I used to spend quite a bit of time up that way for work; I miss it. Big Sky Cafe in SLO is good; not student food. There is an Indian/Pakistani Restaurant in SLO called Shalimar that is good, if you are up for that. The food at the Firestone Walker brewery restaurant in Paso Robles was also surprisingly good; there is so much good food in Paso, it's true.

Lars, that video is strikingly beautiful, I hope you aren't too late to see at least some of the color.

No suggestions as to restaurants, of course, but Elery's son who lives in Irvine loves Paso Robles and has suggested we go there when we visit again.

Annie

I have a couple of friends who go the Carrizo Plain area for bird watching at certain times of the year, I think maybe fall through winter. I know they like that valley and find it to be lovely and unusual but I have no suggestions for you. I suspect you have many better restaurant choices within 15 minutes of where you live than you'll find along the Central Coast. It's better than it used to be, credit to the growth of the wine industry for being a magnet for better food.

After viewing that video, I thought, "So many blossoms and so few bees and butterflies, oh my!"

I think we'll try Pismo Fish & Chips. I'm not all that fussy about fish and chips, since I rarely have them, but there are a several places here that make them very well, including an English pub in Santa Monica. We've been to the Splash Cafe

and while I did like their clam chowder, they served it in a bread bowl, and I cannot resist taking the bowl with me, which I should not do. It seems like half the restaurants on the Central Coast are Italian, which I like, but I prefer to make Italian food myself.

We do have lots of restaurant choices within 15 minutes of where I live, but the Central Coast is not that bad - especially compared to places like Borrego Springs and Joshua Tree, although there are a couple of good places in Joshua Tree now. I was very impressed with restaurants in Paso Robles, possibly because it is surrounded by over 200 wineries. It reminds me of what Sonoma was like in the 1970s, and I love Sonoma also, but Paso is less than half the distance. There used to be an olive festival in October, but they have moved the olive festival to May. Still, I might pick up some olives and olive oil while I'm there. The wine is rather expensive compared to what we pay here, but then I normally buy Italian and French wine here - doesn't sound right for someone in California - but that's what I like. We did a lot of wine tasting and olive tasting the last time we were in Paso, and we'll probably go back for a longer stay there next time. It gets hot there in the summer, but we went in August anyway.

Anyway, we're going to the central coast for the scenery instead of the food this time. We'll take Hwy 1 from our house through Malibu, as it is faster than the 405/101, but of course we'll have to that the 101 through Santa Barbara. That's another place I used to like to visit, but it's not quite as nice as it used to be. Most people now are saying that they prefer Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo, and they are somewhat similar except that Paso is quite a bit more upscale and has done a better job of preserving the old character of its downtown - SLO has allowed chain stores to open in its downtown, but Paso has not.

Here's one of the olive ranches we visited. I thought I took more photos when we were there, but I can't find them.

I would consider a visit to Solvang, a town originally settled by Danes that still has its Scandinavian flavor intact. We get there by exiting the 101 at Buellton.

Solvang specializes in Danish food and pastries, plus Scandinavian crafts. It has quilt stores, a very large antique center loaded with goodies, a delightful book store, and, in addition to regular restaurants, quite an array of coffee shops which also specialize in all kinds of pastries. It is the site of one of California's original missions, a lovely spot to sit and catch one's breath and relax.

Designed with lots of old European-style architecture, and many flowers, it's a very walkable place. On spring weekends, however, there will be tourists! But given a choice between Paso and Solvang, I'd take Solvang every time.

We've been to Solvang many times, and I really do like that also - more than I like Santa Barbara. It's also much closer to us. Another nearby place we like is Ojai, and they have olive ranches there as well plus a very good farmers' market.

I found the food in Paso Robles to be much better than the food in Solvang, but then I don't espeically like pastries, even though I used to bake pastries for a restaurant in San Francisco. I do think there are some wineries in or around Solvang, but not so much in the way of olive ranches, and I love olives. I go to Paso for the olives. We went to an excellent Belgian/French restaurant in Paso that had pastries that I prefer to the ones in Solvang, but it might not still be there. They made French toast using brioche, which I like even better than the French toast I make with challah, and I make very good challah - mostly to use for French toast.

Ah yes.The Splash Cafe bread bowl. I see so many go uneaten, not only there but most places that do the chowder in the bread bowl thing. When I do occasionally get chowder at the Splash Cafe I simply order a cup and a side of the bread grilled. Less expensive, same or more amount of chowder then in the bread bowl and 3 slices of thick grilled sourdough for dipping.

I am no help at all as the last time I visited Pismo Beach - actually, the only time I have visited PB - we had to stop at Andersen's so I could have their split pea soup. I can get fesh seafood or fish and chips or chowder anywhere where I live and almost all are wonderful but a good homemade split pea soup is hard to find outside of one's own kitchen!

We had excellent sushi in Paso today but lunch in pismo beach wasn't quite as good but the halibut we shared was especially good. We're going to Carrizo tomorrow. Here's updated report

https://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca-carrizo-plain.html

Stunning pictures! I don't think there's anything like that in Europe. At least not on such an great scale. You come across the odd field but those pics are amazing.

All I can say is you are one lucky puppy Lars! Hope you have/had fun!

Looks so warm and pretty! The food sounds pretty good too....:0)

We bought some very nice olive oil in Paso Robles as well. We did not do any wine tasting there because it is not free, but the olive oil tasting is free, but it always makes me want to buy the olive oil. I also bought two bottles of special vinegars, made from local wines.