I have arrived at the Pacific Ocean!! I am staying at another Elks Lodge in Oceano where the beach is a mere 800 feet from my campsite. I can't see the ocean, but when it is really quiet at night, I can hear it.
Evidently, I am unaccustomed to beach walking. I have those type of sneakers with sort of a mesh top. It seems that the mesh does nothing to stop sand from seeping into the shoes. Not only that, the sand even went through my socks. After each of our daily walks on the beach, I had so much sand in my shoes, it was as if I had put weights on my feet. I guess people buy ankle weights to strengthen their legs. I didn't have to do that but I did get blisters from all that sand in between the toes.
The beach at Oceano was a SRVA – a State Vehicular Recreation Area – where you can drive your vehicle on the beach, camp on the beach, ride your horse on the beach, basically recreate to your heart's content. The sand could get a little deep and I saw several large Rvs get stuck in the sand. After a few days, they plowed a path down to the beach, thereby compacting it enough that you wouldn't get stuck.
Please forgive the quality of these pictures. Evidently my phone doesn't like sunlight too much.
On my way up to Morro Bay, I stopped at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Built in 1958, it is an 'exceptionally bizarre Swiss Alps-inspired hotel ...that seems to celebrate all that is garish and tacky in human taste.' Writer Umberto Eco thought that the décor was conceived when 'Albert Speer, while leafing through a book on Gaudi, swallowed an overgenerous dose of LSD and began to build a nuptial catacomb for Liza Minelli.' There are 109 rooms- no two rooms are the same.
The dining room
The carpet
Morro Bay is a lovely little coastal town about forty minutes north of Oceano. It is known for Morro Rock – a giant volcanic mound that sits out in the bay. The town itself, very definitely caters to the tourist trade with surf and t-shirt shops mingled into seafood restaurant after seafood restaurant.
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| The Pier Cat - isn't he jaunty with his sailor coat on? |
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| Strange flora in California |
I stopped in Pismo Beach to go to the Splash Cafe. I had heard that their clam chowder was to die for. I wasn't expecting much, but my sources were right - it was to die for. Thick, creamy with a seafood (shrimp and lobster) topping. I have not ever, ever, ever had clam chowder this good in my whole life. Sorry, no pictures - it disappeared too fast.
I did take a walk out on the Pismo Beach pier.
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| Surf and Riptide warnings were in effect |
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| View out my back window - lots of noisy ducks |
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