travel

Delightful Douro: Travel and Day 1 of 7

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The bear and I did river cruise #2 and our third trip to Europe as something of a happy accident. After our Uniworld Cruise on the Rhone and our land tour through Tuscany with Tauck, we decided we’d like to do another river. I had really wanted to go to Spain, but there were no opportunities for river cruises. I THOUGHT the bear said, “I’ve always wanted to go to Portugal” So after going into research mode, it seemed like Scenic would fill the bill with some of the larger rooms and our requirements. We like a luxury tour with all of the logistics handled for us. We also like an all inclusive including tips, excursions, and all alcohol (at all times) on the boat. There are only four companies that do that: Uniworld, Tauck, Scenic, and now Riverside, who bought the Crystal fleet.

As happy as we were with Uniworld, and we were QUITE happy, I’d say we were even happier with Scenic because of a few minor touches here and there. Next year we travel with Tauck on a river cruise from Paris to Normandy. Anyway, when I told the bear that I had scheduled a cruise in Portugal, he told me that he’d never mentioned that’s where he wanted to go. So, our trip was a happy accident. In the end, he decided he wished we’d stayed longer and wants to go back…

Regardless, off to Portugal we went!

We left Austin on Saturday, July 6, for our Monday cruise. We were BRIEFLY delayed in the Austin airport due to lightning, but no big deal because we were flying KLM business class direct to Amsterdam, so we had access to the Delta Sky Lounge, which was lovely. The bear insists on business class for flights of more than 6 hours, and I can’t say that I will ever complain. The price of our flights, however, are generally almost as much as the whole vacation, so I try to make sure to buy one of the tickets with credit card points to take the sting out of it. We LOVE our Chase Sapphire Reserve for all of the included benefits (Door Dash, Priority Pass, Instacart, Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, Travel Insurance and more), but REALLY love it because we generally get enough points a year for one round trip business class ticket. We did this year.

We love the flights where everyone gets their own cubby… KLM was PRETTY good, and you do get the cute little gin filled houses at the end when you fly with them. We just wish there had been more storage around the seats themselves. Also, we were both VERY warm on the flight. We should have complained, but didn’t… so neither of us slept as well as we would have liked on the 8 1/2 hour overnight flight, thus, we were groggy and grumpy for our 2 hour layover in Amsterdam. From there, another 2 1/2 hour flight on a small plane into Porto before we were quickly greeted and whisked away to The Intercontinental Hotel in the heart of the city. Since we booked the hotel with Scenic, we got transfers included from airport to hotel, then hotel to boat the next day. My sister-in-law, Andrea, is an amazing travel advisor which can be important when you book with Scenic because they’re not necessarily the best at communication prior to cruising. You may be better off having someone do the legwork for you.

Knowing that there may be many things closed in Porto on Sunday, the bear had done some research beforehand for a place to go get a bite to eat. So after our 18 hours of travel, we cleaned up, had a drink in the BEAUTIFUL hotel bar (pro tip- if you’re an IHG member- which is free to join- they give you a voucher for two drinks when you check-in), then set off on the streets to find Orpheu.

There was A LOT going on in the city, and I don’t think I knew how hilly it was going to be, but we were feeling pretty good, and Google maps was kind to us as we weaved into a spot off the beaten path. It was in an alleyway behind a street. The outside tables were set up on stairs outside, and we were served INSIDE the restaurant through an open window. The temperature was PERFECT (in the 60s and sunny). We ordered WAY too many tapas, but enjoyed our sardines and our traditional sausages before we took the rest back to the room to have for breakfast the next morning.

Since I knew we’d have the morning free and I wanted a chance to see as much of Porto as I could, I had prearranged a private walking tour through Viator. I had watched and read a MULTITUDE of “What to do in Porto” videos and ALL included a visit to the Lello bookstore. Viator contracted out to Castro Travel and we were to meet with Diogo at 9 on our first morning. I woke up somewhat jet lagged and oddly shaky, sweaty and out-of-sorts. Then, I used a sunscreen that kept getting in my eyes, so I wasn’t feeling great, but I was still excited to see the city.

Diogo was prompt and met us right at our hotel for our private tour. We took off to the streets first stopping at the iconic train station. Tiles are all over the buildings in Porto, but the ones in the train station were breathtaking! There’s also a cool food hall called the “Time Out Market” adjacent to the train station that has some of the best chefs doing pop-up food stands all day long.

Then, we really started walking up our first hill, For context, Porto starts at about sea level and then climbs to 240 feet in a distance of only a little more than half a mile. Roads in most cities are considered “steep” at about a 10% grade. Many of the grades in Porto go from 15% to 20%. It is challenging walking around Porto. And it’s all on cobblestone. So we went to see where the public hangings used to occur and looked out over the city. Still, I felt shaky… and began to feel sick. This is the TMI part of this blog, but… I had the need to go back down the hill to visit a Starbucks restroom. Bathrooms in Europe are often difficult- and this one was no different. It was down a narrow winding staircase… So I shakily made it there – and immediately threw up.

Good news? I started to feel a bit better. We then walked up the hill again and around the corner to one of Porto’s lovely six bridges to look at the city below. Then, Diogo asked us if we wanted to walk down to the waterfront. This was a mistake on our part because we decided it would be a good plan. So we wound down, down, down, through the old cobblestone streets- VERY slowly because of shaking knees and shaky me. The waterfront was VERY quiet in the morning. (We went back on Sunday evening, and it was lively and fun). Then, it was time to trek back up the hill.

Much to my embarrassment, this proved too much for me. I did make it back to the top, but felt TERRIBLE. I apologized to the bear and to DIogo and cut our 3 hour trip into only an hour and a half. I was done. Diogo mentioned that we could take our time and that he knew I still wanted to go to the bookstore. I thought about it and asked him where it was. He said “Thirty meters.” I thought about it again and then he said, “But it’s straight up.”

Unfortunately, I was done. Whether it was jet lag, my being out of shape, the food from the last night… who knows. I told the bear he should continue, and I’d take a rest. He chose not to continue the walk either. I felt bad that I had ruined our morning, but later he admitted that the walk was more strenuous than HE thought it would be, too. I mentioned it to our driver back to the airport on Sunday, and he said, “I don’t know why ANYONE tries to walk up and down those roads. I tell everyone to take the cable car up to the top and walk down – slowly.” Well, our hindsight is 20/20.

Fortunately, however, once back at the hotel, I was able to take about 45 minutes to regroup, and then told the Bear that at the very least we needed to go see the Bolhao market. We also wanted to go see a shop that we had seen Jamie Oliver visit on a YouTube show. So off we went to A Pérola do Bolhão. We got some tasty cookies and sardine pate there before making our way to the two-story market! So glad we went back out!


After finishing there, we returned to the hotel and our transfer came to take us to the boat with two other couples – one from the US, one from Australia. That was one of the fun parts of this ship. Scenic is an Australian company and had a more diverse population than Tauck and Uniworld. I would say that only about 15 to 20 percent of the passengers were American. The largest group seemed to come from the UK.

I chose Riverview suite 221 on the boat. It is the only one of its kind. It has the full wall window, but it does not have a small balcony like the other rooms. This one tiny difference saved me about $1,000. I knew that we would spend minimal time in the room, but I didn’t want one of the lower deck rooms with just a small window. I also loved that it had an included minibar, which could be customized, and one free bag of laundry done per trip. (Plus, you could have two items pressed each day.)

The boat has four decks. The bottom deck has the small rooms and the galley, the second deck (mine) has the large dining hall and the gym. The third deck has the bar, the larger suites, and the small dining room (Portobellos) where every guest is invited once per cruise. There is also the “river cafe” in the bar which offers lighter lunch options and a case of snacks that is always available and always changing. They have a very fancy coffee maker as well! The fourth deck is the top of the boat, including a covered area for sitting and a small pool. We saw a YouTube video before we went that we thought explained things quite well and very accurately.

Like most river cruises, every night before dinner there was a cocktail reception and a briefing of the things to come. Unlike other river cruises, the boats on the Douro only sail during daylight hours because the river is so narrow.

All three meals were included every day on the boat (except for lunch the Salamanca day). Breakfast was always the same, but it was an extensive buffet, or you could order special eggs to the table. Lunch was also a buffet, including a carving station – or you could get the lighter fare of sandwiches or snacks at the river cafe in the bar. Then, dinner was always a three course meal with LOTS of options, including pages of wine choices that were all included. This is just a sampling of some of the food including room service and the decadent tarts- Pasteis de Nata- that you could find EVERYWHERE. (I will likely include more specific food pictures in later blogs- particularly our night at Portabellos).

We ended most nights on the boat with a port or a port cocktail! I didn’t even know those existed, but now I know I love port and ginger ale…


At the end of each night, the schedule for the next day would be on the television in the room and on all the televisions on the ship. There were usually PLENTY of choices! In general, there were about three choices for the morning and sometimes more in the afternoon. And there were always activities occurring on the ship. All of these are included.

But for the first day of sailing, there was only one excursion. It was to be a museum in Regua after we set sail at 545 AM. After a long two days, it was nice to sleep in our VERY cold (by our choice) room on one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in – ever!

This was a lot of blog for the first in a series, and the boat isn’t even moving, yet…

Oooh, Haven is a Place on Earth…

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Going back to my 80s roots and the Go Go’s with that title a little bit there…

I am going to admit I didn’t have high hopes for Haven Riviera Cancun. The price point through my amazing travel agent, Rachel Burk , seemed too good to be true, but she always comes through. I gave her my price range and told her what I was willing to pay per person. She got back with me and told me she thought she found me a unicorn. I put the deposit down immediately, and then, I started researching more about the resort on Fans of Haven Riviera Cancun. I contacted Rachel again, and I said… “Okay, so once I started looking, I think maybe I want to upgrade to a Serenity club swimup.” She responded, “You don’t think I KNOW you? That IS a club level swim-up.” Again, the price point made me think that maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high… In the end, my three days at Haven were MORE than worth the cost.

I flew from Austin to Houston to meet up with Heather. From there, it was a simple trip to the Cancun airport. We FLEW through immigration, no one so much as even glanced our way in customs, we stopped at the restroom, and as we came out our bags were coming off the conveyor belt. No joke. We spent just about 10 minutes max in baggage claim before heading outside to meet our Kalido transfer. I book them EVERY time. They are always professional, courteous, and quick.

Quick is one of the many good things about Haven. It is about 15 minutes away from the airport. The drive up the driveway is almost as long as the whole trip itself. Once there, we were taken to the Serenity lounge for check in. This place is LOVELY. There is a check-in area with a manned bar, and then when you continue to walk through, there are steps down to a glass-walled lounge area that is surrounded by lush vegetation. This is a self-service area for snacks, books, wine, and cocktails. We didn’t really notice the lounge until we were leaving, but it was quite impressive!

We got there at about 1, so I knew our room wouldn’t be ready, yet… I had requested a butler based on suggestions from the Facebook fan group, and Edith was amazing. She texted me through What’s App, and let me know she’d meet us somewhere on the resort at 3. We chose our half-bottles of liquor for the room (Serenity guests get one each), and got our bracelet for our stay. I actually didn’t mind the bracelet. It’s pretty cute, and it’s also your room key. It’s a gold-colored band for Serenity guests and black for all others with a little wood logo. I even thought about keeping it. It would be $10 if I wanted to purchase. After checkin, we went to floor -1 to the Flavors buffet for lunch.

I hate buffets. I always end up with some hodgepodge of weirdness because I can’t decide. Still, this buffet was fine. It had all of the regular things you might expect and also a made to order grill where you could get burgers and hotdogs and salmon and such. The other options were outdoor, and since we were sill in travel clothes, not resort bathing suits and cover ups, we opted for the inside. I had read things about the food temperatures maybe not being great, but I thought all the hot stuff was hot and the cold stuff was cold. What more could you ask for? The buffet is available for all three meals, with nights often following a theme, but this lunch was our only time there. I can see how a buffet for dinner would be a good option for people coming in late or just those who don’t want to make reservations for dinner.

After lunch, we opted to wander around. WAY around. There is a path that is VERY long that leads around the front of the resort near the road– OR– as we discovered later, a much EASIER path that follows the ocean side of the resort. Don’t be like we are. Go along the ocean side. Still, we found EVERYTHING: The big circle pool far to one side of the resort, with the Serenity club only Vistas restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch with an outdoor view above it, most of the main restaurants, Limes bar, and the corner specialty bar on floor 1 above the main pool. Check in, the soon-to-be-open-but-currently-covered-by-drywall lobby bar, and the theater on floor 0, and Docks bar where there is nighttime entertainment prior to the show on floor -1. We were in building VII on the far opposite end of the resort, and by the time Edith found us and showed us to the room, we were good and warm for sure!

We got a two queen bed, partial ocean view, Serenity club swim-up, and it was SPECTACULAR. The room was COLD… I mean like seriously 64 degrees cold ALL. THE. TIME. That’s what we asked for. I specifically mentioned it in my requests, and we got it! I had read quite a bit about very slippery floors, and I am terrified of falling. I’m in my 50s, and I don’t bounce as well as I used to. I did put down a little non-slip path for us with shelving liner. Still, the surface of the swim-out itself wasn’t slippery at all, nor was the shower which had a rainfall shower head and a separate wand.

The storage in the room was EXCELLENT. There were six drawers in the closet, and a few in the room. We requested extra hangers and got plenty. There were plenty of outlets and room to store things in the bathroom. The bathroom had FAR more privacy than most Mexican resort restrooms and even had a solid door from the outside. The room was simple but well appointed. The in-room fridge was nice and cold and had beer and soda. There were a few snacks that were replenished daily, and a “secret box” for room service to bring and retrieve food items.

That was all well and good, but this swim out was truly spectacular. It had stairs directly in, and then a bench to sit on once in the pool. It was warmed to a reasonable amount, but still refreshing. We could definitely feel some heat coming out of the jets. We were right in front of Tahani restaurant with a view past the two Serenity pools of the ocean on our right. There are also rooms that are swim up with full ocean front in building eight. Just gorgeous! This was my favorite swim up pool ever. Drink service was good once it started, but some days it started later than others. Cobos was a WONDERFUL server who checked on us all the time. He would walk over from Tahani restaurant and stand just on the other side of the infinity ledge. Some of the drinks were definitely NOT what I was expecting. (Since when is a Paloma lemonade and vodka?) but when I specified my requests I got exactly what I was asking for. The pools are open 24 hours, so if you like, you can swim at night as well.

When Heather and I do our trips, most of our days are about the same. I’m the earlier riser of the group, and I love to start on the beach or at least NEAR the beach where I can SEE a beach. I love the beach. I don’t love sand… Heather REALLY likes to float in the ocean. This time, though, she thought it seemed a little too choppy and that she might have to get out a little too far. I really expected the sargassum to be much worse this time of year. I’m not saying it was great, and this isn’t a pristine beach – BUT there were plenty of beds on the beach, you could walk forever, and people were definitely getting in the water. I selected a bed on the Serenity swim up pool, just up the stairs from the beach where I could still SEE and hear the water, but didn’t deal with the sand, and I started my mornings reading books there.

Heather and I partied in our younger days, but these trips are for doing little more than “pool,” “snack” “repeat.” We could have had a half our hydrotherapy included with our Serenity club, and the spa looked terrific. But with such gorgeous weather and so little time (three nights), we didn’t want to take away from that time. The only “extra” we did was a tequila and chocolate pairing at Tahani that was sommelier led and a lot of fun! It included four tequilas, two Mezcals, and a signature drink- all paired with Mexican chocolate for $45 a person. We even got to try a Mezcal infused with insects!

Much like the buffet, to me, all the other food at the resort was “fine.” The restaurants themselves are bright and beautiful, many with gorgeous views of the ocean. I’m thrilled that most of the restaurants are situated where they have a view. So many resorts seem to forget that part. All the meals seemed a little under seasoned, and most of the menus were quite limited. Nothing stood out as being exceptionally bad or exceptionally good to me. Reservations are recommended, but not really required. You can’t make reservations until you’re at the resort. Still, every restaurant we went to had people walking up, and they were usually told to return at a different time for that same evening. I don’t mind reservations, and we had no trouble getting them for 6:30 or 7:00 each night. Our butler made the reservations, but I could do it myself on the app myself.

Tahani (Serenity only open for breakfast and dinner) lobby
Tahani
Tahani with Serenity swim up bar and ocean in the distance
avocado salad
paneer
tikka masala
room service chillaquilles
pop up taco and burger stand view from lunch outside Vora Mar
cauliflower at Satsu
gyoza at Satsu
sushi at Satsu
morning view at Vistas, Serenity only for breakfast and lunch above the round pool
vistas vista
omelet at Vista
nutella crepes and salmon toast at Vista
open kitchen at Olios
Olios- whole restaurant is glass windows. Very bright and pretty
berry salad at Olios
foie gras at Olios
artichoke soup at Olios
beef tenderloin at Olios
duck at Olios

Heather is not much of a drinker. I’m not much of a drinker unless I’m WITH drinkers. Still, we did make it to Limes bar upstairs just to look around. You can get a view of the front of the resort from there. We went to the corner bar for an excellent espresso martini. Each night at the corner bar has a different theme, and you can grab your drink then sit looking out at the view. We also found we quite enjoyed sitting at Docks bar as it started to get around 8 or 9 at night, and we could watch how well couples who had been drinking all day navigated the stairs down from the restaurants. We’re happy to say we didn’t see anyone fall, but we did see some people who definitely took the stairs with care! If we had stayed up until 9:45, there was a show every night at Moons, and then dancing after, but the theater was small, and dancing isn’t really our thing…

Dock’s bar by the main pool
up by the corner bar
seating by the corner bar
corner cocktail bar
out by Limes
on level 0 near the checkin
theater that becomes a nightclub

We really did spend most of our time just floating around in our swim up, and were quite glad the towels were plentiful. One afternoon we ventured down to the round pool which has a swim up bar and another little snack bar tucked into the back corner. Being in the water, the pool felt HUGE. The bottom was pretty sandy, but it was otherwise clean and beautiful. We were able to find a seat as soon as we walked up. There some of beds available to rent around the pool if you like, but most are open to everyone. I’m sure my butler could have gotten one from me. I’ve never been sure what to do with a butler before, but she was great! It was nice to have one person to contact for anything I needed. I realized that I forgot one of my medications at home, and she was able to order it for me from the pharmacy and have it delivered. It did seem that most things she did could be done through the app. The app is https://haven.stay-app.com/?id=q8n1 It’s a little unusual. You can’t get it through a play store, and it didn’t work for me until I typed it into my browser OUTSIDE of Facebook. Then, I was able to go to the dots on the upper right hand corner and click “download” and it worked like an app at that point. Some people find it easier to do from the resort. My butler didn’t really tell me about anything on there, but she likely figured I already knew. There are things people can participate in all day long if they like. I THOUGHT about a macramé class, and I THOUGHT about a cocktail class… but I did a whole lot of nothing, and loved it.

pretty little spot between buildings
hallway floors are all sparkling marble. They weren’t slippery while I was there, but I can see how they would be
plenty of towels everywhere
round pool from a lounger
round pool from Haven’s gallery pictures
Serenity swim up pool from the beach
Serenity pool right outside our room in front of Tahani restaurant. Serenity swim up pool just on the other side side with infinity edge to beach.

Less than three days after our trip started, it came to an end. Our transfer came from Kalido at 10:15 in the morning for our 1:45 flight. Yes, it was likely too early, but you really do never know, and the airport was crazy. Still, an hour later might not have been the WORST thing. Maybe I only say that because although our flight to Houston was uneventful, I had to go on to Austin. One mishap led to another, and ultimately our plane returned from circling Austin for a few hours BACK to the Houston airport at midnight. I had to get a hotel room until I was able to FINALLY leave at 9:30 the next morning. But, that’s one of the things I love my credit card for, my Chase Sapphire Reserve is reimbursing me for all of the Lyft rides and the hotel. The amount of benefits with that card are AMAZING. It pays for itself many times over!

Even with the minor inconvenience in the end, I was still thrilled with the trip. If I had to rate Haven with the other resorts I’ve been to in the past, I’d rate as follows:

1. Secrets Impression Moxche
2. Excellence Playa Mujeres
3. Haven
4. Live Aqua
5. Excellence Rivera Cancun
6. Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya
7. Hyatt Zilara
8. El Dorado Maroma

I actually really like all of the resorts I have listed above (the links are to blogs- some may be outdated)… And it is in no way fair to rate a price point like Impression Moxche (basic room $1218 a night) with one like Haven (price for basic room per night $387)… but all things considered, I would call Haven my #3 favorite Cancun area resort, and I would definitely return.

Going back to Cali – Paso Robles Trip Number 6

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Every year, Richard and I start to talk about a vacation for my spring break. Every year, I say “maybe we try something new.” Every year, we start talking about Paso with friends who have never been, or who haven’t been in awhile and say “Come with us!!” and we’re off for spring break again.

Paso is so amazing for going back and seeing old friends and finding new favorites! (Oh, and likely joining a new wine club – just can’t help it!)

This time, we set off early on Wednesday morning with Thomas and Melissa. This is the third time we’ve been with friends whom we met at The Wine Cellar in Lakeway, Texas – or some iteration of that same place. It is an AMAZING spot where people love to share their wines and their wine experiences. We’ve been friends for nearly two decades, and it’s because of that spot.

We fly from Austin, so we have a choice of either making a connection in Dallas to fly to San Luis Obispo, OR we can fly direct to San Jose, rent a car, and drive down. In the end, it takes about the same amount of time, so we generally choose to drive in order to avoid the issues that can happen with connecting flights. This time, after a non eventful flight, we picked up our free upgrade SUV (Thanks, Avis) and headed directly to Tin City.

A trip to Paso isn’t a trip to Paso without a visit here. (There was a fun documentary/commercial about it a few years back that’s free to watch on Amazon).

Tin City is generally not super busy on Wednesdays, which we LOVE! We started with a wonderful Paix Sur Terre Vermentino for lunch at Etto. There aren’t a lot of places to eat in Tin City, but there don’t need to be because Etto is always excellent. We arrived a little earlier than we thought we would, so our first tasting was about two hours away- which is both good and bad. If you’ve been in Tin City, you know that can lead to trouble…

We walked down to Turtle Rock, and it turned out they had time to take us – in about half an hour. So, we went up to Field Recordings just to share a glass (okay, maybe not all of us shared) and check out the views. Tin City is always pretty, but it’s GORGEOUS in March with the cherry trees all in bloom.

Our tasting with Chris at Turtle Rock was amazing as usual. This was our third time to visit. These are serious wines with 100 point scores, but still small, family, and boutique. Now they’re adding some Bordeaux style blends to their lineup which are sure to be just as amazing as everything else they’ve made.

From there, it was down the hill and around the corner to Jacob Toft. We have been members there for years. The wines are incredible and come from the best vineyards all over the central coast. We always have some old favorites and then make new favorites, too! The wines are great, and so is their team. This time, we got to taste with Kelly Toft herself and JT’s “new-to-us” teammate, Bailey.

We ended our time in the city with Nicora. Sarah took us through their impressive line-up of elegant and tasty wines.

In Paso proper, we changed for dinner super quick at our hotel, The Piccolo. This is an outstanding boutique hotel just slightly off the square. It’s the sister hotel of the older and more rustic Paso Robles Inn. I loved our stay at Piccolo last year, but felt it may have been a little over priced. This year, I felt like it was worth it. They significantly upped their continental breakfast offerings and added a few small touches – water bottles refreshed every day, turn down service, and just other little details. It has two bars: a small wine lounge downstairs and an expansive rooftop bar, Tetto, open to the public. It’s a GREAT place to make some bad decisions at the end of the night.

We considered restaurant hopping for dinner as we had done in the past, but ended up being glad that we had made reservations at Fish Gaucho . As always, the food and the service were incredible, and we had a BIG day ahead of us for day two.

We awoke bright and early on Thursday. The Bear always starts with a stroll around the square; then, after breakfast, we started off for Clos Selene. I am an unapologetic French Connection (or French Mafia if you prefer) fan girl. Last year, we were lucky enough to win our bid in the the Paso Robles wine auction and spend the day with the family. However, it was too muddy to go on the vineyard tour with Guillaume, so we rescheduled that for this year. We will DEFINITELY schedule it again. It is well worth the price. It was AMAZING. We spent two hours looking at several of the plantings all over the property and had Guillaume to ourselves to ask questions. We got to taste the 2023 single varietals straight out of the barrels, while we were standing where they were planted, before returning to the tasting room to try all of the blends. We’ve been to wineries all over Napa, Sonoma and even Italy and France. I would call this my top wine experience of all time.

From there, it was on to Epoch. This is one of the more interesting buildings in Paso, to me. It is in the York Mountain region and Vince took us through several of their wines, including opening a very interesting 100% Mouvedre just for me after realizing that was one of my favorite varietals. We moved down to their picnic tables and had Red Scooter Deli delivered for lunch.

Then, a return downtown for a wander about the square (and a little break for our livers) before heading over to TOP winery. TOP is one of the very interesting stories in Paso. Stanley and Elena (with whom we got to taste) gave up everything in their SoCal corporate lives to try out the wine world. Since Stanley got “lucky” with his first batch, they have expanded to as big as they ever hope to be and now produce some of the most highly acclaimed wines in Paso all from their boutique facility. They have no signs, no press; you only go to TOP by hearing about TOP. Once there, it is an amazing and intimate wine experience.

Dinner on Thursday was Somm’s Kitchen. We had been once in March of 2018. We thought it was very good that time. This time we went and it was absolutely FANTASTIC! What an EXPERIENCE!!! Ian Adamo made us feel like an engaging host at his family party. He talked to the group of 14 (most who had to make reservations months in advance) sitting around his table. He changes up the wine education each time. This time, it was about wine textures and feel. He would pair a $300 bottle side-by-side with a $20 bottle and talk about the way that the wines interacted with the food and then tell a joke about the Cowboys. There was nothing fussy or pretentious about the meal. It was fun, engaging, and energetic. We had a chance to try some old Andremily and Saxum and even a white Beaucastel while eating some of the most interesting and delicious foods.

We had 48 hour sous vide filet mignon covered in jambalaya, and a blood orange that had been slow cooked for 16 days served alongside a donut bathed in eggnog… It was just one moment of incredible food and fun after another. Sidenote: People often compare Somm’s and Six Test. They are both “chef’s table” experiences with long waiting lists for reservations. Other than that, however, I think it’s unfair. Their whole vision is completely different. Six Test, while being in a casual atmosphere, is still elegant, high-end, precision food. It is “food is art” experience where you are invited to watch artists create in their gallery with the finest ingredients in the world. Somm’s is much more convivial and relaxed, and it is more about the wine paired with fantastic, elevated comfort food. I enjoy both experiences IMMENSELY, but they shouldn’t be in the same category.

After waddling out of Somm’s, completely stuffed, we headed over to Alchemist’s Garden for a craft cocktail because we feel like we just can’t go to Paso without one… and then it was time to get a good night’s sleep because next we had our last day, Friday, in Paso.

Not that the days before had been shabby, but this was our day for views, and today, we were to begin with Law.

We had such a lovely time hanging out with Amaris in the “bird box” looking out at the lovely vineyards in front of us – seeing Daou off in the distance. As we were chatting, we had another lucky experience as the owner, Don Law, stopped in to talk with us for awhile about the topography and some of the recent changes in the Paso area.

We had some extra time before our lunch tasting. I wish I had thought it through a little bit more and made plans to stop and do some olive oil tasting (I will for sure next time). But, in our minds often when we have “extra time,” it means time to get some more wine, so it did give us a chance to drop in at one of the most important and most famous wineries in Paso, Tablas Creek. We knew since it was a bigger one they would likely have room for us and would have wine by the glass. Both of these things were true. We’ve done the full library tasting with them in the past and would definitely recommend it. I can truly think of no better place to learn a little about the Paso wine industry than Tablas.

We are always looking for new experiences and lunch with a view, so this time we added Le Cuvier to our list of places to go. The view here was expansive. While different than a vineyard style view, it was beautiful in its own right. Here, they had a glitch in their system which benefitted us, and we were set up to taste in the members’ room with the entire members’ tasting before lunch. The presentation of each bite was exquisite with some high alcohol, low-intervention wines. This was followed up with a full lunch of a quarter chicken, brussels sprouts with gruyere and roasted rosemary potatoes with a glass of your favorite wine from the tasting. This was a lengthy stop with Lisa, and gave us time to decompress and breathe in the Paso air.

Then, just like that, we were off to our LAST winery appointment of the trip: Linne Calodo. Linne was part of our first Paso visit back in 2017 when Kelly Toft signed us up to join the club. This time the winemaker and owner, Matt Trevisan’s, daughter Gabby signed our friends Thomas and Melissa up to their “Slacker” club. We had a great few hours there tasting through all the wines in BOTH wine ups and cuddling up to the cat, Mathilda and the puppy Sky and the dog Rocket.

One last time, we headed back to downtown Paso, and it is never complete without a stop at Taste in the Alley. When we started going seven years ago, they were open seven days a week until later into the evenings. Now, they’re only open a few hours on Thursday-Saturday. Still, you’ll likely find Larry and Kitty behind the bar, and they know ALL the history and the ins and outs of everything going on in Paso. You can open a bottle from their shelves or simply taste what they already have open there. Chances are once they start talking to you, they’ll give you a taste of two or three other things as well. You really have to know where you’re going to find it. It’s off Pine Street, but LITERALLY in an alley… so duck around the corner and look for the signs. There are a few other treasures back there, too.

Then, last but not least, it was time for the last dinner. We went back to a Paso classic: Il Cortile. This is elevated Italian with an amazing wine list, handmade pasta, and truffles galore. The food is decadent and amazing every time. I had a beet pasta with caviar that was out of this world! My husband had incredible lamb chops, and we all shared some great pastas and salads.

Finally, the hotel rooftop for some last old fashioneds and French 75s that we arguably didn’t need after such a full day, but hey… it’s vacay, right? We left for the airport at 8 o’clock the next morning, and now I’m finishing up this blog so that I can relive this 6th Paso trip again and again.

So, I’m sure that soon we’ll be talking about what to do for spring break, and I will again say, “Maybe we’ll do something different than Paso.” I wouldn’t be at all surprised, however, if this same time next year I’m blogging about trip number seven where we do many of the same things and add in a few new ones, too!