The Madonna Inn and Our Last Day

I knew we needed a halfway point between San Francisco and home, and San Luis Obispo was a pretty good stopping point. I don't know how I even came across this hotel, but once I did, I knew we HAD to stay there.

We were supposed to stay in a better room but the shower was broken. I was pretty disappointed. But our room, Hideaway, was still fun.





Yes, that is the shower made entirely of rock.

And a few more pictures:

The main building.

The pool area.

This is the dining room in the restaurant. We ate dinner here in a big pink booth and it was so fun. A jazz band plays and people dance and the room was so sparkly I couldn't even get a picture while we were eating.

Pretty cakes in the Copper Cafe.

We thought this would be a one time thing but we actually had so much fun we are already talking about coming back for a long weekend. The hardest part will be picking the room! We need to see Hearst Castle, Cambria, Santa Barbara, and Solvang (a favorite kitschy place of mine that Matt has never been!), at the very least. So we'll make another weekend out of it. Lucky for us, almost everything south of Santa Barbara can be made into a day trip. And the number of things we want to see north of Big Sur is ridiculous. Obviously we won't be able to do everything we hope to, but wine country, the redwoods, Lake Shasta (renting a houseboat with friends!!), and another trip to Carmel are absolute musts. Honestly I think we were meant to live in Northern California.

Anyway, we went back towards Morro Bay before heading home because there was an antique store we saw on the way down that I wanted to check out. I didn't actually find anything. But look at this major landmark:
Crazy, right? It looks like aliens put it there or something. Actually now that I look back at the picture it kind of looks like it could be Hawaii!

Since we weren't making anymore stops we planned to take the 101 to the 5 to get back home in the shortest time possible. But the GPS took us on a detour on the 154. We thought it was wrong but it cuts inland back towards the 5 eliminating a little bit of time. Anddd I'm so glad we followed the GPS. Because it was gorgeous. But my camera was in the backseat and I was too lazy to get it. So look here.

And now we're home. And I wake up every day wishing I could eat breakfast at Mama's.