Trip Date: February 18, 2022
Although I was born and reared in San Francisco, I have never spent much time on the Central Coast. I went to Santa Barbara for a night or 2 for Laura’s graduation from UC Santa Barbara, and the boys have camped out along the coast in the Los Padres National Forest. Kristen and I camped in the Los Padres West of Fort Hunter-Liggett and I drove her out to the spots where the boys camped off Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, but I think that is about it. I remember now we went down to my Cousin John’s pottery shop for a concert Mike was playing in at the shop maybe 35 years ago. Oh yeah, I remember now Kristen and I camped at Montana de Oro State Park a few years back.
My cousin John has lived in Harmony and now, more recently in Los Osos for about 50 years. He was one of the original inhabitants of the town of Harmony on the coast. I have only seen his shop once, as I mentioned above, but I have never really visited him. His sister Cathy moved to Atascadero a few years ago, and our friends Rich and Terry moved to Pismo Beach around the same time. Also, Tom had moved back to San Luis Obispo into his childhood home recently. The time had come for a road trip to see them all and their new (or not so new) environs.
We headed to Rich and Terry’s first, the southernmost locale. We took some time on the way down to explore San Luis Obispo and then headed out Price Canyon road from Edna into Pismo. It was a beautiful drive and started the trip off in a good space. We got to Rich and Terry’s place just in time to settle in a bit and relax for a while before bed. The next day, Rich and Terry drove us North into San Simeon to go to the Hearst Ranch Winery that they are members of. It is a fantastic setting right on a bluff overlooking San Simeon Bay.
The next day Rich was working so Terry brought us in to town and we walked along the beach until we came to the Monarch Butterfly Grove. It was kind of a last minute idea so I didn’t have many expectations, but the butterflies were there in droves. It was great to see them flying about and hanging onto the leaves and branches high up in the Eucalyptus trees. Kristen bought a sweatshirt and some gifts in the little gift shop before we headed back up the beach to town. We explored some shops before walking back under the freeway and up the hill to their house.
The next day, I had wanted to go check out Oso Flaco Lake that I had seen on Googly doing some research prior to the trip. We ended up going too far South, but that led us through the town of Guadalupe, where it turns out Tom has some relatives. The trail over the lake and out to the dunes and eventually the ocean was fantastic; a great way to see some of the coast and tons of wildflowers and wildlife. We headed back to town for a bit before heading back to Rich and Terry’s place. Steve Storelli and I had just finished making some Barbera wine and Kristen found a bottle imported from Italy in a wine shop in town. We opened the bottle at home and enjoyed it out on the deck before dinner.
This was our night out, so we first headed to a restaurant that I had wanted to go to perhaps, but it was booked, so we decided to just go by for a cocktail. This was a great idea. The patio was out on a cliff above the ocean with fantastic views and scenery. After a couple drinks, we headed to SLO for dinner. They too had a Barbera on the menu so I decided to taste it as well. The dinner was good and although we didn’t have time to go to any college dive bars from the good ol’ days, it was a great night. We watched more of the Olympics and Rich gave me a really tasty after dinner drink which put me to bed.
Rich and Terry were off bright and early to help some friends with a cow roundup, so we were left on our own to pack up and lock the doors behind. We were off to see Tom for lunch, but took the opportunity to explore Avila Beach along the way. We went to Tom’s house which was a real nice little place that hadn’t been touched on 50 years. He seemed very happy to just meld back in to his childhood home, which still had his childhood toys and photos on the wall. We checked out the killer backyard and his plans for a possible extension and then hopped into his brand new Ford Bronco to cruise downtown.
It was fun to have him point out all the businesses and places he has known since he was a kid. Places his parents went, and storeowners he used to know. Town was hopping, so we settled on the Fireside Grill for lunch and sat outside on a gorgeous Central Coast day. It was great to have Tom guide us around as we headed back to the car. We were able to see some of the river walk and the establishments that were kind of centered around the creek. We only had time to hop in the car and head to John’s house in Los Osos, as we had a busy social calendar on this trip. Fortunately, we were only a short drive away.
It was really exciting to see John and his house. It was in a very cool location, on a dead end street, East of town a bit, but still only a mile to Morro Bay (the actual Bay, not the town). He had a big lot, I don’t recall exactly but maybe an acre or more. There were beautiful oaks in the back and lots of garden area on both sides. The house was filled with art, all different kinds of art, so much so, that even though I knew John made pottery and had operated the pottery shop for some 50 years, I never really thought of himself as an artist. Until now. He told us about some of the pieces and some of the artists in such detail and with such reverence, it really made me see him in a new light.
The house desperately needed Bill Murray to unleash his leaf blower, and a deck to go below the sliding door, but it was a very cool old Central Coast house. What was even cooler was the work John had done and more he had begun to make it into his dream pad. He had a 3,000 square foot shop build right next to the house with beautiful wood beams and massive windows out the back. He had it filled with pottery stuff, kilns, and bits and pieces of art stacked and piled high on tables and chairs. There was a foundation for a patio and a series of tiered gardens and planters that awaited time and attention. It will be a gorgeous house, studio and garden some day. We had a great visit albeit way too short.
We were off to check into the Cambria Pines Lodge for the relaxing portion of the trip, however, since we were passing right by, we stopped in Harmony to visit the shop and my second cousin and John’s niece Emily. We had a great visit with Emily in between customers. She told us some hilarious stories about John and working together all these years in the shop. Kristen picked out a couple things and Emily gave us a fantastic family discount (Sorry John). We lingered in Harmony a while, checking out the glass blowing place, the chapel, and all the cows that appeared here and there. It is a picturesque place and a wonderful stop along Highway 1.
Back on the road, fortunately we didn’t have to go too far before we were pulling into the Lodge. We had initially reserved a fancy place in Pismo to stay one night, but almost got 2 nights for the price of one here, and the proximity worked out to do most of our visiting before having some quiet alone time. I wasn’t super impressed with the guy who checked us in, but our room was nice and the grounds were nice, so we were in good shape. We got a free dinner with our Travelzoo reservation, which turned out to be real nice in the old historic farmhouse turned restaurant. They had live music in the huge bar that was tempting, but the pillow proved to be too strong a draw.
The morning was cold and drizzly so we headed into town to visit an art gallery we visited last time and saw the only Tree of Life we probably could have bought. Of course, it was the first one we ever saw we like and thought at the time the $800 was too expensive and we would come across tons more options. So of course, here we are now, some 5 years later and have almost coughed up $2,000 for similar pieces, but have yet to pull the trigger on the perfect piece to sit above the mantel of our fireplace back home. This place still had lots of beautiful pieces that we thought were reasonably priced, but nothing really grabbed us.
We hit a few more shops and then drove down past the street we had come in on and suddenly discovered a whole other part of town, I guess the real town and not just the touristy part along highway 1. Mind blown. We took note of a few restaurant and stores, stopped at a pie place that John mentioned and headed out to see the sights. We again tried to get out to the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse and again were rebuffed. We spent some time at the Elephant Seal Viewpoint, got out to stroll along the coast, then headed back into Morro Bay. Since this was our last day on the coast, we had to try to see it all.
We again benefited from the close proximity of these places so we were in town in no time. I was excited to explore a little because both Ken and Bob were here recently and raved about Morro Bay. We made it through all the construction and road closures to get on the main drag and stopped for lunch at the Port House. Upon entering, I thought we had made a mistake as it was either closed or the lack of patrons indicated the quality of the food. However, it did not turn out to be the case. Although for most of our stay we were the only non-employees in the place, we had a couple good drinks and a good meal.
Our young handsome waiter turned out to be a SLO student from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We told him we were going there in September and he opened up like crazy and told us all about it. We had a great visit and a nice stop. We left the car parked out in front and walked down Embarcadero to a very cool store called the Garden Gallery. We spent way too much time in there, but there was tons of cool garden stuff and art to look at. A block down was a cool shell shop where I bought a few shells in hopes of making a shell fountain for the back pond. Embarcadero ends at Tidelands Park and a public boat ramp, so we headed up to Main Street and walked to Morro Bay State Park, or at least the golf course part of.
There is so much to see in the area, and we had so little time, so we decided to try to hunt down another remote Monarch Butterfly habitat on the golf course. We tried to follow googly and what we found on the ground as best we could and certainly got to the spot. However, without any Monarchs to tell us we were there, we couldn’t exactly tell. We had to cross over a couple of the fairways, so we didn’t stray too long. We saw some beautiful homes and scenery, so we were happy to re-enter the neighborhood and walk downhill all the way back to the car. It was a great walk, but we were trashed.
We found our way back up to the Lodge on back streets that climbed the huge valley separating one side of town from the other. We had a tiny rest before heading to Lombardi’s for a nice dinner with really nice ladies who worked there, and it was immediately to bed. The next day we headed back inland to Atascadero to visit my cousin Cathy, John’s sister. Cathy had moved down here to be near her 3 daughters and what a nice place to live. Her house was down a real steep drive, way below the road, but in a nice cool dell covered in oaks with a fantastic pool that looked down into the valley below. It certainly did remind me of her parents place in St. Helena, and even more so when we got inside and saw all their furniture.
We had a nice lunch and visit with Cathy, but we were antsy to get home by now, so we headed on back North after a great Central Coast visit.
Central Coast Trip Photo Gallery
