How did a trip to Los Olivos come about out of the blue?? Well, we had friends come over last weekend, and you know what that means: time to uproot our entire existence, rethink all our life (and decor) decisions, and deep clean the house. It took a couple days to get everything done and get the yard looking nice, but in the meantime, we found an old gift certificate from a client to Fess Parker Inn tucked away in a drawer. Isn’t that where all gift certificates go to die?
We hadn’t used it sooner because FP is pretty small and quite hard to get a room without reserving months and months in advance. We checked a few times until it just fell lower and lower on our priority list. Eventually we forgot about it completely. But! Gift certificate in hand, on a whim, I hopped on my laptop just to see. Lo and behold, they could have a room ready for us in just a few days! So we went for it. The timing worked out great.
The Town
Seriously Los Olivos could not be any cuter. An early morning stroll feels like a walk down Main Street, USA without all the people. One block smells like coffee while the next has lavender floating through the air and finally a smoky BBQ scent fills your nose and makes you hungry. The drive from LA was about 2.5 hours and takes you along the coast into rolling hills. It’s part of the whole wine country scene of central California, but it’s nestled away from everything else and runs just a few blocks each way. Along those blocks are a couple restaurants and a whole bunch of tasting rooms. I think the population is only like 1,000 people, so they rely on tourists and wine enthusiasts to keep the place poppin’. Solvang is close by, as well as Chumash, so once the town shuts down at 6pm, there’s always the casino!
We popped into Solvang before we headed home because it’s home to one of our favorite restaurants, Peasant’s Feast. The drive between towns was so beautiful — through farmland, vineyards and more rolling hills. Plus, if the charm of Solvang doesn’t do anything for you? Well, I guess we can’t be friends.
Accommodations
As I mentioned, we stayed at the Fess Parker Inn, which I think might be the only hotel in this one little area. For the price of the rooms, I honestly thought it would be a LOT fancier, and I was quite excited to see how the other side lives! But besides the large rooms, it was a pretty standard hotel. The beds were so comfy and the big ol’ bathroom was nice. I loved the beautiful, quiet pool area and — while I was wishing I could order some snacks to be served to me — it was still pretty perfect for an afternoon post-wine snooze and swim.
Food + Drink
Well, we know there is no shortage of drink. You can park anywhere on Grand Avenue and have your pick of about 25 tasting rooms. Since we were staying at FP, we had discounts to the Epiphany garden which also hosts the Bubble Shack (SPARKLING WINES!) That was the only one I cared about, so we did that immediately upon our arrival. The tasting garden was casual and relaxed, plenty of shade and big comfy chairs. We are lightweights and felt pretty toasty after just one tasting, so it was good that we had early dinner reservations to get to. We ate at the hotel restaurant, Nella Kitchen & Bar and it was excellent. In my head, I was gonna go all out with a steak or some duck, but after some appetizers and a bomb pizza, we were ready for dessert and coffee and called it a day. It was pretty perf.
Wearing
Picking an outfit was so hard! I exchanged several texts with my fashionable besties Andrea and Paige, trying to figure it out. Weather was in the low 80’s and my biggest concern was not getting too hot. I also didn’t want to be too fancy or too casual. Finding that perfect balance is tricky sometimes — especially when the last year has muddled your fashion sense. I think most people would just go for a classic sundress and sandals, but I fought that tooth and nail. Knowing my thighs would be sticking together and long underwear would just make me feel even hotter gave me the heeby-jeebies. Getting old is fun! I thought I had settled on jeans and a linen button-up, but looking back at some of my photos from Mexico, I remembered I had a set of homemade matching separates that would work. And that’s when documenting your outfits really comes in handy! On day 2, I went for the dress anyway.
There you have it! Have you ever been to Los Olivos? Let me know if you have any questions!
loves,
jaana