Having clients all over the place – versus being a regional PR person – has me traveling for business on occasion. Heading down to the Paso Robles area has become a special adventure.
I travel from Sonoma County to Paso to check in with the Donati family’s winery, in order to reconnect. My colleague Mitch Bakich at Donati, when initially asked for a local recommendation for overnight lodging, recommended Villa de Buena Vista. One visit, and now there’s no other place I’d rather stay in Paso.
Little did Mitch know that this would be exactly what I was looking for. Travel for me is very important, in order to recharge and re-balance my creative energies. This means that wherever I go, it’s either got to be as good as, if not better than, my current living conditions, and Villa de Buena Vista completely fits the bill.
Charlie and Patti Youngclaus, and Petey the Dog (can’t discount this mascot) are not only great innkeepers, but it was impossible for a deep friendship not to evolve after staying with them. When I’m business traveling, I’m too busy to be looking for new best friends, but it still occasionally happens when I meet extraordinary people, and this is one location where it all just came together. It’s easy to form deep bonds with others who have high principles and for whom quality is a primary ideal… And there they were in Paso, in the vineyards with their luxury bed and breakfast, catering to all our needs in their lovely inn.
Guest rooms are separate from their main house, but still closely shaped within a u-shaped compound. I adore languishing in opulently structured beds that envelope my weary bones. The rustic earth tones bring me back to Santa Fe, New Mexico… Another of my most favorite places to visit in the states. Colors are warm and inviting, the balcony overlooks sprawling vineyards, and the infinity pool ripples with the passing breezes.
Villa de Beuna Vista is a home-away-from-home for me in Paso. The Youngclauses are there with open arms, welcoming us back. It’s an honor to recommend them to others, because it’s such amazing lodging.
Weddings are also enjoyed here in their storybook setting, and I pray – when I know I’m headed there – that their rooms are not all occupied with bride and groom goings-on!
For me, it’s a love affair. I’m a very fussy person… I don’t fall in love with everything all the time. I have very rigid standards, actually, and I won’t rest my head anywhere I don’t feel immense pleasure. [I’m done with the camping thing in my life!]
Villa de Buena Vista is a place to enjoy for those who feel like it’s time for pampering and privacy from a hurried world… with a little bit of wine country thrown in for good measure.
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