California Trip - Day 10 and 11

 Wednesday, May 21st - We left the Pinnacles campground after breakfasting on bagels, cream cheese, and fruit at our outside table and after packing the car.  We drove south via rural roads with little to no traffic until merging with US 101 just before Paso Robles.  We stopped in Paso Robles for a mid-morning coffee and snack break.  We wandered a bit around the downtown, admiring the park with its Carnegie Library, a performance center, and a multi-artist gallery.  We went into the gallery and almost immediately recognized one of the resident artists - Anne Laddon.  We have her famous Nikon camera print, purchased from the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA just before we moved to Oregon.  Her original silkscreens are now worth $3,000.  We looked through her offerings and found another print we liked (a night scene, edition 148 of 150); we bought it.  After viewing the rest of the art on display, we met the artist, herself as she was leaving.  She is one of the gallery managers and had been  interviewing prospective interns.

Street art sculpture.

The Carnegie Library in Paso Robles.

Artist Anne Laddon, when working at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA.  She is probably near our age.

We continued the drive to Pismo Beach, arriving around 1:30 pm.  We checked in to the Dolphin Cove Motel, located just off the Boardwalk and pier.  We went out exploring Pismo Beach, first by walking out to the end of the pier, then on the beach south to the edge of where vehicles can access the beach, and then back to our hotel inland of the dunes on a walking path.  We passed a golf course, a campground and a RV park, which looked crowded and dismal.  Once back to the main square, we lingered a bit at a small market/fair after purchasing a mango-orange drink.

Dinner this evening was at Ada's Fish House, eating de-constructed Crab Louie salads, which were quite good.

Our hotel.

The Pier.

Looking back from the pier, our hotel is on the left side of the photo.

What guys do in Pismo Beach - the wet suit is typical.

Street mural.

Selfie.....

The beach

Some of the beach life we saw while walking.  This is an Eccentric Sand Dollar.

Giant Kelp.

Sand Dollar with Red-striped Barnacle attached to it.

Pismo Clam shell, a famous variety but too scarce for digging now.

The Main Square; the pier is just to the right of the photo.

The Pier at dusk.

Thursday, May 22nd - After a good night's sleep, we aroused for an adventure inland of Pismo Beach.  First we had breakfast at the Splash Cafe, an institution in Pismo Beach - a funky cafe that has been around for decades and sells more clam chowder in a day than most restaurants do in a year (so they claim).

The Splash Cafe

Surfer boy being followed by a Pismo Clam.

We drove eastward, stopping to see an historic swing bridge in Arroyo Grande, then to Lake Lopez  State Park.  We conferred with a ranger on a hiking route, which we then completed.  It started off on a shelf along the lake, passing a giant water slide and adventure park (zip lines and adult jungle gym), then it went straight uphill, along the ridge and finally straight down to the start.  The trail was poorly designed -- the steepness both going up and going down was strenuous (my heart rate got up 160 bpm), the pebbles overlaying the hard surface made traction dubious.  And it was hot!  We only hiked 3.25 miles with nearly 700 feet of vertical gain but it felt like a full day of hard work.  The park camping area was filling with RVers coming for the Memorial Day week-end,

The Arroyo Grande Swinging Bridge.

Lake Lopez.

The water slide and zipline/jungle gym.

View from the top of the hike up.

The only activity on the lake.

Cooling off after our hike.

The San Luis Obispo Mission.

The rear grounds of the Mission - cloister in background, a rather nice garden with flowers, a display of mission bells named for clergy and a large grilling area (not visible in the photo).

We drove back to the motel by way of San Luis Obispo, viewing the mission, its interior and cloister grounds (very nice), and getting some hydration at the Antigua Brewery/Pub.  Dinner was at "fast food Mexican place (torta for me and tacos for Betsy).