Central California, Part 2

We spent the rest of our trip in Morro Bay. The Inn where we were at was quite nice, except for the bird santury right next to it. Birds were flying all about all day (and night). There were convenient window washing squeegies and fluids all around the parking lot. Sure enough, by the next morning, most cars were "hit". Aside from that, the place was really not bad. There was a seaside promonade which overlooks the Morro Bay "Rock" and local fishing boats.

We took off for breakfast with a bunch of other people the next morning (at 7AM!) The total trip took about 2 hours. The food was ok, but the view was great! Lots of photos later, while the rest of the group went to Hearst Castle, we split and went off the Cambria instead. By this time, I was getting kind of anxious to get my photos onto the computer for uploading and organizing. I was really looking forward to seeing a Radio Shack or something, but no such luck. Disappointed, we concluded that Cambria is just another ultra-tourist town with expensive everything and nothing useful or practical to sell.

After a very nice massage for both of us, we went to the "gala" dinner with the rest of the Lotus people. The setup was kind of strange. There was a no-host bar around for the reception and throughout the dinner, while at the same time, red and white wines were available at all the tables during dinner. D had the ceasar salad and I opted for the lobster bisque as our first course. Both were quite good. One of our dining companions was this guy who really LOVES his butter. When the rolls came by, he piled about 5 or 6 of those butter ball things and smashed them into his and chewed with such satisfaction that I can't help but smile (even though I was a little grossed out by the whole thought of it). The bisque was made with so much cream and butter (no wonder it was so good ... but super rich). Both D and I chose the halibut with toasted nuts and mango salsa. It was very tasty, but boy, that piece of fish was huge! I couldn't finish it all. Dessert was pretty chaotic as they set a bunch of bite sized stuff on one table in a corner, next to coffee and tea. Halfway through the presentation, EVERYONE got up and was moving around the room scoring dessert and coffee. Why they don't have trays of the stuff for each table is beyond me. All in all, food was a lot better than our dinner at the restaurant there the night before (we had a late lunch and chose a salad and a couple of appetizers as our dinner ... salad was nothing to really write home about ... good, but just a bit outdated in terms of creativity, the crab cakes were quite good ... not the best I've had, but pretty good none-the-less. The other appetizer was just not very memorable since I can't even recall what it was).

We ended up leaving about 6AM the next morning and skipping the concourse altogether. Storm clouds were moving in and it started drizzling when we left. We later found out that it rained REALLY HARD the rest of the day.

All in all, plenty of fun and a lot of different varieties of food throughout the whole trip.

Travelling

Eating on the go ...

Took a week off to go to Central California. I'm very excited about this trip since it was the first time I ever took Amtrak (train) going anywhere except the normal commute to San Francisco.

First off ... the train was delayed for almost 5 hours. Food at the San Jose station leaves little to be desired, so I decided to live on my meager provision of apple, dried fruits, etc. until I board the train so I can order some "real food" in the dining car. The train did not leave the station until close to 3PM (it was originally supposed to leave at 10:07AM), so by the time I settled down to my seat, I was famished. Too bad the dining car had just closed for lunch and I had to settle for overpriced "garden burger" from the snack bar for lunch. I waited until they started serving dinner before sitting down for what I hoped was a nice meal. My dining companions were a somewhat quiet bunch. Food was not as good as I had heard or hoped for. My Salisbury Steak was flavorful, but a bit on the dry and overcooked side. The roll was definitely dry. No amount of butter helped. The salad had seen better days, but I didn't really care since I was sooo hungry.

Upon arrival at San Luis Obispo, D was there to meet me and we went to an Italian restaurant right across from the train station. The restaurant was nice. There were fresh flowers everywhere. Bathroom was very nice and clean. Oh yes, the food was quite good too. We shared a pasta dish, salad and an absolutely amazing Caprese with really fresh mozarella.

We stayed at Pismo Beach that night. When I woke up, I found that the place was practically built right off the cliff overlooking the ocean. It was an awsome sight. Breakfast came complimentary with the room. I had a piece of waffle that I had to be really careful with since I fear it would crack the floor if I were to drop it. The rest of the food was pretty basic stuff with the sugary cereal, yogurt, etc.

Off to Santa Barbara we went and the scenery was quite different. We stayed at this place that was half a block away from the beach front boulevard. We walked along that several times during the course of our stay to get to the wharf and downtown. They have a public shuttle-bus which cost only 25¢ and takes you either along the beachfront or from the wharf to downtown. We took advantage of that a couple of times when time permits. Lunch was at a place called "Sage and Onion". The food was excellent, but it took much waiting to get them. I had their lunch special which allows either soup or salad (I opted for the creamy tomato soup, which was really good with the tomato being a bit roasted, I think and melted brei), a chicken breast sandwich with sundried tomato mayo and then creme brule for dessert. D had a roast duck spring roll (the sauce/chutney) was really good and the beef looked to be done quite nicely with a dab of cheese on top. Fresh lemonade was great.

The AAA office was very helpful as we got a chance to pick up some local maps and literature and pointers. Dinner was at a place that we had walked by earlier in the day. Service, again was not like we'd been used to from home. There was much hailing and waiting before we got what we wanted. The crab cakes were great. It was done east-coast style. Not made with the usual Dungeness crabs that I'd been used to, but still very enjoyable. D had parpadelle with roasted lamb and I had a sole picatta. Both were very good. We ended up having all our leftovers from both lunch and dinner the next morning for breakfast. Very nice way to go. Oh yes, we had converted our motel's sink into our overnight makeshift refrigerator both nights. It worked very well. Just leave the sink unplugged to drain water, wrap all your food in plastic and dump as many buckets of ice into it as it can hold.

We got to Buttonwillow yesterday. This place's major industry seems to be from its truckstop and its race track. Dining choices is pretty limited. In fact, the only non-fastfood places in town are Denny's and a BBQ place called the Willow Ranch or something like that. We ended up having BBQ for dinner and aside from giving you a lot of food, all pretty good, as a matter of fact, the service was pretty good. A little girl who must be about 8 or so was helping out and politely inquired if she may remove our dishes when we were done. We made sandwiches out of our leftover meat and our dinner rolls and saved them for emergency snack/lunch for today.

Off to the race track we were this morning. In order to allow himself a good night's sleep away from the snorer (me), we got separate rooms last night. Good thing too since I would no doubt been partly to blame as D had a pretty restless night. Lunch was a burger each at the snack bar. Weather was reported to be about 95-100 today. D looks miserable all day from the heat. I've been spending about half the day hiding out in the "meeting room" area where it was reported to be air conditioned. It really didn't feel like it, but anything helps. Will post pictures and more to follow later.