California Road Trip Day 2- continued: El Capitan State Beach

View of Morro Bay

 

The next morning at The Inn at Morro Bay, we woke up and decided to take a quick(er) hot tub and swim. I told Scotty I was going to go out there, so he came out to keep me company. Once there, he dipped his foot in the hot tub and said, "Well, I guess I could go put on my suit..." This coming from a man who usually would have normally said no to another dip in the chlorine. It was just that nice to be out there.

After our second soak in less than 24 hours, we showered, packed up, and checked out. (And no, that's not our Camaro.)

At The Inn at Morro Bay, even the parking lot is pretty...

We chose this little café, Frankie & Lola's, near the waterfront. It had less than ten tables and a cozy, homey feel, with tasty and inventive breakfasts, like the "Chilaquiles" with chorizo and the "Fried Green Tomato Benedict" on grits. Yum.

Then we walked around a bit to stretch our legs before getting back in the car. Here's what we saw while roaming the docks:

I'd been monitoring my email and we had some necessary communications to take care of regarding the boat that couldn't easily be accomplished on my iPhone, so we decided to find the town library before heading out of town.

Our next stop on the trip was El Capitan State Beach, about an hour and a half south (or 100 miles).

During holidays and weekends, many campgrounds become crowded, so we had reserved ahead of time here.

The original plan was to stay there for three nights, but because we'd flown out to California several days later, now we had only one.

We set up the tent, then walked about a half-mile to check out the beach and dip out feet in the icy Pacific. It was beautiful.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure and to admit that sometimes budget travel isn't all that fun, here's the real scoop on our night: With dinnertime fast-approaching, we got back on the road to find something to eat, but failed... two stubborn people + hungry exhaustion= no (taco) bueno.

We ended up turning around and, back at the campsite, drinking beer and eating some snacks I'd packed for the trip for dinner.

Also, because we had neglected to buy firewood, we couldn't even have a campfire. Not exactly the fun evening I'd envisioned. And even though it's California, in the winter it gets cold when the sun goes down. Around us, everyone was in their campers and wall tents, looking like they'd packed most of their relatives and worldly possessions along with them. And we were in our tiny tent and economy-sized rental car trying to stay warm.

 Our campsite at El Capitan State Beach

We both went to bed very early, looking forward to morning.

And eventually, morning came! (With a "peace" offering?)

Hang loose for the next part of our California road trip! :)