Dave
IT Manager
San Luis Obispo
Day 1
My perfect 72 hours with a friend that likes to bicycle starts in Avila Beach. First we park the car at a public lot at the base of Salisbury Vineyard tasting room, a large old school house visible off of Highway 101, just north of Pismo Beach. From there, it is an easy 4-mile Bike Ride along the Bob Jones Bike Trail and then Avila Bay Drive to the end of the road and Harford Pier. After laughing at the seals sleeping or barking at each other on the floating rafts, we have breakfast at Fat Cat’s, a popular small diner with huge breakfasts and great coffee.
Depending on our energy levels, we then bike back the way we came, or take the road back – and then make a strenuous detour and cut up the hill of Cave Landing road to the fantastic look-out spot at the top.
Wonderful views of both Avila Beach and Pismo Beach. Just make sure the brakes are in good shape for the fast coast down the hill.
Mid-mornings are a great time to stroll thru downtown SLO. The Cal Poly students flock here to see and be seen. Great clothing stores, boutiques, and my personal favorites – two very large used book stores for browsing: Leon’s and Phoenix Books. Downtown SLO discourages chain restaurants, so lunch is at one of the many popular local restaurants – me, I like the “Thai-Pie Pizza” at Pizza Solo, near the downtown theatres.
In the afternoon, we go wine tasting in the nearby Edna Valley. I know we’ll be biking most of this area the next day, but I don’t like to mix wine tasting and biking. So it’s off to Baileyana, (in a converted old one-rooms schoolhouse), Wolff (great views from its hillside patio), Domaine Alfred (with a nice art gallery attached), and Talley Vineyards. I always make sure that I end up at the beautiful Edna Valley Vineyards tasting room as the sun is setting in the late afternoon. The tasting room was designed to highlight its westerly views of the “Seven Sisters”, a chain of extinct volcanos that ends just about one mile from their location. The view as the sun sets along the chain is stunning…
Dinner will be at F. McLintock’s in downtown SLO. This is a great local steakhouse chain. Downtown is packed with people at night – all the movie theatres are there, and there are several bars and restaurants with live entertainment. Paul Brown, the owner of Mother’s Tavern is also a great singer who occasionally performs at his own (upscale) bar, so we’ll be sure to duck in there if he’s performing with his band “The Sugar Daddy Swing Kings” that night.
Day 2
This day starts with the leftover breakfast from day one (I did say the breakfasts were huge). We then start biking from Islay Park, and go along Orcutt Road thru the main wine region of SLO. The first two miles are steep hills, but after that it levels out. On the weekend, there is little traffic along the road before 10 AM, when the tasting rooms open. Many of the cars that do pass us are pulling boats, on their way to nearby Lopez Lake. We bike thru the vineyards to the end of Orcutt Road, and then after retracing our path for a few miles, we turn onto Tiffany Ranch Road, then onto Corbett Canyon Road, then onto Highway 227 back towards SLO. We do take a break in the hamlet of Old Edna to stop at the Suite Edna’s Antiques & Deli. They have great lunches and do cater to bikers. (They have a wonderful balsamic eggplant salad, I don’t even like eggplant that much!) A few miles back to Islay Park, and we have done about 25 miles.
In the afternoon we drive up to Hearst Castle and take one of the four tours. Tour #2 is my favorite – you see Mae West’s favorite bedroom when she stayed there, and also the private rooms of Hearst and Marion Davies. I never get tired of the swimming pools, or the views from the top of the hill.
We have dinner at the Great American Melodrama’s in Oceano. We catch their latest comedy and they always have a great vaudeville review at the end. The food is pretty basic, but they do have killer desserts (try the cheesecake !!) and I like to sip the wine and munch the big barrel of popcorn. They have an ever-changing cast, but several are semi-regulars, so it’s like seeing old friends when they are return for a show.
Day 3
This day starts by loading up on carbs at the IHOP, then driving to the intersection of School Road and Huasna Road in Arroyo Grande to unload our bikes. At the moment, this is my (and many other’s) favorite road to bike in the county. It is basically a long, dead end road with great scenery, curves, and the local residents (the only ones driving the road) are considerate to bikers.
The first 7 miles of the road to the hamlet of Huasna is basically slightly uphill, then there is a steep one mile to the top of a hill, then a fast descent into Huasna. Making a right onto Huasna Townsite Road, you come to the former one-room school for the area (unfortunately closed.) If you continue on the road, you have a great fairly flat road through an open valley. (Make sure you do not feed the dinosaurs you will see on the side of the road.) This road dead-ends just over a small wooden bridge (look for deer that like to feed there), then retrace the path back.
The trip back to the car is much faster – once you get to the top of the hill outside of Huasna, it is basically 7 miles downhill back to our starting point. Make sure to take at least two water bottles and a snack, as there are no services along the road. The road into Huasna does offer lots of shade, so it’s pleasant even on hot days. About 25 miles round trip for this stretch.
Dinner that night takes us back to Avila Beach, this time to the Old Port Inn Restaurant located on the end of the Harford Pier. Great seafood, great views over the water, and great sunsets. But we save room for dessert – since we’re taking in the latest show by the California Cabaret who often perform just 2 miles away at the Avila Beach Golf Resort. The shows by this troupe local professional actors are always very funny and sophisticated – sort of “PG13” level compared to the Melodrama’s always “G” level. The Cabaret provides snacks and desserts, as well as non-alcoholic beverages, but wine is available for the attached restaurant. (If you get a chance, ask “Jess” who takes your tickets how he succeeded in wooing Barb, one of the actresses of the troupe.).
Luckily my friend leaves the next morning, because I can’t keep up this pace my longer. Still its been a great visit, with lots of delicious food, elegant wines wine, hilarious entertainment, scenic rides and great times.
