Morro Bay:
Friday was another great day, a bit warmer, which turned out great for our jaunt to Morro Bay. Another small town with a giant volcanic rock cap off the shore. There is a road that leads right up to the rock and around the back side, where we parked and walked a bit. It is amazing to look straight up at this immense result of volcanic activity. They have an information board posting how it was formed as well as info on the local wildlife, a bird, called the Peregrine Falcon, a very beatiful endangered falcon that lives and breeds on the rock. There happened to be a local bird enthusiast there with a telescope monitoring a pair of them high on the rock's peak. Kim and I both got to take a look and they really are a beautiful species. Afterwards, we pulled the car around towards the beach and walked along the water collecting shells and rocks, enjoying the weather and salt air; one of the harder areas to leave behind on our trip, but we had another stop on our schedule.
Unfortunately Eric and Bettina Hice were unable to be there; they had been out of town, but Amber, the server from our last visit was there and she is a joy to be around.
She let us go in the back and see the big tubs full of grapes settling for another round of pushing; these were huge, so many grapes in one area, almost made us want to dive right in. Wish we could have stayed in Paso longer to do some grape stomping, but our schedule was packed full; only enough time for some GREAT tastings and on our way back to the hotel to get packed up for an early morning departure.
Santa Cruz Mystery Spot:
Saturday brought rain, much to Kim's dismay, eventhough she is our driver on all trips fantastic, she is also a born and raised So-Cal girl and is not hip on driving in the rain, but we did make it to the
Santa Cruz Mystery Spot in one piece with at least 60% of Kim's sanity intact. Santa Cruz is a beautiful area and the Mystery Spot is just incredible, located in a lush forest. We managed to get in on the first tour already set up for us by Hannah Woodrow (THANKS SO MUCH HANNAH). Our tour guide was Tim Becker, who was a character from the start. Although the entire tour speech is obviously scripted, he pulled it off beautifully, giving it his own unique style and making the entire experience very enjoyable and humorous; even accomodating our request for a picture of him with Withersin Horns (see our
My Space photo gallery). It is hard to explain what is experienced within the Mystery Spot, which is contained within a circular diameter of 150 feet on a lush hillside. According to it's history, the Prather Family were required to buy the hillside in conjuction with a flat parcel they wanted for a summer home.
All efforts to build on the hillside resulted in disaster and compass readings were inaccurate, eventually they gave up. Reported feelings of heaviness, nausea and disorientation are felt within the area. One of the workers we talked to, Kelly, mentions "I've seen squirrels jump from tree to tree and miss branches", as well as seeing animals act strangely, "Dogs will not go up there" and another worker mentions a man with a ball python, "They python kept acting weird (during the tour)". They also had a blind man who kept feeling naseous throughout the tour. Neither Kim nor myself felt strange, but the examples they give are certainly mind-boggling and keep you wondering what is going on here, the demonstration seen to the right was done on flat ground (proven by a level). One thing is for sure, it is a popular place, during a rainy weekday, they will bring in approximately 30 people, but on a nice summer day, it can reach upwards of 1800 visitors. We encourage our readers to see it for themselves; and bring along a compass. Although impressed, we were now very wet, as it rained the whole time, so into the car and off to the hotel in San Jose.
Moorpark Hotel:
I chose this hotel from an online search and we really were not sure what to expect, but were very pleasantly surprised.
The Moorpark Hotel is beautiful inside and the staff are amazing. We got checked in quickly and up to our third floor (Club Level) room which is only accessed by room key. Upon entering you are overwhelmed by the beautiful furnishings and marble countertops, past that it's the down comforter and pillows, which certainly won me over. If we were not blown over by the room, what was left there for us did it; the hotel had personalized gift bags on the table for each of us which contained some gifts from the spots we were going to visit while in town; the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and the Winchester Mystery House. Needless to say we were both impressed and touched by the thoughtfullness. The Club Level room also had some great amenities, (2) free bottles of beer, a bottle of water and a can of pretzels in the room, then a complimentary drink in their bar, cold milk and cookies in the third floor sitting room at 9:00pm and then a free buffet breakfast in their bar and grill restaurant. We couldn't have been more pleased with our stay and MUST send our thanks to: Kevin Sanchez, Brand Marketing Coordinator for setting up our accomodations so quickly; Isabelle Matter, General Manager for assisting us with making the reservations and ensuring our stay would be memorable and Tarina Salinas, Front Office Manager for getting us checked in so quickly and leaving the gift bags in our room. We hope to see them again in the near future.
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium:
After getting settled and unpacked at our room, we headed out for the
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. This is a pretty impressive museum, some of the locals we ran across are amazed at the artifacts carried within.
There are six separate galleries inside this large musuem, Afterlife Gallery, King Tut Tomb Replica, Daily Life Gallery, Religion and Kingship, Akhenaten and the Sekhmet Shrine and the Rotating Exhibits Gallery.
It took us about two hours to complete the museum along with the Peace Garden outside; we also visited the Planetarium afterwards, which unfortunately was a bit disappointing; leaving us wondering if we had just been witness to an attempted brainwashing. The museum, however, was not disappointing; it was more than expected. Kim and I both love egyptian history and that is certainly what we got, along with numerous authentic mummified remains and countless artifacts. Pictured to the far left is an interesting mummy that is built around a jar to resemble a very life-like baboon, an offering to Thoth, god of record keeping, writing and wisdom; with false eyes and a head made of wood. There was an x-ray photo next to this showing the jar inside. These offerings had become so popular that the animal farms were being depleted so instead of using real animals, they 'faked' the offerings, eventually a law was enacted in 600 BCE stating that all mummies purchased by religious pilgrims had to have a whole animal inside. There were other 'people' mummies as well as a bird, cat and kitten, surprisingly both very small in size (see images to the left). Overall, this was a fascinating venture and worth our trip to the area. We left and returned to the hotel for some well needed rest and complimentary drink at the bar and grill conveniently located within the Moorpark. We got the rest of our belongings packed and ready for Sunday, last day of our trip, so we could hit the Winchester Mystery House early and then get on the road home.
The Winchester Mystery House:
This was one location we had been anxiously awaiting to visit and we were both glad to have the whole morning to enjoy it, as it happened we needed it; taking us three hours to complete our visit. We picked up our complimentary Estate press tour passes, graciously set up for us by the General Manager, Shozo Kagoshima (THANK YOU!) and then quickly made it to the start of the Mansion Tour.
At first we were amazed by the pure history of the Winchester House which was started in 1884, after the tour was over, we were left in awe of this 160 room puzzling mansion. If you have never heard the history of this architectural nightmare, it was constructed by Sarah Winchester, widow to the Winchester Rifle Empire. After the death of her daughter and husband, she was convinced that the ghosts of those killed by the Winchester rifle had caused the deaths of her family and were out to exact revenge against her. She was told to keep building and adding on to her home at all times and never to stop.
The result is a mariad of stairs, windows and doors that go into walls and dropoffs, hidden doors, multiple entrances into the same room and modern conveniences that would enable Ms. Winchester to never leave her humble home. We were most impressed by these advances more than anything. There was gas heating that came from an underground tank at the end of the property using calcium carbide gas pushed through lines with a piston controlled by a counterweight into the house fixtures that were controlled by their own buttons, sewer systems, a working shower, three elevators (one electric) and 47 fireplaces. She also had most of the stairs built as "easy riders" which were only a few inches tall so that she could climb them easier, of course there were more of them and they winded back and forth so that climbing forty-four easy rider steps and seven full turns was the same as going up three normal steps to the same room.
The Winchester Estate was completely self sufficient, never requiring anything from the city, they even grew their own fruit and grains, drying them on a crank operated drying shack that dried fruit at a rate of 1 1/2 tons every 30 hours. Ms. Winchester was even a conservationist; buiding her countertops with slanted grooves so that the water would fall back into the sink and setting up her indoor greenhouse to drain the water from watered indoor plants back down to the grounds outside.
During our tour we were also able to see the room where she was trapped during the 1906 earthquake, this room as well as 29 others in the front of the house were all boarded up after the earthquake, not from unfixable damage, but from Ms. Winchester's spirits; she took it as a sign she was working on the front of the house too much and should stop, focusing on the back. Being inside this incredible house was a pure pleasure and once we finished the main tour, we were then off to the Behind-the-Scenes Tour that showed us how the Winchester House sustained itself and functioned on a day-to-day basis; going down underneath the house where the coal was stocked, furnace was located and even one of the service elevators. The tour started in the stables where another piece of Ms. Winchester's beliefs was evident, 13 horseshoes lined up on the wall.
This number is previlant throughout the house; 13 petals on every daisy in the stained glass windows, 13 windows in rooms, 13 gas operated candles on the chandelier in the main ballroom, although she had to have the thirteenth added on after it arrived from Germany, as it only had twelve. She was definitely an eccentric, rich woman who was severely depressed at the loss of the two most important people in her life and until the end of her life in 1922, she never stopped once to enjoy any of it, but certainly left it for others to marvel at.
This concluded our vacation, so we headed homewards, once hitting our final destination, clocking in a total of 1078 miles! We really cannot say Thank You enough to all the people that helped make this trip possible for us, including our own families, but again "THANK YOU!"
Located in the small town of Adelaida on Adelaida Road near Chimney Rock Road. We visited this cemetery on a Friday night. The drive out from Paso Robles to Adelaida, took about 30 minutes, mainly because it was so dark, no street lights in this part of the city (our daytrip only took about 20 minutes). Once you get closer, you will notice the blue sign "NO SERVICES" (so much for using a cell phone). We almost passed by the cemetery at first, thankfully there is a large dirt pull-off area in front of the main gate, which we used to skid to a stop. We entered the gate slowly stepping into the cemetery, it is maintained by volunteers of the town, so it is fairly overgrown, with thousands of gopher holes strewn throughout the 5 acre property, solid footwear and a walking stick wouldn't hurt when visiting. There are numerous old oak trees, hanging with spanish moss which really gives this place its eerie feel, of course, the old brick caretakers shed doesn't help, even during the day, it is not a place we felt like going into. There is a rough 'roadway' (we found during our daytrip) leading up to the upper, older portion of the cemetery, but at night it was missed, so we took the 'climbers' route straight up the hillside (walking stick came in good use). We walked around for a good 45 minutes, taking pictures and listening for anything unusual, interestingly, there were 'no sounds', no bugs, birds, nothing; only our footsteps. When we did finally make our way towards the pathway, we heard other "footsteps" to our left, they were not any sort of animal; but very rythmic 'human like' footsteps, when we stopped walking, they disappeared. Upon our daylight inspection of the area, we noticed it was a steep hillside with the surrounding fence on one side and the pathway, where we were, on the other, we could not explain how there would have been footsteps in that area. Once we made it back to the front gate, another car had pulled up with a group of teenagers from the city, Cody, Sarah and Alyssa, that we wound up hanging out with for the rest of our evening. They had ventured up to check out the 'haunted' cemetery on their first night of spring break. We would both like to thank them for making our evening more eventful and less "intimidating" then it started out as!
Mission San Miguel:
Unfortunately it is gated off, so we couldn't walk through the building, but we did get some nice photos and were happy to get moving onto the cemetery. The Adelaida Cemetery had been freshly mowed down, so walking was much easier. It is still an amazing cemetery and we were saddened to see some newly broken tombstones and other obvious signs of vandalism, such a shame. After the long drive getting to Paso, we quickly departed and headed back for the hotel, grabbing a quick bite at a local pizza joint, Marv's Original Pizza. THE MOST AMAZING DEEP DISH PIZZA EVER, a MUST EAT if you are ever in the area. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn and were very impressed. The room was wonderful and clean with great service and even better breakfast! We did have a slight problem the first night with smokers on our floor, eventhough this was a completely NON-smoking hotel, pretty sad that people are too lazy to either 'get' a room on the first floor or just walk themsleves downstairs to smoke. Thankfully by the next night the problem had left. We really did enjoy our stay and have to thank Victor Popp and Eric Hice for the accommodations!
Thursday was our day trip down to San Luis Obispo. What an incredible town. First on our list was Bubblegum Alley; not for the faint of heart or germiphobes. The alley is located off of Higuera Street in the heart of San Luis Obispo, just north of Broad Street; all sorts of gum and various other articles of trash litter the walls of this small alley.
We left the Withersin mark as well before departing, but not before getting a few snapshots and the need to wash our hands.
It's a small, quaint place right off the sidewalk, so we sat by the window and enjoyed the most INCREDIBLE sandwich, roast beef, cheddar on toasted homemade horseradish bread. I really cannot say enough about how good it was and as we were getting ready to leave we noticed another sandwich on their menu called the "O" riginal, named after Oprah Winfrey, as this is her favorite sandwich; a curried chicken sandwich that also looked incredibly delicious. We would both agree that anything on their menu is worth trying; more than once.
From there we headed over to the San Luis Obispo Mission, which is very well preserved and has an incredible museum of historical artifacts from the Mission and town just through the gift shop. We also stopped at the History Museum which is housed in the old Carnegie Library built in 1904. The building itself is just beautiful and, as seen by the condition of the Mission, very well preserved for it's age. The contents housed history on the Chinese immigrants who settled in San Luis Obispo as well as the towns history of Abilone farming.
Our original plan for coming to SLO was for the famous "Farmer's Market", but since it did not start until 6:00pm, we decided on a full day of wandering through the town. We were not without stuff to do, as you can see, but it was a nice site when they started setting up the market. It is an amazing site, they close off ALL of Higuera street between Osos and Nipomo Street, allowing the entire area to be packed with vendors and BBQ pits from various restaurants. Blocks and blocks of food, wares and bands, made this an awe inspiring walk. We enjoyed a few bites, but were quickly becoming tired, so after a jaunt all the way through, we headed back to our car and back towards the hotel. We wanted to grab a bite to take with us, but instead ran across another local favortie, Basil, a thai food restaurant packed full of locals. We waited for about 5 mintues before being seated, which was a shock since every table was full. Deciding on a couple appetizers, Meaing Kum and Satay Chicken, we were quickly served also. Their Satay was moist and flavorful, but the Meaing Kum was out of this world! Large spinach leaves, we filled ourselves with toasted coconut, peanuts, lime juice, fresh cut ginger chunks, red onion and their own thick sauce.. once you take your first bite you cannot get the next one rolled fast enough. These were mind blowing and regretfully are having a hard time finding someone local who serves this dish. Dessert was a dish of their fried bananas; regretfully not as good as their food, we did suggest trying to add the toasted coconut to the batter, which would give these bananas a nicely needed jolt of sweetness. We enjoyed this restaurant and their quick service so much that we returned for lunch the following day, adding their Crying Tiger (beef strips) and Thai Spring Rolls to our list sampled appetizers. We were again, NOT disappointed in their food.