of paddle boards and got them to run across. And they have water sports competition and water ballads shows by the kids. 

The kids camp at Howland 

The next am Bill and I made our way to Whites Landing for 3 nights.

We took the opportunity to tune the auto pilot along the way as we replaced the encoder system. Made a nice quesadilla for our breakfast when we got to White's

Chicken Queasadilla 

Then we check into buffalo beach camp and then we head for a snorkel at Hens rock. 

View from Oasis at White's

Saw the coolest thing ever during the snorkel! A huge turtle (at least 3 feet across) landed in front of us and started eating the kelp and we just watch it for very long time! It's certainly aware that we are there but didn't seems to care. It's so graceful! 

Beautiful wooden boat that moor next to us at White

The next day we woke up early and went for a paddle before it got windy. Then Bill had a meeting with the Catalina conservancy while I fished and got a striped bass for ceviche for our happy hour.

Ceviche and watermelon margaritas!

 

There's a bison in the Buffalo beach camp area and he decided to stick around for more than a day. Apparently he blocked the path to the men's bathroom too =) 

Bison sightings! 

We also used the carcass of the fish and put in the lobster trap to see what it will get. Surprisingly we got a lobster but it was returned to the ocean unharmed! 

Lobster!

The next day we woke up early again and went for a hike before it gets too hot. We hike up the road and came back after seeing a nice view of Buffalo beach camp

View of the mountain range at the top of the hike

After that I did more fishing and caught our 2nd fish for ceviche and more watermelon margaritas!

Repeat of ceviche happy hour

The sunset on the last night at White is spectacular. Side note at Whites. We did noticed the fishing seems more challenging this year and didn't get sheep head or bigger bass. 

Sunset on our 3rd night at Whites

The next AM we made our way to Avalon as we wanted to play miniature golf at Avalon. 

Entrance to Avalon harbor

It's super crazy with all the boaters packed into Avalon and we were lucky to get a mooring for one night.

View of Avalon harbor from the oceanside

We learned we can't book for more than 1 night of mooring at Avalon. They don't charge for more than one night at a time and they only inform you the next AM at 9am if they have to kick you off the mooring. The reason is the owners of the moorings at Avalon and 2 Harbors can inform with 24 hours notice to get their mooring back. 

Anyway, we got into Avalon and spend the day playing miniature golf and drinking cocktails. 

Playing miniature golf at the Golf Garden

We hide at Marlin's club for a bit before going to Lobster Trap for a late lunch and Sand Trap for a margarita. 

Lobster trap is a decent place but still a tourist trap =) Marlin club is probably still the coolest bar at Avalon. 

Late lunch at Lobster trap

We went to Catalina museum to learn a bit more of Avalon history. 

Saw this poster and it's pretty funny. 

Unique fun facts of Avalon

After a night at Avalon, we decide it's time to go home instead of waiting for 9am mooring verdict. We left for San Diego at 7am and Bill had fun downwind sailing for 2.5 hours with the spinnaker. 

Oasis spinnaker in action!

After the whole trip, I captured some of the food for this trip. My takeaway for this trip is I have learned how to bring the right amount of food for us, after doing it 3 times. We also have a good way now to maintain freshness of food with solar powering the fridge and Yeti with frozen drinks. But we need to get more than 1 week worth of food storage for us to go further! 

Yum!