It's been quite a week in the little city of San Luis Obispo. Early in the week, Carol and I rode our bicycles to the Cal Poly campus to see an exhibit of the photos of
Vivian Maier. Never heard of her? Join the crowd. The exhibit was entitled "A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma." She was, for the most part, a nanny as lively, creative and whimsical as Mary Poppins or Maria von Trapp. Her private life was as private as a life gets. She left few footprints, except for her photography. Vivian took over 150,000 photographs in her life, never telling anyone about them, never exhibiting them. They were discovered by accident in a storage locker after her death. Her photos are as interesting as her life was mysterious. Check out the website, look at her photos and learn a little about this mysterious and talented photographer. For our Minneapolis friends, an exhibit of Vivian Maier's work opens at the
Minneapolis Photo Center (2400 N. 2nd St., Suite 200, Mpls.) Friday, January 24. The link to the Photo Center is an interesting Star Tribune article on Vivian Maier.
On Thursday, the 16th, the National Weather Service proclaimed San Luis Obispo the hottest spot in the nation! Seriously. It reached ninety-one degrees. The previous local high temperature for the date was eighty degrees in 1948!
As the temperatures cooled to the eighties, the visitors began to arrive. My nephew, Joe, and his wife, Susan, showed up for a long weekend. Joe and Susan live in Modesto, a couple hours' drive to the north. Carol and I were so pleased that they were able to spend time with us. We hiked, went to the beach, took in the downtown farmers' market, went out to dinner (creekside outdoor dining at Novo, in downtown) and just hung out together. Their visit was a highlight of the month for us.
In the first photo, I refer to Morro Rock, which lies in the distance. A morro is a volcanic plug. There is a line of nine morros between San Luis Obispo and the Pacific Ocean, seven miles away. In SLO, Bishop's Peak is the first of the morros. The final morro is Morro Rock, pictured below.
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| Carol, Susan and Joe at Morro View (Morro Rock is seen in the distance, jutting out from the Pacific.) | |
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| Breakfast al fresco in our back yard |
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| View of Laguna Lake from Irish Hills, on the hike to Morrow View |
Our other visitor arrived around the same time and joined us on our adventures.
Aidan el Plano arrived via email. Do you remember the children's book,
Flat Stanley? Flat Stanley got flattened (by a steamroller, I think) and from then on he got to travel the world in envelopes mailed by his parents. Our grandson Aidan's second grade Spanish Immersion class read
Flat Stanley. As a related project, Aidan drew a picture of
Flat (el Plano) Aidan. Paul emailed him to us (a nice twenty-first century twist), and
Aidan el Plano has been having adventures with us. He will remain with us for the duration of our trip. We'll keep you up-to-date on his experiences.
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| Aidan el Plano and Joe at Avila Beach, on the Pacific Ocean |
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| Aidan el Plano got buried in sand at the beach by Pop-Pop |
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| Aidan el Plano tries on Grandma's flip-flops |
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| Aidan el Plano and the rest of us took a long hike from Avila Beach to Shell Beach |
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| Hang glider seen from the hiking trail |
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| John the Parrot |
We met John the Parrot on our hike between Avila Beach and Shell Beach. His owner, Tom, joked that his mother was a witch and turned his father into a parrot and that Tom has had to care for him ever since. I
think he was joking; this is California, after all. After a chat, Tom rode off on his bicycle with John perched on the handlebars.
THIS JUST IN! CBS reports on
This Morning: Saturday that San Luis Obispo is one of
the travel hotspots. Before you get too impressed, I have to tell you that Pittsburgh, Providence and Estonia also made the list.
I spent some time downtown with my camera this week, looking for things interesting, if not obvious. Here's what I found.
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| Church at Corner of Pismo and Morro Streets |
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| Historic Palm Theater |
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| Historic Fremont Theater |
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Bee Bee Works His Magic, 2008
Carol Pausen and Stephen Plowman |
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| Detail, Bee Bee Works His Magic |
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| Building Detail, 868 Higuera |
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| Building Detail, 868 Higuera |
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| Building Detail, 998 Monterey, Koberl at Blue Restaurant |
2 comments:
Thanks, Marc! The hottest place on Earth, eh? Good thing you left the ickiest place for a while.
The last photo of the building built in 1893, looks to be a Louis Sullivan design like the bank in Owatonna. Was it originally a bank?
Sue
And Minnesota was the coldest!
Enjoyed your blog of travels with Stanley. Take care
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