Slice of Life- SLO (Day 1)

For Spring Break, my husband and I got a chance to take a small trip up north to San Luis Obispo for a little R&R, sans kids. We were about two years overdue for a vacation so the little excursion was a tremendous event.  For me going to SLO was a homecoming because I used to live there twenty years ago.  It's a gem of a small town that has grown quite a bit since I lived there, but to me it will always be this small, quiet country town with an amazing Farmers Market. I've been to many Farmers Markets and this one hands down, blows away any in the state of California. For the last ten years or so my husband has heard me talk up this Farmers Market so we finally arranged our plans to go up on a Thursday so that we could make it to Farmers Market. San Luis Obispo's Farmers Market is every Thursday night. So if you'll indulge me, this is my photo scrapbook of our trip to SLO. 

After three hours on the road, we stopped just outside the city limits of SLO, for a little wine tasting at Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande. Beautiful. And with it being spring, everything was green and lush and as you can see new grapes were just starting in the photo above. 

Because it was a Thursday afternoon, there wasn't a lot of people around so we were forced to take our own pics. Here's our selfie. :)

One thing you don't see much of when you live in Los Angeles in the springtime, is all the beautiful wild flowers that grow on the sides of the highways and in open fields. Once outside the county limits of Los Angeles though, you are quickly reminded that California is mostly farmland and open space. The hills are painted with bursts of color with big fields of wild flowers. Here's just a small cluster of wild flowers at the winery. Gorgeous!

Once in we got to SLO, we checked in to our hotel and got ready to head down to the Farmer's Market. It was dinner time and I was hungry after our wine tasting. But there's no need to go out to eat at a restaurant beforehand because the food is just one of the reasons to go to Farmers Market. There are dozens of food vendors,restaurants and open pit BBQ's with tri-tip, ribs etc. One whole city block is set aside just for the BBQ's. You can see the smoke from the BBQ pits in the pic below. My husband and I shared a tri-tip sandwich, well it started out as his, but I ended up eating half of it. He didn't mind.

The Farmer's Market also has entertainment, dance groups, musicians, and bands spread throughout.

 I  took this shot to show the lights that line the trees. As night falls, the trees light the way. I love trees. :)

Now on the to the amazing gorgeous vegetables...

Our hotel had a small refrigerator so I was all set to buy some beautiful produce. I bought some Kale, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Golden Beets, Strawberries, Red leaf lettuce, avocados, leeks and quinoa seeds.  :)

Rainbow Swiss Chard

The picture above is Rainbow Quinoa that's ready for harvest. I bought these seeds to try to grow some quinoa myself. Apparently, quinoa is a weed and characteristic of all weeds, grows pretty readily without much tending. Right up my alley!

One thing you have to see in person if you go to Downtown San Luis Obispo is Bubble Gum Alley. I took a few shots but to really appreciate it you've got to see it in person. It is an actual landmark and considered an art installation. It's a walkway between two businesses that has been transformed into a living, ever-changing piece of art with chewed gum. It is amazing to see to what lengths some had gone to, to add their gum to the wall. See how high the gum goes up the wall. I've added a few pieces over the years. Amazing!

As night fell over Farmers Market, the wind got real cold so we ducked into Mother's Tavern for drink to end our day.  Perfect Day!

Day 2 takes us to Morro Bay and then Wine tasting in Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande.