Blogs from San Luis Obispo, California, United States, North America - page 3

Advertisement

North America » United States » California » San Luis Obispo December 5th 2009

Yikes! Ireland in less than a month. Can't wait but there is quite a bit to do before I leave. Packing, paper work and saying good-bye are just a few things that need to be done. Wow five and a half months, I'm so excited!!... read more

North America » United States » California » San Luis Obispo October 13th 2009

The morning we left San Fran we went to the airport to collect our car (which we booked very last min thanks to the crappy internet connection at the hostel). We had booked the cheapest and smallest car, which by British standards is probably a medium sized car, but on arriving at the car port there were no economy cars left, so we had to choose something else!!!! Yippee we got a bigger and nicer car (I think) a bright blue Chrysler cruiser (my choice), probably doesn’t do good mileage and yes looks like a hearse from behind but its bright blue!!! Nath reckons it’s like driving a dodgem car, and I must admit it has all these elaborate dials inside that look like a toy car would have or some ancient aeroplane! We’ve just ... read more
P1050258
P1050259
P1050261


21/07/09 Tuesday Day 341 We headed from Monterey to San Luis Obispo on the 1 highway which goes down the coast of California. There’s some amazing views on the way although at times we were covered in fog which seemed to take ages to burn off. There’s a couple of small areas to stop on the way down, most of the places having only 1 shop, 1 restaurant and petrol pumps. We found oil coming out of the grill from the front of the car. We stopped at a place called Gorda for a spot of lunch. On closer inspection of the engine it turned out that the idiot at Avis who put the oil in didn’t put the cap back on so a lot of the oil spilled on the engine causing a lot of ... read more


Geo: 35.2855, -120.663We made reservations to tour Hearst Castle in San Simeon in advance and arrived about an hour before our scheduled tour. We had time for lunch and still moved up to an earlier tour. The ticket office attendant was happy to give us a spot on an earlier tour. The castle is magnificent and the grounds are beautiful. It is easy to see why the Hearst family picked that spot for their home.After touring we drove back to San Luis Obispo and checked into our room at the Madonna Inn. The inn is known for its outrageous design and decoration, but we had one of the more subdued rooms on the property--the Highway Suite. It was really comfortable with a great rock-walled shower--probably the best part of the room. The furnishings reflect Alex Madonna's ... read more
Hearst Castle outdoor pool
Hearst Castle tower
Hearst Castle Dining Room


July 1st continued Left San Francisco - I hope it won't be another 39 years before I'm back! Found the freeway pretty easily and drove about 1 1/2 hours where we stopped in Gilroy the City of Garlic for some groceries among other things. We had decided to take the 101 some of the way because we would have too long a drive otherwise. Went towards the coast so we ended up around Monterey Bay and from there on we had a beautiful ride along the Pacific on Highway 1. It was a long ride because of 'The long and winding road" and we weren't in Pismo Beach until nine. But we were pleased that we had decided to go the extra miles as we know had accommodation directly at the Pacific and a balcony overlooking ... read more
Pismo Beach - day 1
Pismo Beach - day 1 (2)
Transfer San Francisco - Pismo Beach (2)


June 14th 2009 So near yet so far I think it's fair to say that I'm known for having an excellent sense of direction. Coupled with superb map-reading skills, it is hard for me to get lost. Except in Guildford. And, it would seem, America. Alex, I could hear you laughing at me from afar on Wednesday morning. I simply couldn't find the entrance to the freeway. I could see it on the GPS. Sat in Betty Boy I could see the cars rushing by not a few yards away. But could I join them?! No. It would appear Milpitas was as reluctant to see me go as I was to leave. After 45 minutes and an unexpected detour to the city's sewage works I thankfully happened upon the south entrance to highway 880. Hallelujah! The ... read more
Santa Cruz beach
The centre of Freedom
17 mile drive - Monterey Bay


So today was absolutely awesome!! i slept in from having a long day and night, i went out in downtown slo, a very interesting scene. i went to downtown brewing company and saw a fun reggae band at the frog and peach, and hung out with becky, a fellow san diegan. today ray and i went on a tandem bike ride around slo town had lunch and then decided to go and check out a few wineries. the slo vineyards are soo beautiful and calm. overall ive had a pretty good time so far. ive met a ton of people and am kinda bummed i wont be here longer.... read more

North America » United States » California » San Luis Obispo February 13th 2009

So enjoyed Montana de Oro State Park yesterday that we went back to explore some more today. The name comes from the golden flowers that carpet the place in spring. There's a photo of a few of the early arrivals. Did a three hour hike along the Bluff Trail that follows the coast line (did we mention that we like to be close to the sea?). In that whole time we saw maybe a dozen people, it was as good as having the place to ourselves. It was cold and windy but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the surf was up. Just glorious. Masses of wildlife to be seen, birds of prey (there are lots of peregrine falcons round here, but I can't identify what we saw. Some of them were really ... read more
Bluff Trail 2
Bluff Trail 3
Bluff Trail 3

North America » United States » California » San Luis Obispo February 12th 2009

What a difference a day makes! When we left the High Desert it was in the midst of a snowstorm and to tell the truth it was a bit scary. Most of the drivers on the road weren't making any concession to the weather conditions, any space you left between yourself and the car in front was immediately seized on as an opportunity to swoop across from lane 1 to lane 4. It's not surprising that there were a number of collisions. Once we got past the hills and down into Greater LA the skies cleared and the sun came out. An hour further up the road and we rolled into Montecito, a suburb of Santa Barbara. A pretty wealthy one too if you look at the notable residents section of the wikipedia entry. Pretty white ... read more
In the hills above Santa Barbara
Montecito beach
On the way to Solvang




Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 11; qc: 86; dbt: 0.0705s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb