Nancy & Ruben's
California Coast Vacation '99



Part - 6 -
Cayucas, Morro Bay,
Port San Louis, Pismo Beach


California Coast Vacation | Page 1 - Yosemite | Page 2 - S.F. & Fort Bragg | Page 3 - Fort Bragg & Mendocino | Page 4 - Berkeley to Santa Cruz | Page 5 - Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur | Page 6 - Cayucus, Morro Bay, Port San Louis, Pismo Beach | Pre-Photos | After-Photos | With Frames | Escape Frames


Cayucos Saloon & Main Street

Sunday morning, Sept 12
Good morning. We're here in this beachfront village of Cayucos (i can't even pronounce it) for breakfast. Cayucos was originally inhabited by the Chumash Indians, Cayucos (Ki-you-cuss), which means little boat or kayak. The town of Cayucos was established in 1867 by Captain James Cass. He built a wharf and warehouse and soon Cayucos was a busy, deep water seaport. Anyway, we woke up to a beautiful morning, which was nice after the last three foggy mornings, and we want across the street to a breakfast place called the Sea Shanty, where everyone seems to go for breakfast. It was a really cool place with nifty decorations all over, and we ended up sitting at the bar to avoid the wait. There we met the owners, John & Debbie, who were suprised at the morning crowd. After a short conversation, we found he was a house builder, and his wife Debbie was a real estate agent for Century 21. They were very hospitable, and told us about the town of Cayucos. It's the last great California Beach Town" and they wanted to keep it that way, restricting buildings to 2 storys, and stopping ALL new buildings. If you want to build a building, you've got to buy an existing building and tear it down.

After a delicious breakfast served by a friendly and busy and very efficient waitress, we said goodbye to John & his wife, and headed back across the street, where we stopped at Grannie Annie's Attic (273 S. Ocean Ave). It was a nice antique store with lots of cool stuff at very reasonable prices, and the storekeeper, Cathy, was very friendly. (Cathy says "John from the Sea Shanty is the best, most honest house builder you'll every meet".) The antiques are much nicer here and way less expensive than in L.A. They also have lots of cool semi-anitiques that make easy "real" souveniers without spending too much. I found a really cool minature antique looking old west village that would fit perfect on my train layout at home, so I scooped it up. It's almost an exact replica of this old west town.

We jumped in our trusty rent-a-car and headed into downtown which was only five blocks away. Here all the store fronts had that rustic old west style, and most of the buildings were just the same inside. I had to check out the saloon, and was glad I did. It was better inside than out. All rustic old west style thourghout, with room after room of wooden Indians, poker tables, heavy crude wooden furniture, and everything would ever expect in an old west saloon. What a trip. They don't even have bars this cool in L.A.

Cayucos has a small pier built in 1875, and the beach is a perfect crescent moon beach. You can also see the Morro Bay rock, which is only a few miles away. The next town of Morro Bay has an "old town", which is cool with many small antique shops, and such, but the main attraction is the "Embarcadero" along the waterfront, where all the cool beach town shops are. There's a shuttle bus for a quarter, and many shops, piers and docks with hundreds of sailboats, and a fleet of fishing boats, and a big crane. One of the little souvenier shops has a cool little aquarium in the back where you can feet the otters. They yelp a loud "Oouh! Oouh! Oouh! Oouh!" I got a souvenier model sailboat at the Captain's Cove for $49. A cool addition to the mantle at home.

We then jumped on the 101 and headed around the bay to Port San Louis, where we had an appointment to sailing with Paul at the Port San Louis Sailing Center. He offers day sailing on his small sailboat at $12.50 per person, plus teaches certified sailing classes. Basic Keelboat Certification, 4 days, $249. Port San Luis Bay, next to Morro Bay, has many sailboats and fishing boats, even a lot of drydocked ones. There's no pier so the boats anchor off shore and take a small boat in to the dock. Turns out my friend with the sailboat was running the "boat taxi" that takes you to or from your boat for three bucks. Paul says this bay is always sunny, even when the entire rest of the coast is overcast or foggy. We jumped on the boat, where we learned a lot about sailing. I was asking more questions than a kid in a new world and I hope I didn't annoy Paul. He had been in a sailboat race earlier that day, and though he got a late start, came in second. He was going down to the yatch club after our sail, to get his trophy. (Our hero)

We learned boating language as he "doused the jib by easing the jihalyan." We sailed around the bay, right by the big rock where the hundreds of seals were sleeping. Our presence really excited these noisey onkers, and they scurried around with many diving into the water, so close we almost got splashed. What a trip. What cool creatures. And it's much better to see them up close. We continued sailing by the lighthouse and around a few other lone sailboats and back into the docking area, zig zaging between the other yatchs and sailboats parked at sea. I liked the lingo of sailing, and as we approached our docking place Paul was "walking to the foredeck to grab the mooring ball with the boathook."

So if you want to go sailing or learn sailing, call Paul Irving at 805-595-WIND, or mail him at the Port San Luis Sailing Center, Pier #3, P.O. Box 888, Avila Beach, CA 93424. He looks like Tiffany's brother on "Happily Ever After".

After sailing, we walked out on the pier, where lots of fishermen were fileting the biggest albacore tuna we'd ever seen. Hundred pounders were being sliced up by the dozen, so fresh they were almost still alive. The fishermen were raving about the amount of big albacore they'd been catching lately.

We then headed to Pismo Beach, which was only 10 minutes away. We drove down Main Street, which went straight down the hill to the beach and pier. There were lots of cool little shops along the way, and angle parking for easy in and out. trees lined the street, and the beach at the end was very nice. Big enough for a lot of people, yet small enough to feel homey. We got dinner at a restaurant right on the beach, with a beatiful view of the sunset, as we ate the house special, fresh albacore. It was so good, so fresh, they probably just caught it that day from the Port San Louis fishermen next door. The sunset was beautiful, and made for a perfect ending to our vacation. It was wonderful, and I'd recommend this trip for anyone that want's to live the good life.

We jumped back on the 101, and in three hours, we were back home in L.A. See you next time.



We left our hotel to go check out the town

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Finding cool souveniers at Annie's Antiques

You'll enjoy browsing and shopping through these places and eating in restaurants. Many of these have old pictures and memorabilia of the good old days when Cayucos was a typical old western town where the cowboys hitched their horses outside the saloons. Step back in time and enjoy yourself. Click on Cayucos.com for ocean sounds.

Cayucos from the outskirts,
"the last great classic California beach town"



Sailboats at Morro Bay

Sunday noon, Sept 12
- Then we'll drive to Morro Bay, where we'll walk along the Embarcadarro. There's some cool little surf and sail souvenier shops there, one called the Music Box, as I remember.



Sunday afternoon, Sept 12
- We're going sailing. We have a reservation at South Avala Beach with Paul Irving at the Sailing Center of Port San Louis, phone# 805-772-6444 or 772-6446. Take the 101 south to Avala Beach Rd to the end, on the left. They have sailing tours on real sailboats for only $12, or a sunset sail for $20, so this should be an hour or so of surf. Enjoy the sailing photos . . .


Sunday evening, Sat, Sept 12
- dinner, and then back home. We'll pass right through Santa Barbara. It's ok, we've been there many times. Then it's back to L.A., home sweet home.


California Coast Vacation | Page 1 - Yosemite | Page 2 - S.F. & Fort Bragg | Page 3 - Fort Bragg & Mendocino | Page 4 - Berkeley to Santa Cruz | Page 5 - Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur | Page 6 - Cayucus, Morro Bay, Port San Louis, Pismo Beach | Pre-Photos | After-Photos | With Frames | Escape Frames