Leaving the salty sea air behind us, we set our sights on the central SLO Cal town of San Luis Obispo. Again, short notice availability got the better of us and we split our week between SLO and the nearby winelands of Paso Robles.
But I’m getting ahead of myself – along the way we spent the night at a Harvest Host winery, Dark Star Cellars. The chickens scratching around our feet kept us company as we worked our way through a wine tasting. The afternoon drew on and before we knew it, we had the place to ourselves. Well, us and the chickens. A delightfully warm and pleasant evening sipping wine amongst the vines.
San Luis Obispo was light on recreational activities but we had the most awesome Hipcamp camping spot.
Back in Paso and no more excuses. I got my running legs on and pootled along the winding country lanes, those adorable slopes of converging vine lines whichever way I looked.
Now that Covid restrictions are in the rear view mirror, we treated ourselves to a night out in Paso Robles. I have been known to get quite excited about good pizza. And this indeed was good pizza.
Come the weekend and Darren suggested we escape the heat in favor of a coastal walk. I wasn’t exactly convinced about escaping the heat – it was forecast to be 82 Fahrenheit (28 Celsius, easiest conversion to remember ever), which happens to be my absolute perfect temperature. Albeit perfect for hanging out, rather than perfect for hiking. I begrudgingly agreed, as the rugged yet beautiful Montana de Oro state park was only an hour or so’s drive away and promised some cool hiking opportunities.
So there’s cool and there’s cooler. Would you believe it, as we neared the coast, the temperature dropped from the low 80s to the high 50s and in rolled the fog. Boom! Our plan of hiking up Valencia Peak was a non-starter, lost in the clouds. Ever versatile, we ditched the mountain hike in favor of a bluffs walk.
I made Darren take me to a winery on the way back to make up for it. One in the sun and in the 80s. I’ll take it.
But my absolute favorite thing about Paso (ok the Della pizza was close but this was more unique) was the Sensorio Field of Light experience. We’d heard it was optimal to arrive before sunset, but we didn’t know quite what to expect. “If you build it, they will come”. Oh no hang on a minute, that’s Field of Dreams not Field of Light. But sure enough the people came.
The first thing we saw through the throng of people was an airstream bar – made us feel right at home. We got a couple of (plastic) glasses of wine and made our way past the open fire pit tables and live music.
To this…
Yes – a gorgeous sunset and striking tree silhouettes. But in the foreground, the slopes were awash with a sea of white. A closer look revealed they were as yet unlit lights – bright white iridescent globes on stalks, like alien wildflowers.
And as sunset turned to dusk, the lights started to take on a life of their own.
And then we realized we didn’t just have to stand in the same spot to view the awesomeness. We could stroll on the trails that meandered their way through the Field of Lights. A walk that took us through 15 acres of illuminated hillsides, lit with 60,000 solar powered fiber-optic lights. We got a top up from the airstream bar and immersed ourselves.
They also had a new exhibit for 2022, the Light Towers. In deference to the hundreds of wineries in the Paso area, the Light Towers celebrate not with alien wildflowers but with wine bottles. Over 17,000 of them.
So there you have it. Lots of photos because I just can’t help myself. But quite honestly this is less about viewing art than feeling art. I was blown away by this exhibition and would recommend it to anyone remotely in the area. And we weren’t even VIP.
Very Impressed & (bit) Pissed – Maybe