San Luis Obispo

After another long interruption, I'm back to last spring’s trip.

Late March/early April 2017

Next stop was San Luis Obispo, where our son and his girlfriend, Kat, live. We had not seen Paul for a long time. And we’d never met Kat, so that was very special. We also met and enjoyed being with Kat’s gracious, kind parents, Joel and Arlene.

We parked our rig at Camp San Luis Obispo, the original home of the California Army National Guard and a five-mile straight shot from Kat and Paul’s home. Camp SLO was old and charming with lots of tall grass for the dogs to roam in, as the SLO area had a lot of rain this winter/spring and it was still too wet to mow. The campground only has 12 camping spaces so we felt fortunate to get one for nearly two weeks. We originally had a spot for just four days and then were going to wing it (ie, not make reservations elsewhere ahead of time.) No such luck if we wanted a place within 30 miles of SLO. But we were able to stay at the military base and liked it very much. 

We saw few guardsmen/women at the base, but did see members of the Grizzly Youth Academy marching from what seemed like sun up to sun down. Grizzlies are 16 to 18 year-old high-risk drop outs looking for a second chance and a diploma. 

San Luis Obispo is a pretty, bustling town near beaches and other pretty towns. We visited and walked around SLO with Paul and Kat, spent time with Kat’s parents who hosted us at their lovely home and took us and “the kids” to dinner, kayaked at Morro Bay, walked the beaches, explored SLO and nearby towns, got our dogs to a vet (where they were tested, put on antibiotics and finally got well), visited a great dog park practically across the street from Camp SLO at El Chorro Park, and visited ten brew pubs/taverns. I’m a little embarrassed about that brew pub number (Jim says he is proud), but when we're on the road it’s pretty much dogs, explore, and brew pubs. And SLO has a plethora of places to see and brews to sample. 

I took very few photos while in San Luis Obispo, so I stole this one of Kat and Paul from Kat's Facebook page.

Paul looking debonair at a restaurant near his and Kat's place.

An IPA and a stout at the SLO Brewery.

The actual NCO Club at Camp San Luis Obispo?  I'm thinking not, but this was typical of the "weathered farmhouse" look of a lot of the buildings on base. 

Jim and Arlo walking with Morro Rock in the background.  The huge volcanic rock is in the water at the entrance to Morro Bay harbor. We kayaked not far from here.