Morro Strand (2)

This was our second stop in Morro Bay and it has a very different vibe. We stayed once before when the main campground closed down due to downed power lines. I’m not sure why we never came back. Perhaps we poo-poo’ed the cementness of the sites, but it kind of reminded us of Seacliff. That is also a campground we initially poo-poo’ed, but then came to love, before it got washed out to sea. You are right next to the sandy beach, but in this case, you’ve got a bit more of a buffer zone in the form of low dunes and brush. Our site had a little tunnel through the bushes where you could set up your chairs and watch the ocean.

Like Seacliff, it has a party feel and lots of people seem to arrange site reservations so they can be next to each other. We were between two families with kids, who told us they were “friends.” We felt kinda bad being in between them, and also wondered if our site would end up being the hang out middle ground for all the children. As soon as an adult from the “friends” family appeared, I offered to trade sites with them. He informed me they actually had only met the night before, but that the kids loved their daughter and had kind of adopted her. So no guilt at being between them.

Richard rode from campground to campground and the first thing we did after getting set up was walk along the beach. You can go all the way from the rock to Cayucos and stay on sand pretty much the whole time. That’s around a five mile stretch of romantic beach walking. We went up to Cayucos and back, feeling very romantic and commenting on how much the area has to offer.

The next day we drove up the highway to Cambria, another cute little town along the coast. Here we parked and got our bikes out. The plan was to ride up highway one as far as the San Simeon elephant seal beach. The wind was in our faces the whole time, which was less of a problem for my ebike than for Richard’s human powered bike. But he is a determined human, and we made it all the way up. We passed Hearst Castle along the way, which was visible up on the hills, with all of its palm trees making it especially stand out. We also rode along Moonstone Beach, a prestigious drive outside of Cambria, made up almost entirely of little hotels, each with views of the ocean, fire pits, and Adirondack chairs facing the sunset.

After our ride, we checked out Cambria a bit. We found our ice cream hit at a place called Sweet Offerings. They serve ice cream from Harmony Valley Creamery and it was very good. The tiny town of Harmony boasts a population of 18 and is located off highway 1 to the south of Cambria. The creamery has limited hours of operation, so this gave us the chance to taste their wares without making a special trip. We also did a little browsing of stores. There is a wide array of shops, each with their own eclectic collection of offerings. One odd little place had everything from metal velociraptors, to seashells, to garden gnomes, to old license plates. I’m in the market for a velociraptor, but not ready to pay $800 for one.

After sunset, we walked on the beach the other way, ending up at the rock. I was shocked at how nice a picture the iPhone got of it in the low light. It is fun walking on the beach in the dark, where you can hear, but not see, the waves. We remarked on how we are both still scarred by seeing “Jaws” when we were way too young and had to consciously remind ourselves there is no such thing as land sharks.

The last day of this day was spent hiking in Harmony Headlands. There is a nice trail that goes through a little canyon and out to the beach. Along the way, you pass by a mysterious abandoned cabin, that seems to have been used maybe by park service employees. The door had been locked, but was broken and open. I admit we were curious, but also a little creeped out. There was an empty cup sitting on a table inside and we were pretty sure a serial killer was hiding in there somewhere. The beach was very nice though. After that jaunt, I dropped Richard off in Cayucos so he could get in a ride up and down Old Creek road. I returned to Dory to blog and stare at the ocean.

In the afternoon, Richard spent some time trying to examine the espresso machine. It didn’t seem to be working right that morning, so he wanted to verify there was a problem. It’s been a while since I’ve written about the espresso machine because it has worked like a little Italian champ this whole time. We got this machine from an Italian company who made specialty espresso machines for yachts. This has crossover for us because, on a yacht, you have to rely on 12v power, and, if you are Italian (or us), you are very particular about your morning coffee experience. It uses ESE coffee pods, so there is no need to grind beans. Each pod is vacuum sealed, so the coffee does not go stale. It is a relatively simple system, but once a part goes, it’s not as though you can go out and get a new one. The last time we had to problem solve, Richard was on the phone with Italians, speaking twenty years forgotten Italian. This time, there was no one to talk to because the company has ceased to be. Shame.

We do have a backup plan, which involves a little stovetop espresso pot. It has been years since we’ve used it, so it takes a few tries to refresh the memory on how this all works. The first morning’s attempt resulted in exploding espresso. Like, I heard the explosion without my hearing aides in. What you do is open up a coffee pod and put the grounds into a little compartment in the middle. You put water in the bottom, turn on the stove, and wait. Normal operation does not suggest waiting until it explodes and shoots steam and coffee grounds all over the kitchen, but that was our “how does this work again?” batch. We were able to get coffee out of that, despite the loss of whatever shot out the side, and it was only a bit crunchy.

Richard had the rest of the trip to Google “exploding moka pot” and adjust his technique. Top tips: do not tamp the grounds, do not overfill with coffee, use low heat. By the fourth morning, he had it pretty well down. I do think you have to use more coffee pods than you do for straight espresso, because after three moka mornings, I was feeling tired and cranky. I think what I was experiencing was mild under caffeination. Same difference, but at least you can solve that problem by adding more coffee pods.

We had a couple of favorite Blue Apron recreation dinners while we were there, and went out to Tacos El Viejon one night. We both really enjoyed that and got in one last romantic walk on the beach afterwards. Next, we move to the last state park campground in the area to complete the trifecta. Love this place!

Total miles from the state park (plus dumping): 6.2, 14 min, 11.5 mpg. Site 21, no hookups, no dump. Parking lot sites on pavement. Some sites by ocean, some in the middle of the parking lot. Few with direct ocean views, but most have access through bushes. Pull along or slotted in the full hookups section. Excellent cell, great solar.