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rather late - but better late than not at all
Sunday 31 May
this is definitely a catchup - all those missing days in San Luis Obispo! - where did the time go?? too hard to write stuff when you are staying with someone and being social - and its hard enough when yo is on the road and wondering where the next stop is gonna be! Being written on the new laptop on the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train which runs from San Jose to Sacramento - the State capital if y'all forgot. Boz Scags - Dig (recentish - not Silk Degrees - do not think I could still listen to that due to 70's over-exposure) - is a suitably low-key soundtrak on the Ipod.
now to San Luis Obispo - where did that come in? friend Bob has old friend from living in Spain in the 70's days Douglas (Doug to Bob but he prefers Douglas) in San Luis Obispo aka SLO. By emails and so on we had arranged a hookup for me to arrive there on Tues. 26th May- and it was also a useful address (well actually his wife Mary's work address) to ship from
Amazon this new laptop - as they do not ship 'em outside US and do not to hotels and such. So it was waiting for me there when I arrived which was kinda exciting along with some scarce CDs. I left Santa Barbara on the Coast Starlight train again at 12.45 or so and 3 hrs later arrived in SLO - figured that Douglas was the guy looking up and down the tracks for someone as had not met before! He is an ESL teacher at Cuesta College there and has just finished term so it was very good time as he had time to drive me around and show me the local SLO sights - not many but pleasant to have a local guide. The local mission with church is nice enough - there is a big one at Santa Barb but bit too far to walk for that one. The missions were built a day's ride apart up the coast and I think there about 22 of them. Met the bellringer there, who Douglas knows, as he was about to close it up at 5pm. (Angelus bells rung at noon and 6pm - the 6am has been skipped
due to residential sensitivity!) The church was quite nice, especially the flowers painted trailing along the wall and around the windows. And quite a nice garden.
Douglas' wife Mary cooked a really pleasant dinner of salmon with asparagus and a wild rice mixture and we were joined by Mary's son Aaron who is living there at the mo - I met his 9 year old daughter Kaylee the next night on an access visit so to speak as he and his wife have split. The fold out sofa in the living room was quite comfortable, although when Aaron went out the door at work at 6.20am I kinda naturally heard it but a minor problem in the scheme of things. Mary works part time and keeps books for a law firm and some other small clients, but on the Wed. they had to go and see their financial advisor generally but more about the golden hand shake likely on offer to Douglas from Cuesta to help them to downsize staff.
After that Douglas took me for a more scenic drive out towards Morro Bay to the N of SLO. The morros are the small volcanic cone/hills which march
SLO - Morro Bay
out towards Spooners Cove ?in a line from inland to the coast - there is one right at the coast and a couple of them further out under the water. Some birders had two telescopes focussed up on the rock on two peregrine falcons - one female and a male somewhere else - so we were lucky enough to have a look. Then we drove around and over to a coastal park S and walked out to Spooners Cove/Inlet which was some nice coastal scenery. The weather was kind of coastal and changeable and some fog blew up the coast but this made it a little more interesting rather than it being a gorgeous totally blue sky day. Some times it was like that first thing then it clouded over so it is still kinda May weather and gets cooler when the sun goes down. Dinner that night was at Nucci's the local pizza place just up the street. Aaron's daughter Kaylee came over and she has a very active imaginative alter-world. There we had 2 pizzas and two salads and that was enough (Kaylee had her own little designed pizza) - and I had two wedges of pizza left over to heat up
Morro Bay - rattlesnake plant
cos it rattles when you shake it of course the next day for lunch which was even better!
Thursday 28 May was a casual start to the day and I was in no hurry. Douglas was going over to visit his mother, who is 93, in the village where she lives so I went along too. Also tried to help contribute (without success) to a 1000 piece jigsaw which was spread out on the table in about 30%!c(MISSING)ompletion state. A bucolic painting of some deer running across a golden paddock with a squirrel, fence posts and some trees and acres of yellow grass to figure where the complex cutouts go. .
Then we went to the famous Madonna Inn which is famous/notorious for its OTT pink decor - Liberace would feel more than at home there in the pink themed (not to mention DOMINATED) dining room and bars. We even visited the gents - which has a water feature tricking down
Douglas at the piano
playing Satie quite well thank you over the stone canopy over the urinal which seems to start when you stand there as a cue! - and splashed my open-toes sandalled feet somewhat. Apparently ladies have been known to sneak in for a look as they do not have such a feature in their powder room.
Thursday nites is the Farmers Market when they close up most of the Main St and have food stalls and also stalls selling local produce. It looks good and fresh etc- until you realise that the prices are per pound rather than per kilo. Mary and I each bought a Mama's meatballs sandwich from the silver haired very Italiano grandma and heated them up at home. Douglas got something less successful from the Moroccan stall - a lemon chicken thing that did not sound like it was very anything, let alone Moroccan. McLintocks BBQ restaurant do a roaring trade with their huge BBQ - ribs etc and even the biggest artichokes halved I have ever seen - they are the size of small footballs.
Friday 29 May was resume my way day. Obviously not having met Douglas and Mary before I did not know how long this sojourn was
Douglas-Mum & jigsaw
she is 93 - and I would be before finish that jigsaw! going to be - but they were very hospitable and it was a very nice opportunity to just slow down/stop and relax. As they had some friends coming for lunch that day decided I would try and get the 12.40pm out - but that was a bus rather than a train and sold out - so it was the 3.45pm Coast Starlight again on which I had arrived. This did give me the opportunity to meet Douglas' old friends Scott and Margy and have lunch with them. Mary catered for lunch by visiting Costco which had supplied a mix of sushi, wraps and berries and all sorts of munchy stuff. Scott and Margy spend quite a lot of time in a mountain area of Mexico at about 7000 feet which sounds interesting - and not too close to those drug-lord shootout areas! So it was a pleasant lunch and then Douglas dropped me down to the station. Collected the ticket from a real person with the booking ref. obtained over the phone but the Amtrak ticket machines also work quite well on later experience - simply insert and remove credit card and then use touch screen to issue ticket after
Madonna Inn - SLO
forget rhapsody - this is hysteria in pink you input your name - they check your ID on board the train.
So goodbye to SLO - it was a nice kinda Slow visit with some lovely people so it beats that town-a-day thing which has followed. You become rather ruthless as a traveller I find, unless you plan to send the time in a place for some particular reason. Santa Barbara, Monterey and Santa Cruz were all see it in one day/evening places (or not see it) as they are relatively small. My doctrine of the "accidental tourist" applies - what you see, you see - don't fret about those "must sees" - you either did or you didn't - and if there is a "next time" you might see it then. Travel philosophy of Mr Mink ENDS!
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Bob Davis
non-member comment
I'm pleased
Hi Mike I can see from your blogg that you enjoyed your stopover with Mary and Douglas and co. They are always excellent hosts. Your blogg shows how local hospitality gives a different perspective on the USA. Good luck for the rest of your journey.