San Luis Obispo '15 - Music and a New Adventure

Random thoughts from Central Coast California:

(A click on any photo makes it screen size.)

Vineyard, Paso Robles

One of the first things we noted when we arrived  in San Luis Obispo this year was the green hillsides.  Last year everything was brown.  They've had some rain that greened up the landscape, but not nearly enough to put much of a dent in the drought.

Our Sunday morning routine is to walk Rowdie to the local Starbucks to buy the New York Times.  Then we continue on to the Black Horse Café to sit in the sunshine and have our coffee.  I was chatting with the barista one Sunday as he fixed our coffee drinks and I mentioned where I had bought the newspaper.  He said with a certain amount of awe, "You went to Starbucks for the newspaper and then came here for coffee?"  I think I made his day.

The Black Horse has passable croissants, although their spelling leaves something to be desired.  I was worried about angry holy people when I saw the sign, "Crossaints."

Like people making small talk everywhere, people you encounter here invariably say something to the effect of, "It's a nice day today, isn't it!"  I smile and agree and think, How can you tell?  They all are.

A Nice Day in Los Osos Valley

80 degrees!

Not only are the days all nice here, but they're longer too.  At first I thought it was my imagination, my delight at having left Minnesota winter behind.  My iPhone informed me that San Luis Obispo has a latitudinal advantage over the Twin Cities.  The winter days have in fact about forty-five minutes more daylight.

SLO is a city of about 40,000 people.  I don't know if the city has a "Dark Nights" policy to control light blight, but the sky at night is brilliant with clear, sparkling stars.

We took a good hike up Cerro San Luis.  In the line of nine morros, called the Nine Sisters, that stretch from San Luis Obispo to the Pacific Ocean, Cerro San Luis is the closest to us.  It was a good workout on a lovely day.  (They all are.)  At one point I saw a hawk gliding over the valley below.  As I watched, the hawk tucked its wings close to its body and dove vertically with astonishing speed out of my sight.  Seconds later, it flew off in the distance, its prey gripped in its claws.

View of some of the Nine Sisters

This year we discovered that the Animal Science Department of California Polytechnic Institute (known around here as Cal Poly) has its own livestock and meat packing facilities.  We've also discovered that they produce quality, local beef, pork and chicken.

Our Local Source for Good Beef

Our other discovery this year is the music scene in and around San Luis Obispo.  We already knew about Cal Poly's music department and have heard a piano recital on campus and their annual Bach in the Mission concert.  But we've also ventured out to local spots for more variety.  We've heard a locally well-known jazz trio.  At an unlikely event, we danced to a popular local group, Louie and the Lovers at a Martin Luther King Day event at the local Grange Hall.  It was impossible to stay in your seat when they began to play.  At that event, I struck up a conversation with a man who told me about Wednesday night blues in Pismo Beach.  Carol and I set out the next Wednesday to find the Shell Café in Pismo.  The Shell Café isn't a place you go for the best food or wine, but the place is packed on Wednesday nights to hear local blues musicians jam.  The beer is cold, the blues are hot and the joint is jumpin' on Wednesday nights.

Even our local brewpub, Bang the Drum, gets in the act. On Monday nights they feature "Songwriters at Play," a chance for local musicians to show off their skills.  This week we walked over, sat on the patio under the stars and heard some good folk and blues musicians.

With all the above, we haven't forgotten to taste wine.  Last week we took a drive up to Paso Robles, which not only produces some excellent wines but looks so much like Tuscany that you expect to hear locals speaking Italian.

Villa San Juliette.  Tuscany?  Paso Robles?

Olive Oil, Step 1

Of course, there's also the hiking.  Carol's knee gave her some trouble for a while, so our hikes have been limited.  But she's easing back onto the trails.  In addition to the Cerro San Luis hike, we took a docent-led hike through sand dunes at Grover Beach.

Sand Dunes Panorama

Sand Dunes Up Close

And one final discovery for Marc and Carol - a new (for us) water sport.  At Port San Luis, where last year we kayaked amidst frolicking seals and otters, we tried our hand at stand-up paddleboarding (SUP).   I found it to be not as easy as it looks.  Carol was a natural.  A good afternoon.

SUP, Dude?

A natural! 

Success at learning how to tow a disabled boarder.

This was practice getting back on the board.  I did not fall off.

Enter the contest:  Supply the caption.

Ernie Banks died on January 23.  He was one of baseball's greats and a good man to the core.  The first black man to ever put on a Cubs uniform, he came to the major leagues only a couple years after Jackie Robinson underwent the withering torment of desegregating major league baseball.  What trials must Mr. Cub also have gone through.  Yet he wore a smile every day and radiated joy.  He acknowledged that he was not an activist, but his personality was a beacon of optimism in difficult days for blacks.

As a boy I got to see Ernie Banks play, along with so many other mid-twentieth century greats.  Lanky.  Wiry.  Skinny.  Whatever word you choose, he was an unlikely power hitter who hit over five hundred home runs in his Hall of Fame career.  Much like another skinny hero of the day, Henry Aaron, Banks's swing looked effortless.  His quick wrists flicked the bat with astounding speed, power and effectiveness.

Next week we'll be packing up and heading south to Santa Barbara.  More from Central Coast then.
Happy trails!