Mature Life Features

. . . about what I’m about to say

so I won’t bother repeating it.

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On a Mission to Sip and

Savor California Wines

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The “real California,” that land of myth and movies, does exist.

You’ll find it along the section of the California mission trail that connects Mission San Juan Bautista outside Salinas to the mission for which this city is named, mid-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

We started along the River Road that parallels the Salinas River and Highway 101 as far south as Mission Soledad. This quiet out-of-the-way mission was the 13^th the Franciscan friars established in the chain that forms the spine of the Golden State. It sits on a site that was served by native-built redwood aqueducts from hot springs a few miles away on the flanks of the Coastal Range.

Within a couple of hours’ drive-time north of “Obispo” are several other missions — Carmel, Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel, and San Antonio. The last is the next one down the road from Soledad. San Antonio, founded third after San Diego and Carmel, is on the Hunter Ligget Military Reservation, the only one on a military base. Besides providing settlement centers, the 21 California missions served as military complexes and were built roughly a day’s horse-ride apart.

Its southern neighbor is San Miguel that was established in 1797. It’s the 16th mission to be strung along El Camino Real (The King’s Highway). Window panes were made of stretched sheepskin as a substitute for hard-to-get glass.

We next ducked into Paso Robles, one of the best-kept secrets on this out-of-the-mainstream tourist trail. It anchors a rolling Tuscany-lookalike landscape that supports some 70 wineries.

Before taking the 30-minute drive to San Luis Obispo, we spent a couple of days in Paso Robles to soak in its restfulness and romance while stopping by several wineries for savory sampling. When we finally rolled up to Mission San Luis Obispo, we were welcomed by chants of Sunday Mass coming from the church as we strolled along the creek walk that proclaims the present and past of this historic town.