Several years ago during a company incentive trip, we visited the Gainey winery in Santa Ynez, California. Their chardonnay is delightful but what sold me was their red blend. Here and there we found their chardonnay at our local stores but never that red. We talked about going back for years but something always came up.
We finally made it back. I am happy to report their chardonnay is as good as ever. I’m sad that my beloved Triada is no more. It’s been replaced with a new red blend. Still very good, but not my Triada. Sigh.
All is not lost. We found several new places to taste in the area and a perfect place to stay!
Flying Flags RV Resort sits immediately west of where scenic State Route 101 and Highway 246 meet, making it a great jumping off point for your central coast area adventure. If you haven’t been to Flying Flags in a while, you are in for a treat with their upgrades and expansion. The staff couldn’t have been nicer, even with the major change in their check-in procedure.
The streets have names for the area like Chardonnay, Cambria, Prevost, and more.
We stayed in the original section, the spaces are nice with enough room to deploy our slides with shrubs to provide a little privacy space to space. Several tall trees scattered in the area provided shade without messing up the satellite signal.
My walk the next morning revealed just how much they’ve done! I laced my shoes, put my headphones in and off I went. One lap around the perimeter was .8 miles, my three laps covered 2.44 miles, enough for a glass or two of wine for sure. The dog run is impressive, a large area to exercise and tire out your dogs. Walking past it made me think of our sweet Marlee girl.
They’ve added many new spaces. Big, wide spaces with nice concrete pads and plenty of space even after all the slides are out. There are a wide variety of pull-throughs and back-in sites.
They’ve also added several themed camping cabins, making it a great place for families to gather, both with RVs and without. There are three tent villages, a canned ham village filled with little vintage trailers, vintage row which is a long line of airstream trailers, an entire row of camping cabins, wine cottages that each have their own wine name, and the Santa Ynez guest ranch cottages that are a camp within a camp so to speak.
The new Pavilion has a large grassy area with little stage that I’m sure would be a great place to bring a blanket and listen to whatever band is playing. Also in the Pavilion area is a large pool, bocce ball court, snack shack, picnic area, playground and sports court. Sadly, because of Covid, there was no music playing and the pavilion building was locked up tight. I picture this area to be bustling with activity in normal times.
We’ll get back to normalcy soon, I pray it’s sooner rather than later. When that happens, you’ll find us back at Flying Flags enjoying ourselves at the campsite and enjoying another wine tasting trip. If you see us, give us a wave!