After a few GReat days in Carmel, e had to head back home to Los Angeles. So we packed up and headed down historic route 101. Route 1 is more scenic if you get a chance to drive it but because of the fires in Big Sur, part of it was closed. I jumped in the car ready to explore! I have a special set up in the back seat that keeps me from flying through a window if we are ever in an accident. It’s very comfortable and I like to sleep until we get to our next destination.

We stopped along the coast a few times to get some fresh air and take in the sights. We saw some young Golden Retrievers enjoying themselves in the surf.

It was a big set of stairs down to this beach so I watched from afar because I have a little arthritis in my front knee. I didn’t mind though because some humans stopped and gave me lots of pets.

On this route home you drive through some of central coast wine country. It’s very pretty with rolling hills…

and vineyards.

We stopped in San Louis Obispo for a break and lunch. We strolled around downtown and then had lunch at a little Italian restaurant, Vieni Vai Trattoria. They had a nice patio that backed onto a creek. It was very nice and I caught a nap while the humans ate.

After lunch we took a detour to the Santa Ynez valley. This is a very nice area and there are a lot of vineyards and wineries here in Solvang (featured in the movie “Sideways“.) and in my humans’ favorite little town in the valley, Los Olivos. You come to a crossroads that show you all the wineries and vineyards.

Los Olivos was our destination. It is a cute town that has grown a lot in the past few years. The main downtown area has lots of wine tasting rooms, shops and a few nice restaurants.

The humans wanted to check out a particular tasting room. This is the cottage, home of the Daniel Gehrs wine. According to the humans , he is a very good winemaker…I went along for the cheese. They had a nice patio in the back and were very welcoming to me. I even got my own dish of bottled water and some cheddar cheese…mmm!

We got back on the road and headed down to Santa Barbara. Once we got there we roamed up and down State Street, the main street in downtown, in search of a place to have dinner. It turned out that after a really dog friendly trip, Santa Barbara requires dogs to be a few feet off the patio of any restaurant.

We decided to head back to the car and find another town to try for dinner. I browsed a few windows on the way.

We found a nice little place to eat in downtown Ventura  . Downtown Ventura is developing nicely since the last time I was here last summer. There are some nice shops and restaurants too. There is a beach nearby where dogs are allowed but it was getting too late.

We got home late and I was  very tired but very happy. I fell asleep bext to my tennis ball collection and dreamt of all my GReat adventures of the past few days.