The Fever Jones and I were invited to join our dear friends, the Hermann’s, with them in Morro Bay. As we all know by now, I’m ALWAYS up for a road trip and it HAD been quit a while. California was still suffering from “June Gloom” in July and I was desperate to get to the ocean so we took off early one Friday morning. The drive was lovely. The scenery was lovely.
The first stop we made (if you ignore the two Starbucks ventures along the way) was, of course, the Madonna Inn. The Madonna Inn is this amazing and eclectic motel in San Luis Obispo. It has 110 rooms that have names such as “Yosemite Rock”, “Traveler’s Yacht”, and “Fox & Hound” that are decorated in a style befitting those names and oddities throughout the property.
This is the famous men’s restroom on the basement level of the Madonna Inn. Me taking a picture at the “waterfall” urinal is not the most horrifying aspect to this restroom – all the women waiting outside until the men vacate the room is. I AM, however, completely fascinated by the fact that the waterfall doesn’t splatter as you stand there peeing.
Morro Bay.
Wikipedia has this to say about the rock: “Morro Rock was named in 1542 by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who explored the Pacific Coast for Spain. Cabrillo called the rock El Moro because it resembled the head of a Moor, the people from North Africa known for the turbans they wore. However, the dictionary definition for the Spanish word “morro” (“pebble”) is also consistent with the shape of the rock, and so the term morro is frequently used wherever such a distinctive rock-like mountain is found within the Spanish speaking world.”
Personally I like the one where it’s the shape of someone’s head.
Abalone: looks like vagina; tastes like…chicken?
Glass blowing in Harmony.
Elephant seals just north of San Simeon and the Hearst Castle. This time of year they’re just laying there molting. And smelling.
Nitt Witt Ridge in Cambria. It’s a California National Landmark and the plaque reads: “Nitt Witt Ridge, one of California’s remarkable twentieth-century folk-art environments, is the creation of Arthur Harold Beal (Der Tinkerpaw, or Capt. Nitt Witt), a Cambria Pines pioneer who sculpted the land using hand tools and indigenous materials, inventiveness and self-taught skills. A blend of native materials and contemporary elements, impressive in its sheer mass and meticulous placement, it is a revealing memorial to Art’s cosmic humor and zest for life. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 939. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation for saving and preserving arts and cultural environments with the Art Beal Foundation, non-profit and educational corporation. June 26, 1986.”
At this point my available space for pictures has run out. Which is bad, because you know I love pictures.
