Pismo Beach
Life really is a beach when you visit Pismo Beach, CA. This laid back hippie enclave is the perfect place to get that golden sand and cold Pacific water in-between your toes, and out of your ears. This is one of my favorite places to spend time when traveling between LA and San Francisco.
We left LA to head north to Pismo Beach in another rain storm. The Pineapple Express just keeps wreaking havoc on the whole west coast. The photo below shows what we had to try to see through just about the whole way on our journey today. The flooding on the LA freeway system was dangerous and we just got through before some road's became impassible.
As we came out the other side of Ventura on Hwy 101/1 the weather finally broke. We continued north on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and noticed the next weather system we were headed into in the distance.
We took scenic route 154 from Santa Barbara through the Santa Yanez and San Rafael Mountains. The scenery was all so dramatic due to the weather. It was just stunning.
A few photos below.........
We met up with 101 again at Los Alamos and the landscape turned to vineyard's and farming. There were grape vines as far as the eye could see around Santa Maria....
.....then it turned to hoop houses just bursting with cherry tomatoes (those are newly planted strawberries in the foreground). Oh, and don't miss the oil rig in the background. I'm not quite sure if the oil well goes well with the food crops surrounding it! Hmmmmmm...
It took us about 6 hours to get to Pismo Beach from LA (should have taken us about 4, but the heavy rain slowed things down). We arrived at the historic Pismo Beach hotel, just a block from the beach.
We found the painting below hanging on the wall in the hotel. It shows all of the special surf spots along the California coast. It presented everything with a great sense of humor.
The notes on the map are hilarious. Things like, Tijiuana, Mexico...Had a bad burrito and missed a day of surfing....and of course, Holly Weird.......all the famous beaches from Sunset, to Ocean Beach in San Francisco where it says "Don't Surf Here! Saw great white sharks here", are on the map. Lot's of hippie references too.
We wasted no time getting food after we got settled in our hotel. Cracked crab was definitely the first thing I wanted (no better place to get it than at the source).
Our restaurant of choice was no other than Cracked Crab! This was a case of the name being everything.
I was really excited when they brought me my tools to eat my dinner. Made me feel right at home :o) They also had a jar of crayons on the table so people could draw on the butcher paper table cloth. I wasted no time drawing my version of The Orange One with his "I am an idiot" halo. .......Ugh! Don't even get me started!
My crab arrived just in time to distract me from going off on a tangent with the drawing.
Rowan went for the lobster bisque and a caesar salad. Oh, the many joys of being on the ocean!
The next day we got up to overcast skies, but no rain, so we decided to go for a hike along the beach and out to see the Monarch Butterfly Colony, currently here to spend the winter months before going back towards the Rocky Mountains.
On our way out to see the butterflies, we came across this artist in the process of painting this huge clam shell to look like a monarch butterfly.
In the photo above, you can see there are lots of RV's behind the artist. We decided to take a walk through this RV park just to have a look at what this whole RV thing is about. It is amazing what kind of houses can be put on 4,6 or 8 wheels! This park was just packed with RV's. And it is WINTER! Who knew? Anyway, this is the curiosity we found in the park we thought most interesting.
A hawk on a string. Listen to the video for explanation. I think I have to have one.
The Monarchs
Here is the map explaining how the monarch populations in the US migrate to either the West Coast or Mexico. We are so lucky to catch them here in Pismo Beach as they will be gone from here by the end of February.
The butterflies attach themselves very high, way up under the canopy of huge eucalyptus trees. There are thousands of them grouped together in bunches all through the trees. I zoomed in with my camera to get this photo.
There were a couple of docents standing in the grove to answer questions and they also had a couple of telescopes set up for people to have a closer look. I took this photo with my camera through the telescope lens. We grow buddleia (butterfly bush), milkweed and other butterfly friendly plats at our own home just to attract monarchs during the late Summer on their journey south from where we live. We were so excited to have a chance to see this part of their migration.
A photo looking towards Pismo from down the beach.
A panoramic movie of the whole beach
After our walk we went back to town to have a siesta (the fresh sea air just puts one in this state). However, when we walked by the open door of Harry's Nightclub and Beach Bar (next door to our hotel), we noticed they were showing lot's of different college basketball games, so we popped in for a beer. Soon after we arrived, a live band started setting up, so we stayed for a little music too. Their first song was Born on a Bayou (Creedence Clearwater Revival). What a blast from the past! There goes that siesta :o)
Woo Whoooo! Shake that bootie!
Enough scenery.........back to food!
The Splash Cafe is famous in Pismo Beach. We attempted to go eat lunch here, but the line was out the door and around the corner. Always a good sign that the food is good.
We decided to wait to eat dinner here. We waited until almost 8pm to be able to get a seat in the place (good thing our hotel was just across the street so we could see the front door from our window). Orders are placed at the counter when you walk in, then they bring your food to your table. The whole place is a riot of art and entertainment. Murals and signs and photo history of Pismo and surfers everywhere.
We decided to wait to eat dinner here. We waited until almost 8pm to be able to get a seat in the place (good thing our hotel was just across the street so we could see the front door from our window). Orders are placed at the counter when you walk in, then they bring your food to your table. The whole place is a riot of art and entertainment. Murals and signs and photo history of Pismo and surfers everywhere.
This is just one of the murals showing clams swimming and surfing in the ocean along the beach. Notice the woman on the right serving the surfer dude a bread bowl full of clam chowder.
Rowan chose a crab louie. We are talking almost 2 inches deep of crab on this beauty.
I couldn't resist the clam chowder in the bread bowl. THUD! Nap anyone? :o)
Everything was so simple, fresh, delicious and not expensive! Now we know why the line is out the door.
Everything was so simple, fresh, delicious and not expensive! Now we know why the line is out the door.
My favorite sign on the wall (besides the one at the top of this post).
Good thing is, we ate great food here and didn't get gas! :o)
The mural on the side of the Splash Cafe. It's funny that the surfing clam is wearing a wet suit too. Hang Ten, Baby!
As the sun sets on the Pacific, we get ready for our next stop: Monterey via San Miguel
