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Bakersfield Breakaway: Pismo Beach –– out on a whim
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Anonymous user Tue Mar 7, 2006 15:47:49 PST
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0 responses 0 comments WELCOME TO THE SPLASH CAFÉ Here are the rules: 1. Place your order at the register 2. Take a seat at any table 3. Listen for your name to be called 4. Respond by raising your hand or by calling out 5. We’ll bring your food to the table So begins our spontaneous trip to Pismo Beach. My husband, Doug, takes a place in line and waits to order lunch while I elbow my way through the packed café in search of an empty table. As anyone who’s been there knows, this is no easy task because the Splash Café frequently has a line that goes out the front door, around the corner and all the way to the back. Why? It’s the clam chowder, of course. At the end of the restaurant, I spot one available table. Like a linebacker after an interception, I push through the hungry mob and slam myself down in the chair. Scored! It just started drizzling outside and I have no desire to eat my lunch standing on a wet sidewalk. Eventually, Doug finds me squeezed against a wall jealously guarding a table. When our soup arrives, the weather –– overcast and dreary –– transforms into perfect ambiance while we savor our steaming bowls of award-winning chowder. Our trip was spur-of-the-moment, and on a holiday weekend in Pismo, that made it tough to find a vacant motel. But the Fates were with us –– we nabbed a room at a quaint little cottage inn a few miles away. This was a great piece of luck. At a bargain $83, we got a room with a view of the beach and the pier. Better yet, we could see all this from inside the room (through a huge window) or outside on a balcony in two plastic chairs. But the luck stopped there. The motel was about 50 years old, and unfortunately, so was the smell. Not a stinky smell, but more like a post-World War II mustiness that aged the carpet and hung in the air like a old ghost refusing to leave his post. But with scented candles purchased from the 50 percent-off shelf at a nearby drug store, we not only disguised the odor, but, with light from the flickering flames, we also hid the chips, scrapes and discolorations that accented the furniture. The next morning, we drove to Avila, took a stroll on the beach, and marveled at the recent construction. This stretch of the coast is evolving into quite the get-away. But we didn’t linger. Instead, we took a relaxing soak at Avila Hot Springs, and then headed back to Bakersfield, where “Life As It Should Be” just isn’t quite the same without the beach. If You Go— The Splash Café, 197 Pomeroy, Pismo Beach, CA 93449, (805) 773-4653 Clam chowder in a bread bowl costs $5.70+tax http://www.splashcafe.com Avila Hot Springs, 250 Avila Beach Drive, (805) 595-2359 Rates: All Day Use, Adults $8.00, Child/Sr. $6.50, Student with ID $5.00 http://avilahotsprings.com For more of Doug's photos, go to http://www.pbase.com/dougke...

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