Morro Bay (8)

We are feeling thankful and looking forward to a long planned fancy dinner of turkey hot dogs on the grill for our Thanksgiving feast. In the meantime, Dory1 has been very busy in her home campground. We have been entertaining way more than we are used to, and that has been tons of fun. Dory not only makes a perfect beverage bar, but also a very comfortable guest room. We have had a couple of back yard sleepovers ourselves, and it’s not too different from real camping. It has the bonus of having excellent campground wifi and a cute cat. Obviously we had to watch “Finding Nemo” as an inaugural event. And the upside/downside of having her so well stocked as a bar is that I am learning all about how to make mixed drinks. I am also trying to be mindful of not becoming a total alcoholic. I did not know Gin & tonics and Mochatinis were so delicious. Dangerous.

Back in Dory2 for actual “camping,” now that we are aligned and on the same vacation schedule, it is very exciting to have the whole Thanksgiving week off, free and clear. We love Morro Bay and just decided to bop around the three state parks, spending three nights in each one. Our first stop is the state park campground just outside of town. It is easily walking distance and is the one that has the dump.

We started off with a nice al fresco dinner at Giovanni’s for chowder and shrimp tacos. Ice cream for dessert at Kelli’s, and a lovely sunset viewed from the pier. Otters bobbed around in the water, some with fluffy babies on their tummies. The fun thing about otter babies is you can apparently set them down on the surface of the water and they will just float around until you are ready to deal with them. Momma gets to have a nice bath and baby otter sleeps away, looking alarmingly like a dead something, or a small log, not going anywhere. We saw it move around when momma pulled it onto her tummy, so that was a relief.

We stayed long enough to watch the sunset from the pier. I’ll bet this rock has been photographed at sunset a record number of times. I don’t care. I snapped some shots anyway. It’s kind of too picturesque not to point your phone at it.

The next day we tried a new hike up to the top of Cerro Cabrillo and paid for it for several days afterwards. We didn’t really read the trail description and underestimated how tricky the climb down would be. It is only about three miles total, out and back, but it’s the half mile up, and then down, that gets you. It is very steep and the trail is made up of loose decomposing rock, deeply rutted by runoff water in many sections. It made footing dodgy, which became more of an issue going down. I spent of lot of the descent crouched way down, or scooting on my butt in the slickest places. I can tell you precisely which muscles those are because the fronts of my thighs were sore for days. I’m ok now, but oof. I don’t think I’d do that hike again. There were nice views from the top and Richard did the final rock scramble to get to where you can see the bay and the rock. Didn’t seem worth the risk to me, so I waited and had no FOMO. Later, Richard did a trail to the lower cerro, and he said that was way easier and definitely the one to do.

The next day we biked to Montana de Oro, which will be the last place we stay. It’s a beautiful ride through eucalyptus lined hills and culminating in spectacular coastal views. We had a bite to eat at the visitor center and then rode back to town. We checked out the grocery store and hit Dolly’s Donuts, where we enjoyed an apple fritter and a lemon filled, powder sugar coated, raised pocket of delight.

Last, we rode through town and out to touch Morro Rock. There is a nice bike trail that goes along from the rock to the wharf, and all the way to Morro Strand, which will be the second place we stay. Weather could not be more perfect, following a rainy week. That was lucky and we appreciate it.

From here we move down the road five miles to Morro Strand. We haven’t gotten tired of this place yet. It’s definitely got enough to do to entertain us for a whole week. And it’s the perfect balance of nature and town, so you can get anything you need, without having to feel like you’re in a crowd.

Total miles: 232.5, 4 hours 35 min, 16.5 mpg. Site 102 no hookups. Good cell for both. 10$ dump with potable water. Bathrooms have outlets to charge bike battery.