August 6 and 7, 2008: San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara

First of all, thanks to Hunter and Nicole for their supportive comments on our blog...sadly, I did not buy any caramel in Carmel to bring back, but I'll think of something else :)

The photo at left is of William Randolph Hearst's private library and office at Hearst Castle. Sarah and I decided to do a second tour yesterday morning, which included Hearst's private quarters and the kitchen. Hearst would go to his office at 1:00 am each night after his guests had gone to bed and read every single one of his newspapers (brought in by private plane each day). He'd make notes for all his editors to read in the morning. Hearst was in heated competition with Joseph Pulitzer to sell the most newspapers, and as a result, the headlines became increasingly sensationalist. He and Pulitzer were blamed for the advent of "yellow journalism" during the 1930s.

After the tour, Sarah and I headed to Cambria, a small town just south of San Simeon. The guidebook raved about the French Corner Bakery. And they do indeed make really, really good Bearclaws. And lattes :)

In the afternoon, we continued driving south, with stops at Morro Rock - one in a chain of volcanic caps that run along the edge of Morro Bay - and Montana de Oro State Park, where we hiked along the cliff ridge and watched pelicans diving for fish. The weather was on the moody side (there was a persistent bank of fog hanging along the coast), but the views were still spectacular.

We stayed overnight in San Luis Obispo, an old mission town that is now home to the California Polytechnic Institute, and is therefore packed with college students. That means lots of all-night pizzerias and coffee shops. I felt right at home :)

This morning we had a look at the mission, which is currently undergoing renovations, but had some interesting pieces on display in the museum. They showed pieces of furniture and other household items brought by the missionaries from Spain.

Their goal was to convert the local Chumash natives and stake a political claim for the Spanish government, which was feeling threatened by Russian and English explorers in the area.

South of San Luis Obispo, we stopped at Pismo Beach, home of the Pismo clam and a favourite with surfers. Grey skies did not deter all the tourists who had signed up for surfing classes; there were about 50 people in the water with their boards, determined to conquer the waves. Most of the time, the waves conquered them. Frankly, it looked like an awful lot of hard work for what usually amounted to about 5 seconds of wave riding.

We continued our journey south for a hike at Guadalupe Nepimo State Park. Famous for its sand dunes, this park was the location where Cecil B. DeMille filmed his original "Ten Commandments" silent movie in 1923. After shooting was completed, the crew just abandoned the set, which was eventually covered by the sand dunes. Pieces of the set keep re-appearing as the sand shifts, and the park rangers have set up a sort of movie museum at the visitor centre with stuff they find. The park is also a nature preserve and large sections of the dunes are roped off to preserve the habitats of endangered birds like the California Tern.

By then, we both figured we'd burned enough calories to merit a nice lunch, so we stopped in Los Olivos, a small town along Highway 101 made famous by the movie "Sideways". Pretty much all you'll find in Los Olivos are wine-tasting shops representing all the local wineries. They line both sides of the incredibly picturesque main street and were kept busy with tourists being bused in on wine tours.

We had lunch at the Los Olivos Cafe where scenes from the movie were shot. Sorry, but here's another food shot. Fresh-baked jalapeno cornmeal bread with tapanade and rosemary olive oil. Followed by baked brie with a cranberry wine sauce and salad. Jealous yet? That pretty much put both of us in a food coma, but I managed to finish the drive to Santa Barbara, which we'll check out tomorrow.