Continuing down the 101 Hwy, we set off from Santa Cruz heading for San Luis Obispo. We made sure to stop and get our In-N-Out Burger fix for lunch before getting too far out of town.
We were getting close to our destination when we saw a billboard for J.Lohr Vineyards & Wines. I quickly looked it up and realized it was only about 15 minutes off the highway, so of course we had to stop! The tasting rooms were not open due to stupid Covid, but it didn't dampen my mood one bit. Toad took my picture in front of the sign and the lovely sales woman came out and let us know that although we couldn't come in to taste, their sales were still open. I got a bottle of my favorite Riesling, and another bottle of a special Riesling. I told her how my own father-in-law is a Jerry Lohr (like the owner of the winery) and that we have MANY J. Lohrs in the family. Y'all... she offered me FREE J.Lohr wine glasses!! It made my whole entire day!
We got back on the road and finished our drive into SLO to the iconic Madonna Inn. You think J.Lohr wine and free glasses gets me excited... guess what a hotel saturated in PINK does?!?! Pink everywhere! I died and went to pink heaven!
Every single room at Madonna Inn is themed and they're all different! The gift shop has postcards of every room so you can see them all and maybe decide which one you want to pick next time. We made our way to our room, Chestnut Foal. Since I got pink everywhere else, it was only fair that our room was Toad green from floor to ceiling! I was also pretty excited to find a bidet in the bathroom, because you know I like to pretend I'm fancy.
After the past few chilly days in N. Cali, we had definitely earned a pool day. Their pool area was so nice (notice the pink umbrellas and chairs), had a great mountain view, and even had a lemon tree right next to the table where we sat. Toad was happy to find a bar just off the pool area, and asked the bartender if I could pick a lemon and he said yes!
As evening set in, we walked into downtown to find dinner and happened to walk right into a street fair! It was packed with vendors of every kind. Our favorite might have been Lord of the Cello. He was wildly entertaining with his electric cello and fan blowing his hair around!
We made it down to Firestone Grill and the line was out the door. We were almost discouraged until we realized how fast it was moving. We got a pulled pork sandwich and a brisket sandwich and split them. So good! We even found a great dessert place, Cowboy Cookie, that used fresh-baked cookies as ice cream cups. I gotta say, we DID NOT need ice cream at this point, but we rallied and went for it!
The walk back to the hotel gave us a beautiful view of the hotel lit up at night, and we watched the fog rolling in over the mountains.
The next morning, we got some much needed work done in the morning and I even fit in a workout in the hotel's gym before heading on down the road. Their gym had everything I needed and it felt good to get it done after spending so many days driving.
We hope you enjoy! The adventure continues...
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