Travel Journals: San Luis Obispo 2017

It's California Marc here, checking in with my latest update to Travel Journals. I've been pretty laid back, a major goal of being here right after not having to wear a heavy coat or walk gingerly to avoid ice patches.

Our stay in SLO was an abbreviated one this year. Our pace was slow, but we managed to get in some hikes, listen to some good live music, catch a few movies and dine at all of our favorite restaurants.

The very first thing we noticed on our arrival was the effect of the rain that has visited the Central Coast. The area is still in a drought, but recent rains have lessened the severity considerably. The brown lawns and landscapes of 2015 are gone, replaced with lush greens.

The South Open Space behind our house was brown in 2015.

On our first day in SLO, after unpacking the car, I hopped on my bike and went downtown to sit outdoors and have a coffee at Peet's. It was a bit cool in the shade, but I had my dark roast and a good book. The people-watching was good. A few feet from me a man stood at the curb playing his saxophone, his dog lying contentedly at his feet. He set his sax down after a while and sang for those of us who cared to listen in a voice that never needed a microphone and filled the air with his rich baritone sounds. I sighed. We were back.

The Neighborhood

Calla Lily in our front yard

Our neighborhood played a role in our visit this year like it never has before. Our memory from past visits was of a quiet neighborhood where we hardly ever saw people out and about. What a change this year! The streets were alive with school-age children on bicycles and skateboards. Some child with a sense of humor (or perhaps a gang of young artists) was using chalk to create sidewalk art that stretched over two blocks and carried whimsical messages. Jump... Don't land. Smile a lot! Speak your own language. Keep going.

Their parents were out and about as well. We met Dave, our next door neighbor, when he showed up with a ladder after a very windy night to fix the vent cover blown over in the night. Later we had him and his wife, Kate, over to share a couple beers in the back yard. We met Aimee, who invited us to her home for a gathering of neighbors to sign a petition for a much-need traffic light. We met Cathy when I knocked on her door and asked her for permission to take photos of her front yard, which is filled with all manner of day-brightening "art."

One day I was struggling along the sidewalk, trying to walk off some pain in my hip, when a very nice woman stopped her car and asked if she could give me a ride to where I was going. This was my introduction to Paula (and eventually her husband, Steven, and daughter, Laura). We ran into each other a few times after that and had some nice chats.

Cathy's Yard

Cathy's Yard, Up Close

Cathy's Whimsy

At Aimee and Carl's, we got an invitation to a "Hob Nob," a bi-weekly gathering of neighbors and friends for the purpose of eating, drinking and conversation. Everyone is welcome, especially new people. The week's theme was "Foods Beginning with C." So we new folks from Minnesota showed up our cranberry chevre cookie and chardonnay. We thought our three C's dish would earn plaudits, but that's part of the game; and there was on the table a five-C dish with chocolate being one of the C's.

In the neighborhood

The Kite

Kite n. "any of various soaring birds of prey, with long wings and a forked tail." One sunny morning, Carol and I walked Rowdie through Meadow Park, the long, narrow city park not far from our house. Ahead of us and just off the path was a man with an elaborate viewing device mounted on a large tripod. He was taking a break from whatever observation he was engaged in, so I asked what he was looking at. He said, "Kite. Up on that branch near the top of the tall tree." We moved our heads to the right and to the left, scanning until we picked it out of the background. It seemed fairly large, but unremarkable as it perched motionless on its branch.

We moved on, out of the park, through the neighborhood to the edge of the South Hills Open Space. We entered through the gate and ascended the narrow path, rising above the neighborhood. Rowdie sniffed every other rock and several interesting clumps of wild grass. I scanned our surroundings - the hillside, the clear blue sky, the neighborhood we were leaving behind. I looked up at one point and saw an amazing sight. A large bird cruised over the field and came to a halt, like a helicopter. To accomplish this, it raised itself up into a vertical position, standing in the air, flapping its wings wildly in place. It was as if it were treading air, like a swimmer stops and treads water. It was the kite, searching the hillside for prey, a rabbit perhaps, or a vole.

After a while, it dropped to horizontal flight position and moved on. It circled over us for five minutes or so, stopping to search the terrain below in its strange manner from time to time. After a while it flew off over the neighborhood to its tree, which towered over all the others. On this sortie, it had flown away without a meal.

The Local Music Scene

We've learned that in SLO there is always music to be found. In our short stay, we attended a "cabaret" at Cuesta Community College put on by a community education class (with some surprisingly talented performers), a jazz concert featuring Oscar Hernandez and the Alma Libre Quintet and a slack key guitar concert at the SLO Museum of Art featuring Led Kaapana. (If you go to the link, there is some great slack key guitar music after the 90-second intro.)

Led Kaapana

In and Around San Luis Obispo

On Saturday, the 21st, Carol and I joined thousands from the area to participate in the Women's March, the people's response to the inauguration of Donald Trump. It is not a time to remain silent.

The Women's March, San Luis Obispo

Nourishment for All

Children's Museum, SLO

A really tall palm tree, dwarfing Bishop's Peak

A local arts competition has brought about a proliferation of California cows everywhere.

Outside Mission San Luis Obispo, Moonipero Serra

We got in some hiking, of course. When the welcoming rains finally let up, we needed to wait a couple days for the very soggy trails to dry. Each year we visit, we traditionally cap our hiking treks with a climb up rugged Bishop's Peak to see if we still "have what it takes." On our last day in SLO, we showed ourselves that we do indeed still have the right stuff!

From the Islay Hill Trail

Cows Everywhere! Atop Islay Hill

On the Stenner Creek Trail

Bishop's Peak - at the summit! (A 2015 photo, but I'll never take a better one than this.)

We made time for tennis, of course. Are there handicaps in tennis?

What's your handicap?

And last but not least, there's the fine dining to be experienced in San Luis Obispo. We were determined to visit our five favorite spots, even though our time was short.