Sunday, March 16, 2008

VISITING CAMBRIA, CENTRAL COAST CALIFORNIA

We're in Cambria, Central Coast California, near Hearst Castle. Cambria has a population of around 5,000. It's located on the coast and its slogan is appropriately: Cambra, Where the Pines Meet the Sea. It reminds me a little of Carmel, although I suspect Cambria is smaller than Carmel. Nice coastline with otters, seals, nice rolling hills with pines and there are deer, wild turkeys, other wild life roaming in the more rustic parts.

Cambria is a tourist place which boasts of nice shops and restaurants. My favorite restaurants are: Main Street Grill, where I usually order ribs, cheeseburgers, salmon sandwich, and veggie avocado sandwich. Sow's Ear Restaurant has nice Chicken Fried Steak; Brambles is for prime rib and other beef dishes; Linn's Binn has excellent olalieberry pie and their chicken pot pies are also good. Moonstone Beach has great Sunday Champagne brunch. Lauren likes their Eggs Benedict; I love Hangtown Fry with fried oysters. Another breakfast place is Creekside Garden.

Cambria is a great place for resting, taking walks, and it's also a nice base for fieldtrips to other parts of the Central Coast such as Montana de Oro near Los Osos, and San Luis Obispo which is 40 minutes away. Morro Bay is around 30 minutes away.

In the summer, Cambria is a favorite for surfers, swimmers and sun bathers. A favorite pasttime is to walk along Moonstone beach searching for moonstones, the opalescent milky white gemstones which are all over the place.

Fridays, Cambria has a farmer's market where you can buy fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheese, bread, dried fruit, etc.

No matter what time of year, I find it's always chilly at night, so bring a jacket.

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