Our journey has reached its southernmost point so today, we headed north to Morro Bay on Highway 154. It was my turn to drive but as we wound our way up the Chumash Highway with its hairpin turns, my heart started pounding and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and I began to hyperventilate. Gulp! Big gulp! I have always been uncomfortable driving up hill, especially when the road is winding and there are cliffs involved but I have never had this feeling of terror building so I pulled over and Honora took over the driving. This is the peak where I pulled over and the road actually started downhill after this so I probably could have driven, but I think Honora felt more comfortable being behind the wheel herself, so she kept driving to Morro Bay.
We arrived in Morro Bay, a quaint fishing village. The brown pelicans hung around the fishing boats and we encountered a small colony of them drying themselves in the late afternoon sun. As we watched the pelicans sunning, we noticed one of the brown pelicans trying to swallow a rockfish that had been filleted by a fisherman and tossed into the water so it had its huge head, bones down the middle and a tail. Another big gulp! It appeared to be a little unwieldy for the poor pelican as he tried to gulp it down. We watched him for more than an hour; sadly, he lost the fish to another pelican.
After watching this spectacle we felt we needed our own big gulp. We discovered a charming little wine bar called Stax, went in and we shared a light dinner consisting of a cheese plate and portobello crostini with pesto and Parmegiano Reggiano as well as a big gulp, actually a couple of big gulps, of a San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir. A delightful way to end the day. As we walked back to our motel, I took a couple of shots of the wharf; one of Morro Rock and the other of the Morro Bay power plant that dominates one end of the wharf.
