I usually drive through San Luis Obispo on my way to Cambria or Paso Robles wine country. This time, I wanted to explore the city itself and what better guide than Shawn who has a knack for spotting interesting and quirky sites. Our first stop was the famous Madonna Inn. I’ve seen it from the road but have never been on the grounds or inside. What a crazy, more than slightly overdone but fun place that is! Now, if you have some extra (lots of extra!) disposable income, you can spend the night at this Californian symbol of craziness, but it’s quite expensive. Looking around, however, is free and the food at the coffee shop is reasonably priced. The food is okay, the coffee somewhat sub-par for my spoiled coffee palate but the scenery is well worth a visit.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of this amazing hotel.
Our next stop was at the mission of San Luis Obispo, with its beautiful gardens, a lovely museum and those amazing three large bells. The full name is Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and it was founded by Father Serra in 1772 and named after Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, France. It was built with the help of the local Chumash Indians. If you are a mission fan, like Shawn, you can read more about it here: http://missionsanluisobispo.org/
Below are a few pictures of the mission:
The garden with the three beautiful bells and the small museum were particularly enchanting.
The next stop, an old library converted into a history center, was close-by.
There is a story to these bottles which Shawn describes in his blog (of course completely fictional).
Next, we took a quick break in one of Shawn’s favorite places–a Tiki bar (it’s a long story). I only have a few pictures, but on Shawn’s post, you’ll get more detail (link at the end of the post).
Next, we found a truly amazing place, another one which I’ve never seen nor even heard of. It’s called the BUBBLEGUM ALLEY. That’s right, only in California. It’s an alley where people over many years deposited their chewed bubblegum on the walls and created a truly Californian “work of art” and to this day people still add their own gums to the masterpiece.
Next we headed over to the coast to Cambria to check out the elephant seals and Ragged Point, the entrance to the mountain road to Big Sur, which is still closed.
This odd place in Cambria is called Nit Wit Ridge–there is a story to this as described in the next photo, which you probably won’t be able to read. Ask Shawn!
The last two photos are from Ragged Point, also called the entrance to the mountain road to Big Sur. Since I dealt with this and the elephant seal sanctuary at Piedras Blancs in former blog posts, I didn’t take many pictures this time around. Shawn has a lot more on his blog post.
There is more to come in my next blog post. But don’t forget to check out Shawn’s interpretation of this day–an absolutely fictitious SILLINESS GALORE! Have a good laugh and enjoy some great pictures!
https://monsterago-go.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-central-coast-with-christa-2017_29.html
On the second day of my trip up north, I met with Shawn, who does some research for several of his own projects. We stayed at the Adelaide Inn in Paso Robles, which has become one of my “homes from home” during my jaunts in the Central Coast of the California wine country.
As you can see, the motel was already decked out for Halloween!
Once Shawn arrived, we took off for a reception at one of the wineries for members of the wine club he belongs to. I had the honor and pleasure of being the invited guest. On the way there, we visited another winery. Here are a few pictures of the Pear Valley Winery and the Chronic Cellars in Paso Robles.
Now, don’t you get the wrong idea! It may not look that way, but this was by no means pure entertainment. After all, in order to write intelligently in an article or a book about wine, you have to be able to taste and investigate it. Okay? Never mind.
Enough research. The wines were anywhere from decent to excellent. Mission accomplished.
In the evening, dinner in Paso Robles.
One of these four gentlemen I came across in Paso Robles must have imbibed so much that he forgot to put on his appropriate shirt. He was, in fact, Drunk 3.
My pal Shawn wrote his own blog post about this day and has a bunch of fun pictures as well.
Attention: DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING HE SAYS ABOUT ME THOUGH!
https://monsterago-go.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-central-coast-with-christa-2017.html
To be continued.
My friend Shawn and I recently met in Paso Robles in the Central Coast area to do research–Shawn for some articles he writes as a freelance journalist and I for my novel series The Wine Lover’s Daughter. I’m working on book three of the series, called Fire in the Vineyard. I came up with the title long before the devastating fires in Napa Valley and I certainly don’t think I’m psychic, but now, the title sounds almost ominous.
Anyway, we decided to pool our resources, do some “work” and have some fun at the same time. The first day of the trip, I was on my own. I drove up from the Los Angeles area to Paso Robles and made a stop in San Luis Obispo. One of the characters in my novels is associated with a Benedictine monastery in the Piedmont in Italy as well as in the San Luis Obispo area. To get a feeling for the place and the environment, I visited the Benedictine Monastery of the Risen Christ. It’s a lovely place, simple and unassuming, high up on a hill with a gorgeous view of the valley and the surrounding hills and mountains in the background. Here are a few pictures.
At the bottom of the hill, there is a meditation labyrinth made of stones where you can walk through the 14 Stations of the Cross or just sit on the bench and enjoy the fresh air and peaceful atmosphere.
There are different events at the monastery for the public to attend. You can also stay there overnight and get a feeling for the life in a monastery or just take a few days off from your busy life. Very tempting!
Here is the link to the monastery: http://monasteryrisenchrist.com/
After visiting the monastery, I drove the rest of the way to Paso Robles, the wine country, for another kind of “spirit.” After all it does say somewhere: In Vino Veritas!
To be continued.
Fire in the Vineyard (The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Book 3) is available: https://mybook.to/FireVineyard
Great blog post!
“Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. I hope you are too.
Tell Walt and Elmer that the U.S. Army beats working for old man Doggett by a mile. They oughta join up quick before all of the places are taken….”
Read more:
From San Diego, we took a trip inland on Hwy 8 to El Centro in the Imperial Valley and the Anza Borrego desert. For visitors from mountainous Switzerland, the desert has a special fascination. El Centro is also the place where part of the Polkinhorn family lives, so it was exciting for my Swiss family to meet them for the first time.
But first, we made another surprise visit to a dear member of the “Polkinhorn Clan,” Harry Polkinhorn, in San Diego. He and I used to live in Switzerland and he knew my family there, but hadn’t seen them in over twenty years. So, it was a wonderful surprise when we showed up unannounced.
Our trip east on Hwy 8 brought us through the mountains and into the Anza Borrego desert. I remember well how impressed I was the first time I took this trip many years ago. The mysterious landscape and the purple/orange colors of the rocks never cease to fascinate me.
In El Centro, close to the Mexican border, we met a few other members of the Polkinhorn Clan, my ex-husbands brother and my sister-in-law and their daughter. It was a first get-together for everyone and we truly enjoyed it.
Rae Lynn, my sister-in-law, accompanied us into the desert to Yuma, Arizona. Yuma is a quaint city with a pleasant climate (it does get quite hot in summer), so in winter the town gets inundated with the so-called “Snowbirds.” These are people from states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and others (mainly retirees) who want to escape the brutal cold and spend the winter in sunny and warm Arizona. At this time of the year, not much is going but during winter, this is supposed to be quite an active place. By the way, it is alleged that Billy the Kid spent time in jail here. Yuma also has some excellent restaurants and funky bars.
The next few photos show the inside of the restaurant we had lunch at. You’ll see quite a few celebrities of the entertainment business and the famous civil rights leader!
After our trip north, we drove back to Los Angeles, relaxed a few days in Santa Monica, and then went onward to San Diego and the surrounding areas.
We stayed in Pacific Beach in a motel right next to the beach. I used to live in San Diego many years ago, so this trip was kind of a “down memory lane” experience for me.
One thing that surprised us was the somewhat unpredictable climate during our trip. The hottest days we spent in … believe it or not … San Francisco, where it’s usually fresh and windy. This time people who live there actually complained about the heat! San Diego, the most southern area, on the other hand, was fairly cool, even cold at times, and it rained one day.
We explored the interesting downtown area of San Diego with its harbor and the fascinating navy ships.
The Midway, an impressive airplane carrier, was built during World War II. It launched right after the war. Standing next to one of those amazing ships is almost scary. Can’t imagine what it must have felt to actually live and work on one of those monsters!
More to come. Stay tuned!
From San Francisco, we drove south to the wine country of Paso Robles, which also happens to be the area where some of my novels in my The Wine Lover’s Daughter series take place and where I did quite a lot of research.
This time, however, we explored another venue. We drove east along Hwy 42 to the James Dean Memorial, the place where the young actor (only 24 years old) was killed in a car accident with his Porsche. There is a nice inn right next to it with memorabilia and photos of the actor. At the same time, a group of classic car fans were there as well. My nephew who is both a James Dean and a classic car fan was very happy about this.
The Paso Robles area has a lot of fun restaurants and shops and my relatives realized soon enough that clothes and shoes were quite a bit cheaper here than in Switzerland. So they shopped till they dropped, then relaxed in a restaurant or at the pool.
The following day, we headed south again to Santa Monica, checked out Hollywood (a must), and then drove to San Diego for a few days.
More to follow.
The next part of our trip was a visit to San Francisco and then a drive south to the Paso Robles wine country.
For my nephew, Rico, and great-nephew, Muriel, this was the first time they experienced the famous Golden Gate Bridge. Most people probably don’t know this, but one of the builders of the bridge was the Swiss-American structural engineer, Othmar Amman, who was also responsible for the design of the George Washington Bridge, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, and the construction of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City.
A different Swiss is responsible for the design of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in downtown San Francisco. Mario Botta, from the south of Switzerland, is known for his fascinating public and private buildings all over the world.
In fact, quite a few Swiss people made their mark in California, one of them being John Sutter (original name Johann August Suter), 19th century settler and colonizer of California. He fled from bankruptcy and financial collapse, leaving his wife and children in Switzerland, and tried to start a new life in California. After gold was discovered on his land, a turbulent personal and public history developed, which ultimately led to his ruin. More about him here: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Sutter.
I love the mixture of modern and old architecture in San Francisco, a Romanesque church in front of a ultra-modern building. Somehow, the old and the new coexist in peace here.
Onward: After letting the impressions of this magnificent city sink in, we drove south toward Paso Robles, the wine country, and the James Dean crash site memorial (the latter, a first for me too!). Stay tuned!
I’ve had two intense, exciting, and joyful weeks with my relatives from Switzerland who visited California. They were my nephew, Rico, my niece, Claudia, and her husband Alberto as well as their two children, Risayra and Muriel. For three of them it was the second visit to the United States, but two of them came here for the first time.
The week before their arrival, I was a nervous wreck, afraid they might have problems with the U.S. customs. I read and heard of people, even US citizens, being held back at the border for no valid reason at all. Luckily, they had no problems and arrived after a long flight from Zürich via Düsseldorf to Los Angeles. Here they are, and Auntie Christa is very relieved!
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| From left to right: Rico, Risayra, Muriel, Alberto, Claudia
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The first few days we spent in Santa Monica, then drove up the coast past Malibu, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo to Cambria, one of my favorite spots along the coast.
In the small town of Cambria we stayed at the Cambria Pines Lodge on the hill above the actual town. I love this rustic place with the gorgeous gardens.
A “Place to Dream” indeed!
During our stay in Cambria, we explored the rugged coast, in particular Piedras Blancas in San Simeon, the place where the elephant seals come to rest, molt, give birth, raise their young and go back out to sea to gather food. It’s a fascinating stretch of coast where you can watch the development of these amazing animals all through the seasons.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit Big Sur, another one of my favorite spots along the Californian coast, because of the damaged bridge and other obstacles. We did make it to Ragged Point though, the beginning of the mountain road to Big Sur. I’ve driven past this place many times when heading to Big Sur but never stopped and consequently missed a gorgeous area. This time, however, we took a break and admired the landscape, the cliffs, and the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean.
Risayra was so inspired that she greeted the location with a yoga pose.
Relaxing after sightseeing!
The next day, we went to San Francisco. Stay tuned, more to follow!
