California’s Middle Coast and Other Wine Country

 7/7/2021 - 7/9/2021 Boron, CA to Paso Robles, CA (196 miles), stayed at Wine Country RV Resort, $81/night including all fees and taxes

7/9 - 7/16/2021 Paso Robles, CA to Greenfield, CA (67 miles) stayed at Yanks RV Resort, $367.20 for the week

7/16/ - 7/23/2021 Greenfield, CA to SanJuan Bautista, CA (just south of Gilroy)(54 miles) stayed at Betabel RV Resort, $414.40 for the week 

7/23 - 7/28/2021 Gilroy, CA to Lodi, CA (122 miles) stayed at Flag City RV Resort, $255.30/week

7/28 - 7/30 Lodi, CA to Ukiah,CA (157 miles) stayed at Redwood Empire Fairground, $36/night

Typical of this year, with so many people traveling by RV, if you didn’t book a year in advance, you don’t get the prime spots at the choice parks.  We had wanted to stay on the central coast of California to explore their little seaside towns, but found they were all booked. So we stayed at RV parks along CA 101 and drove to the coast to get a good taste of Pacific Coast Highway 1.  It was just as well.  Hwy 1 is not well suited for big rigs and the parks were even more expensive than what we paid inland.  

From Paso Robles, we drove out to the coast and found tiny Harmony, CA, population 18. It had a creamery, glass blowing shop, pottery, winery, chapel and lots of painted cow sculptures - the entire town available for rent for a special event. From there, we drove down the coast to Morro Bay - a cute, unpretentious town with a large rock on the beach, lots of bungalows, shops and several piers from which to watch sea otters and eat yummy seafood. I got my first taste of Pacific clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, and I was hooked!

Greenfield was literally in the middle of commercial farmland.  We were surrounded by green fields. The Salinas Valley is called “America’s salad bowl” providing over 60% of our leafy greens, fruits and veggies.  From our RV park, we watched them harvest celery, onions, romaine lettuce, and plant broccoli. On the drive out to Monterrey and Carmel, we saw people picking strawberries. I didn’t realize how much manual labor was still needed to plant, grow and harvest our food. When we got into the area, we noticed MANY old white busses pulling porta-potties and hand washing stations on trailers behind them. We finally figured out that these were the farm workers. They brought what they needed with them for the day, and when they finished one field, moved on to the next. With the proper rotation of crops, they could continue working in this state year-round. But the years-long drought is making farmers rethink what they grow. Further north, we saw farmers pulling up huge fields of almond trees and other crops that require more water.  They are planting more drought-resistant/tolerant crops in their place ahead of the new tighter water restrictions that come into effect in 2050. 

The wind off the Pacific Ocean whips down the Salinas Valley like clockwork, every day from noon to 9 pm. So when the sun goes down, it gets cool fast.  Directly on the coast, it’s MUCH cooler. When we visited Carmel by the Sea, it was overcast and too cold to get in the water. I was still chilly in jeans and sweater. But the scenery was gorgeous!  We drove south on Hwy 1, pulling off to explore the walking trails. Huge waves crashed against the rocky shoreline with beautiful, huge succulents growing wild. We ventured as far as Bixby Bridge, then turned around to get a late lunch at Monterrey’s Fisherman’s Wharf. 

Gilroy is “the Garlic Capitol of the World”!  They have a pretty, walkable downtown, with restaurants offering dishes with LOTS of garlic. We ate at the Gilroy Garlic Cafe where I tried a garlic chicken and eggplant panini and garlic fries - delicious! One processing plant pumps the scent of garlic into the air that you can smell for miles.  It made me hungry for Italian food.  They have an annual Garlic Festival that we missed by one day!  I was very disappointed. But we did visit The Garlic Shoppe and several produce stands.  We bought a bunch of strawberries, 6 avocados for a dollar, and I got to sample garlic ice cream.  It’s not bad while you eat it, but it leaves a really pungent aftertaste. 

Oh, Gilroy is also the birthplace of A&W Rootbeer, so naturally, we had to taste!  There is something special about root beer made from pure can sugar in a frosted mug!

From Gilroy, we drove out to Santa Cruz and explored the wharf, where I ate MORE clam chowder and watched sea lions, then stopped along West Cliff Drive to look for surfers.  

Gilroy has its own wineries, but I held out until Lodi to do some wine tasting.  I had read that they had some very old Zinfandel vines. We stopped at Oak Ridge and Michael David wineries. Michael David displayed vines that were 128 years old!

What a sweet brick-paved, tree-lined downtown!  We went on a Monday, so most things were closed, of course, and the Farmers Market wasn’t until Thursday night, so we might have to come back and spend some more time.  

The real reason we wanted to stop here was to get close enough to venture into San Francisco. We’ve gone several times, but not in years.  So we took a day trip in so see the tourist sights and eat dinner. The tourists are back in mass!

I think the Bay Area is the unofficial dividing point between SoCal and NorCal, so I’ll do the rest of California next.