Page 25 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

RYAN FORBES/AVABLU; BUELLTON VISITORS BUREAU; ERICA ZABOWSKI/CREATIVE COMMONS/FLICKR; RICHARD THORNTON/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: BONDROCKETIMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK
SAN LUIS OBISPO:
Mission, Vineyards & the Outdoors
Nestled between the Pacific Ocean 11 miles
to the west and the Santa Lucia Mountains
just to the east, this central-coast city of
46,000 is located midway between San
Francisco and Los Angeles. Easily acces-
sible by train on Amtrak or via U.S.
Highway 101 and famously scenic Cali-
fornia Route 1, the historic core of the city
clusters around the 1759 Mission San Luis
Obispo de Tolosa. This is the place to find
restaurants, cafés and shops. Music and
theater productions are mounted on the
campus of California Polytechnic Institute
(“Cal Poly’’). Outdoorsy visitors and locals
hike and bike the Nine Sisters hills. The
marine-minded head to the sometimes-
chilly, foggy coast with their wetsuits for
surfing, kayaking and windsurfing. South
of the city is prime territory for winery
touring and tasting: the expansive Edna
Valley wine-producing region.
BUELLTON: Santa Barbara Wine
Country Getaway
Tucked away in the Santa Rita Hills in gorgeous
Santa Barbara County, this instantly likeable
small town offers an abundance of attrac-
tions. Among them: two famed restaurants,
MISSION SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO,
Sonoma, left; wine tasting at Sanford
Winery in the Santa Rita Hills near
Buellton, below; the Apple Farm Inn, San
Luis Obispo, bottom left; the Bakersfield
Californian Building is home to the local
daily newspaper, and is on the National
Register of Historic Places, bottom right.
Pea Shop Andersen’s, long-known for—yes—
its flavorful pea soup, and the Hitching Post
II, featured in the 2004 movie Sideways,
filmed in Santa Barbara County’s Wine
Country, and now a cult favorite. If you’re a
golfer, check out the 9-hole, par-3 Zaca Creek
municipal golf course smack in the center of
town. Buellton’s Santa Ynez Botanic Garden
offers close-up looks at native plants in
River View Park. Local lodging is recently
revamped, with an extensive renovation of
the Marriott and the Sideways Inn; sched-
uled to open in spring 2017 is a new
Hampton Inn. Buellton is located on U.S. 101
just north of Santa Barbara.
2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A 23