Here's a little of why I love where I'm living right now.

The view from the south side of Pismo Beach (they call it 'Pier Cam' but you can barely make out the pier...)

The view from the Morro Bay Natural History Museum (featuring that big round rock)

The view from the Shoreline Inn in Cayucos (between Hearst Castle and Morro Bay - with one of the most rickety-looking piers in the region)

(the Hearst Castle Cam is currently Out of Service)

If you prefer smaller bodies of water, 15 miles inland is Lake Nacimiento.

And here's the "city", sourtesy of the SLOWeatherCam.

Sorry, I do not have a couch for you to crash on. (But the off-season motel rates start at $40/night)

Weldell- Is that lake in Atascadero? I rented a sailboat on some lake there once.

Also, my friend who now lived in Kona lived in Cayucos for a time, and they used to talk about the "Cayucos Circle," a zone of more sunny weather.

It IS a nice area.

(I have also surfed at Castles, a spot where, as you bob up and down on incoming swells, the castle comes in and out of view.)

(Oh, and I DO have a couch for YOU to crash on.)

danf, I just drove from Santa Cruz to Ventura and back, as I do whenever I visit family. The winter palette is in full swing. The clearest of light is illuminating goldenrod, fawn, black and russet colors under a comic sky blue.

This is the guy, right here. Though this, is more of an early fall afternoon palette.≡ Click to see image ≡Eyvind Earle.

I just drove from Santa Cruz to Ventura and back

Did you take 1, or hop over to 101?

(I'd bet that Wendell would let YOU crash at his house. . .*sniff*)

8'(

I miss my home state.

danf, we do this trip often, and take the 101 from Salinas down. We also camp in Big Sur plenty, but driving through it, especially at night, is too harrowing.

Plus, the best Mexican restaurant that I have ever been at is across from the Greyhound station in Salinas.

Or so it seemed at the time. Food tastes better when you are stoned, and I rarely did distance driving unstoned. . .but still. . .good place. And you'd almost expect to see the Joads pull in and sit down (if they had any money).

Hey, I've been to all those places in the cam links! Not often enough tho'. It's been 12 1/2 years since I last visited California. It's funny how far life has taken me from my home state.

danf, I have a list up here *taps temple* of the best Mexican places all up and down the state. Casa Manana in Santa Maria is probably still the top, for me.

and I just FPPed Eyvind Earle.