Morro Bay in 5 Days

Day 1 - Drive, drive, drive. Leave Phoenix via US-60 to I-10 to CA-57 following the signs to I-210 towards Pasadena. Right after the intersection of CA-57 and I-210 there is a Sunflower Ave. exit off the I-210 in Glendora. You can only go south off the exit so little chance of getting lost. Turn left at the signal at Gladstone St. and just down the road on the left in the Best Buy center is a conglomeration of healthier road trip lunch fare (and nice bathrooms): a Chipotle, a Subway, a Japanese place, frozen yogurt, etc. Return back to I-210 the way you came and follow it to CA-134 to CA-110 to US-101 all the way to Los Osos Valley Rd. and then west about 10 miles to Morro Bay. We stayed at the Inn at Morro Bay based on its great location in Morro Bay State Park, next door to the heron rookery, and within walking distance to the Museum of Natural History and the Kayak Shack at State Park Marina. Our oversize corner room had floor to ceiling windows on 2 walls, 2 double beds and double sofa sleeper, a small fridge, and all the basics, but ALSO looked out DIRECTLY onto the bay! This was a "view room special" on hotels.com for $79 a night. Not sure if they still have this special, but there are various specials from time to time on the hotel website. Yes, there were some issues like ants near the fridge, alternating hot and cold water in the shower, lumpy beds, no in-room wi-fi, and lack of cellphone reception, but my other thought was to camp so this is still an upgrade for me. The hotel is undergoing a change of ownership so I suspect that the new owners will renovate and jack up the prices based on their awesome location. After looking around, we drove north into town and found the local Albertson's, Dollar Tree, and Round Table Pizza. The way this works in our family is that you get one meal out on vacation per day. That's it. Plus, I like to shop with locals and see what people in other parts of the country look like. So we got breakfast and lunch things for the next few days, stocked up on Starbucks Via packets and REAL half-and-half because we are coffee snobs and travel with an electric kettle, and back we went to get organized.

Day 2 - My obsession with wildflowers was one of the reasons for planning a Morro Bay trip in May. In Springtime, the bluffs along Montaña de Oro State Park are covered with flowers so we went a few miles south to Los Osos. I had checked the tide chart the night before so we planned to visit Spooner's Cove at noontime during a 0.4 ft low tide so we could check out some tide pools. From here, we drove a little further south to the start of the Bluff Trail, had lunch, and then drove a little further south to the start of the Point Buchon Trail which is on PG&E land bordering the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. All this hiking made us pretty hungry for a hearty dinner where we could sit outside like disheveled hikers so we went to Sylvester's in Los Osos and sat out on their patio and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Get the fried zucchini with Sylvester sauce! I also recommend the orange float, but everything here is good and there were no complaints from any members of the family, and no one left hungry!

Day 3 - Every so often in our lives, we find a business that makes our encounter so relaxed and enjoyable that you just want to tell everyone you know how great they are, and that's pretty much how we feel about Central Coast Outdoors and our kayaking excursion of Morro Bay. From the moment we arrived at the Kayak Shack, John greeted us on the dock, outfitted us in life jackets, and grabbed us paddles for an impromptu paddling demonstration under some fragrant eucalyptus trees in front of the dock. Whether you had kayaked before or not, John made everyone feel like we were just going to go have some fun out on the water, and there was never any focus on anyone's abilities or lack thereof. He pointed us towards some nice, clean bathrooms, and encouraged us to take from his table of water bottles and healthy snacks: assorted granola bars, apples, and tangerines. He picked out kayaks for us, helped us into them, and then covered us in a waterproof blanket like we were being put to bed! Because we were a total group of nine people, we were separated into two groups so we could hear our guide better. I was momentarily sad at the loss of John as our guide, until I realized that we were gaining Rouvaishyana, the manager of the Museum of Natural History and a state park interpretive ranger. John described him as having a wealth of information about birds and other wildlife, and he did not disappoint as this was our primary interest. Rouvaishyana asked us what we were hoping to see, and of course we all said "otters." From then on, we started referring to Rouvaishyana as "Otter Man," much like our cross-country skiing trip was led by "Beaver Man." Although we did not see any otters in the bay while we were kayaking (we did the next day), we walked up to the Museum of Natural History after kayaking, wandered around the museum, and watched a short video about otters. At the end of the video, they listed the credits . . . including Rouvaishyana! Then, while looking on the internet for the correct way to spell Rouvaishyana's name, I came across this photo. Hilarious! He will forever be known as "Otter Man" to us. Such a great guy! Our excursion took us to an oyster farm, a heron rookery, and lunch on the sand dunes. We really didn't want the added expense of the "gourmet lunch," but we were encouraged at the time of reservation to include this option. When we arrived at the sandspit, Rouvaishyana took us around and showed us the sights. Once we realized we could roll around in the sand dunes, we left the group and met up with them at the specified time. While we were playing, John was fixing sand dune lunch. Here's what we walked up to:

The food was delicious . . . homemade tabouli, salad with optional bleu cheese crumbles or nuts, bagels with optional turkey and salmon slices, and it just gets more and more ridiculously fabulous as John here opens up his blue cooler and starts offering people wine and beer and me champagne for my birthday! Next, they sang happy birthday to me and presented me with a brownie complete with birthday candle! Everything was so well-orchestrated and mellow, and we were all truly amazed that unbeknownst to us, our guides were kayaking around with all the food . . . and the picnic table . . . in their kayaks!

It was really hard to top this afternoon, but my husband had reserved a birthday dinner at The Galley for us. We had a table overlooking the water and Morro Rock, and the seafood was very fresh. Three of us had fish "naked style," except for my daughter who only orders teriyaki chicken. Everything was very nice, and it's a great place to celebrate a birthday or special event because I got a commemorative menu with my name in it, and all the wait staff signed the menu. Afterwards, we walked around Embarcadero Street, and stopped in to get free wi-fi, spiced chai tea latte (yum), and fresh baked goods for breakfast at Sun-N-Buns Bakery. This is totally my type of place with some sort of beach-bonfire-fireplace-thingy in the middle of the tables, Christmas lights lining the windows, and an odd collection of cookie jars on every shelf. I ordered something called a "snuggle," and it made for a sweet breakfast pastry the next morning. Apparently, this is also a great place to bring your dog from the assortment of homemade dog biscuits. You can't go wrong with people who love dogs!

Day 4 - We sort of slept in, and then packed sandwiches in our Camelbaks and went to Los Osos Oaks Reserve for a short hike. After the hike, we drove back into the town of Morro Bay with the intention of seeing just how Morro Rock, a volcanic plug that is part of the Nine Sisters, is attached to the coastline -- a question that had been plaguing this family for several days since we were centered on the southern side of Morro Bay. As it turns out, if you continue down Embarcadero Street just past the power plant, the road veers to the left, and you are inadvertently taken out to Morro Rock whether or not this was your intention! We lucked out! Did I mention that we didn't have a map? Yeah, I had mapquest directions on how to get to the hotel, but we pretty much follow road signs, talk to people, and wander around a lot on our trips. Ummm . . . yeah, I've never had a GPS either :) So much more fun to travel this way -- trust me! Once to Morro Rock, you have a choice . . . you can either turn right and join hundreds of other people and Styrofoam coolers of Corona on the beach, or you can turn left and see . . . OTTERS PLAYING IN THE BAY!

mother sea otter with a baby on its belly

We guesstimate, according to Rouvaishyana's video, that this baby otter is approximately 26 days old ;) He was having a FIT everytime mom left him to grab some food. Baby otters are super buoyant and can't hunt on their own since they can't go under. There was an entire family of otters out there! Definitely a highlight!

After watching the otters for awhile, we all really had to go to the bathroom so we drove over to a place that had salt water taffy -- not that great so I'm not giving them an endorsement. However, we decided we couldn't leave Morro Bay without some fish-n-chips so we went in Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant to get an order to-go to share for an afternoon snack. The fish-n-chips were quite tasty, but the really cool part was standing out in front of the restaurant waiting for our food and reading their display boards about Morro Bay history (for example: Morro Rock is taller than the Washington Monument), and also the Tognazzini family history. So we're standing there looking at the board learning about the big family and looking at old black and white photos, and along comes a man who says, "Well, since you're so interested, that's me in the photo." He introduced himself as Wilmar Tognazzini and his wife Henrietta. We had a nice conversation for a bit where he told me how his son runs the restaurant, and they were just there for the day. I asked if he was Italian, and he said he was from Switzerland, but the Italian side. His wife said she was from "white trash Paso Robles!" Hilarious, these two! I was so glad they introduced themselves! I found out a bit more about them when I got home, including this website. We love history so their stories just make us more intrigued.

Bathroom stop done, we drove north on Highway 1, just past Cayucos, to hike Estero Bluffs State Park. On the way back, we decided to drive into the town of Cayucos so we hopped off the highway at Ocean Avenue. Immediately on the left side of the road, I caught a glimpse of my own personal version of heaven -- the Brown Butter Cookie Company:

We walked in the door of this cute little place, and within seconds we were handed samples of the best cookie I've ever tasted, and I do know my cookies . . . having sold many a Girl Scout cookie over the years, plus baked a few on my own ;) They have various versions, but nothing beats the original with sea salt on it. So good! We got a couple dozen for the road trip home the next day and carried on to our next stop -- dinner! It's really good that we keep hiking since we also keep eating! Dinner was at Chapala  Restaurant on Main Street at the north end of Morro Bay. The chips and salsa were really good, and I also had a chile relleno that I liked very much. It's also dirt cheap.

Day 5 - So sad to leave and drive back to Arizona, but we will be back. Hope our first trip log gave kudos to some great places and encouraged everyone to get out there; wherever THERE may be!