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.