I decided to book us a room at the Garden Street Inn based on recommendations from my parents and its location exactly downtown. Plus, I had always been charmed by the late 19th century building, and so I was delightfully surprised at all of the additional details the inn had to offer: a full breakfast each morning, cookies awaiting our return each day and a wine and cheese happy hour from 5-6:30 every night. Anyone travelling to SLO and in the mood for something local and quaint, should stay here!
After the complimentary wine and cheese at the Inn, we took a walk around town while trying to decide where to eat…Buona Tavola for some Italian or Big Sky? We opted for Big Sky, one of my favorite restaurants in town and a typical California cuisine experience. With no cares in the world and no big pressure to see or do anything in particular, Martin and I headed to bed early, but not before a glass of wine on our own private deck.
The next morning we awoke fully refreshed and ready for a day at the beach. But first we had a few errands to run. First stop – the Black Horse at Uptown, for Martin to get his morning cappuccino (while we were served a full breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon and coffee and juice, cappuccinos were not on the Garden Street Inn menu). Second Stop – a place with internet...I had one bill to pay online, so from coffee, we walked to the library (not to be confused with The Library, the bar…I made that mistake when initially asking the receptionist where we could find internet. Imagine…Her: “The Library has internet” Me: “The bar?!”… Yes, it was my immediate thought, resulting in a slightly awkward moment). It was my first time in any library in SLO (including both the county and college campus libraries) but we managed okay. Third and Final Stop – Gus’s Market for the best deli sandwiches to take to the beach.
The rest of the day was spent lounging at Avila Beach, swimming in the water, enjoying the sun, trying to figure out the kid to adult ratio (it seemed to be 30 to 1) and getting the most ridiculous burn lines I have ever seen, and this is coming from a red-haired, freckled Irish/Scottish descendent…a portion of my calves were burned where I rubbed off the sand along with the sunscreen and Martin managed to get what looked like a white Capital G on his right boob. My legs were so fried that I was forced to buy and wear a muumuu the following day to avoid additional exposure. Thankfully, it would have taken a lot more than a sun burn to ruin our day.
After fully cooking in the sun, Martin and I headed home quickly to shower before dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We were going to a great new restaurant in Santa Marguerita called the Range and we had to get there early. The food, wine and company were all perfectly paired. Most of the dishes were based on locally raised meat and locally grown produce and everything was cooked to perfection…my lamb was the perfect shade of pink in the middle…it matched my face and legs exactly.
After the filling dinner (thankfully my cousin Livi was there to finish both desserts for us) we headed back into SLO for the final hours of the famous Thursday Night Farmers Market, one of my favorite things about the area and main reason for the dates of our visit We wandered through the stalls, smelling the fresh cut flowers, tasting the ripened fruits and wishing we weren’t so full so we could enjoy one of the many BBQs offered by the local restaurants. A quick beer at Frog and Peach helped us to end the night and we were once again in bed earlier than normal.
The next day we were faced with our biggest decision of the trip to date…where to have our final lunch before leaving. No trip to SLO is complete without the required lunch at both Franks Famous Hot Dogs and Firestone Grill. But not willing to slip back into my old ways and just have both, we settled on Firestones for the tri-tip sandwich and perfectly seasoned french fries. Yes, I chose Firestones over family, but I had my reasons…I guess we will just have to come back another time for the cheese dog at Franks. We left town completely full (thankfully the muumuu helped to hide the small cow I had just eaten) and we were on our way to Lake Pilsbury via San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.
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