Just Another Day at the Beach: Cayucos, California

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) After a fun but rainy day in Morro Bay, the next day is drier. In these early, pre-shutdown days of the pandemic, the breakfast buffet at the Oxford Suite is not open. Instead, you choose from a menu and a server brings you your selection.

Sanitizing stations abound and guests are instructed not to touch anything that's not at their table.

At least they're still serving it, which wouldn't be the case in a couple of weeks.

Today, we're going back over the hill to the beach again. The rain has passed so it should be a pleasant seaside day. Our destination? The town that bills itself as the last of the old time, California beach town, Cayucos.

It's a tiny place. A few years ago, it was famous for Hoppe's, a restaurant that served locally farmed abalone. That was a real treat since abalone is a threatened species and cannot be harvested commercially anymore. It can be farmed, however, and there is a farm here in town.

The appetizer dish costs $50 at the time we went.

Hoppes is gone but the farm is still there.

A roll out to the end of the pier lets us revel in the ocean air. We can see Morro Rock, the guardian of Morro Bay where we were yesterday, poking out of the mist down the coast.

We poke our heads in a few shops, including a bakery where we have a hot cup of coffee to stay warm, and try to find a place to eat. We're in between lunch and dinner and have a hard time finding anything open and accessible. 

After exploring as much as we could, we wind up at Duckie's, a fast-food joint near the pier, and enjoy some fish 'n chips and a burger.

It's a very quite day in Cayucos so we pack it in and do some auto touring of the area. 

There's the pretty and quiet town of Harmony, a former dairy town, where I point out to Letty and Tim the location of one of the worst air crashes in California history. A disgruntled worker commandeered a PSA flight, killed the pilots, and the jet slammed into the ground leaving no survivors.

Going back over the hills on highway 46, we make a stop at Bethel Road Distillery, just behind Castoro Cellars (they're owned by the same company) to sip some brandy and rum. With the pandemic just starting to hit the news, and shortages of hand sanitizer looming, I joke to the owner that he should take his waste alcohol and mix it with the aloe growing outside to launch a new product line.

He laughs at this and says his license wouldn't allow it. Two weeks later, that's exactly what they started doing here.

We relax back at the hotel with another happy hour, our bartender friend, and the soup and salad served. Tomorrow, we'll see what we can find here in the town of Paso Robles.

Darryl Musick
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