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Earlier this month of July, we had a staycation in Atascadero in the Colony District area. Atascadero is an inland part of San Luis Obispo County and definitely has a different vibe from the famous San Luis Obispo City and Pismo Beach areas. They are known for their craft beer spots, wine tasting options and sometimes very hot weather in the summer!

I did some research before figuring out which hotel was best to stay in Atascadero. We narrowed it down to The Carlton. It's located in the middle of all the action and only a block or two (or across the street) from a handful of breweries. Uniquely, this hotel is a historic hotel and very luxurious in feel. Everything is of high class quality.

The Carlton

The Carlton is definitely inviting and there's a designated private parking area for hotel patrons. You can also park on the street as well. Since we're staying on a Sunday night, the two hour restriction wasn't in place and we parked on the street overnight as it was a closer walk to the front door of the hotel from our car that way. We're also glad that we brought our own water bottles. There were two water bottles in the hotel room but you'd have to pay for them. I was really impressed by their bathroom. There's a separate shower area and a separate big bathtub! All the fixtures are so fancy.


Once you get to the historic area of Atascadero, you won't miss the signs of The Carlton.


Wonderfully, staying at The Carlton came with amazing surprises.

There are two restaurants located inside The Carlton: Nautical Cowboy Steakhouse (now closed) and Back Porch Bakery! We tried out both of them!


These are both well known to the community. Back Porch Bakery is only open from the early morning though about 2pm. Their array of croissants are delicious! They also have breakfast sandwiches and make a mean craft coffee! The steakhouse doesn't open until 5pm. However, if you're hungry between the closing of the bakery and the opening of the steakhouse, there's a lot of restaurant options around the block within walking distance. This made our staycation so convenient and enjoyable. We really enjoyed the Santa Maria style BBQ at Nautical Cowboy Steakhouse (now closed) and the kids enjoyed the hot dog and chicken tenders that they ordered from the kid's menu. Both came with fries and a drink for the kids.

There were so many things we could walk to from our stay at The Carlton. Once we parked our car and checked in, we never had to get back in the car again for the entire time.

Places we walked to and visited during this staycation in Atascadero included:

1. Ancient Owl Beer Garden & Bottle Shoppe - This beer garden is super kid-friendly with an all outdoor space to drink. There's a creamery right in between the seating areas so you can go and get a treat for your kids. I brought my kids their own lunch boxes with snacks so that they'd have some snacks to munch on as my husband and I enjoy a local craft beer. I think they offer free juices to the kids but we didn't ask for them. However, I saw other tables with kids enjoyed them.
2. Tent City Beer Company - This is a smaller brewery but still a wonderful visit. They had a lot of different types of brews to taste from.
3. Wild Fields Brewhouse
   
   Of the list, this was the most kid-friendly visit! There's an arcade and free toys to borrow for the kids to play with! I was so impressed. The selection for beer was great and there's a good food menu for vegans and non-vegans. My husband and I ordered a banh mi to share while we were here to tide us over until our steakhouse later that evening. My kids were still full from their snacks from their lunch box munches earlier so spent of out time there playing games on the arcade.