Greetings from Morro Bay, CA. Jan and I celebrated our joint birthdays there this last weekend. The photo is of Morro Rock. You can't tell from the picture, but the rock is about 575 feet tall. It sits just off the beach at Morro Bay, but is joined to the mainland by a small spit, so you can walk/drive right up to it. Morro Rock is the northern-most of the 9 Sisters which are ancient, volcanic formations that lie along the CA coast between Morro Bay on the north and San Luis Obispo on the south. Before modern navigation came along, the 9 Sisters were important navigation aids to sailors along the coast.
It was a very nice weekend, although the weather was cool and windy. They had a kite festival out by Morro Rock on Saturday afternoon, but had to cut it short because the winds were gusting to 45 MPH around the rock.
This was a great time to go to Morro Bay because the countryside is all green and lush. It will all be brown in a few weeks. It's about a 4 hour drive from Benicia. We had a lovely dinner at a French restaurant in Paso Robles Friday night before going on to Morro Bay. Saturday we drove down the coast to San Luis Obispo and had lunch at a beach restaurant where the wind was blowing the sand so hard that we had to brave a sand blasting in getting to and from the car. On the way back, we stopped at a couple of wineries, one in a 102 year old school house and another where they have one wine that is made from a mixture of grape juice and apple juice. It was good, but a bit too sweet for my taste. They also have a small vineyard next to the tasting room that is guarded by a half-dozen or so peacocks.
Sunday Jan had to spend grading papers (Ah! the life of a professor) so I did some wine tasting along the back roads between Morro Bay and Paso Robles. My preference is for small, family-owned wineries where they are usually not very busy and you can talk directly with the people involved in making the wine. The wines in central California are very different that those farther north in Napa and Sonoma. The area east Paso Robles is known especially for zinfandels. It is interesting to compare zinfandels from Paso Robles with those of Napa/Sonoma and also from the Shenadoah Valley farther north near where Kevin and Nancy live. They are all made from the zinfandel grape, but because of very different climate and soil, they have very different characters.
I enjoyed exploring the area around Morro Bay. Since the first time I saw the area (at least 25 years ago), I always said it was where I wanted to retire. However, the smart thing would have been to buy property back then. It's way too expensive now. When we were driving back into Benicia today, Jan said "Benicia sure is a nice place!". So, I gues we're here for now.
Well, I guess I better go get ready for the cul-du-sac cake and ice cream group which is becoming a tradition on birthdays.
Love to all,
Bob
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