SHORES OF SAN LUIS OBISPO 



E. P. XJNANGST 



ALONG the ocean front of San Luis Obispo County are a number of 

 delightful places for an outing. At Port Harford is the Hotel Marre, 

 built on the ocean's edge, the waves eternally dashing against its 

 very foundation. Here every change of seaside vacation may be 

 enjoyed. The stir and bustle of incoming and outgoing steamers, 

 loading and unloading, indicate the great amount of business transacted. 

 The Pacific Coast Railway offers abundant opportunity for inland 

 excursion. Boating in the harbor by either steam launch, sail- or row-boat 

 furnishes a never-ending source of enjoyment. Fishing is almost always 

 excellent, and thousands avail themselves of the facilities of the railway to 

 reach the harbor for a day's sport, fishing from the wharf, strolling on the 

 beach, hunting for shells or sea-moss, or the thousand other occupations 

 of an idle but busy day. But he who would know the full zest of such a 

 day should place himself in charge of a competent master on a worthy 

 sail-boat and boldly stand out to sea. Imagine a stout wind blowing, choppy 

 waves running, jolly companions with you, and two or three lines trolling 

 In the rear of the boat. If your sailing master has a sly sense of fun he 

 will ship a hatful or two of spray about the time the excitement begins to 

 run high. No thought of seasickness, no recollection of business care, no 

 regard for worldly sorrow is with you while bounding across the dashing 

 waves. Your whole attention is absorbed in the struggle with a leaping 

 barracuda or flashing Spanish mackerel at the end of a two or three hundred 

 foot line. It is a day's pleasure that comes to one but rarely. At the end 

 of such a day, tired and hungry but happy, it is with regret you remember 

 that, however unwilling, some time you must leave this fisherman's paradise. 

 Within easy rowing distance on the placid waters of the inner harbor is Point 

 San Luis and the government light-house, the objective point of a day's 

 excursion. A climb on the steep and rugged hills surrounding the harbor 

 will exhaust another day and amply reward the effort by a magnificent 

 view of rolling, wooded hill inland and a glorious panorama of the ocean 

 at your feet. So days of enjoyment glide into weeks of rest and recreation. 

 South of Port Harford lies the famous Pismo Beach. Level as a floor, 

 and almost as hard, stretching away to the south for twenty miles or more, 

 it furnishes a promenade, a driveway, or an automobile racing-course such 

 as nature only can construct. Until recently this magnificent beach could 

 be reached only by team. For years thousands have annually driven from 

 the interior of the State to enjoy the ocean breezes at this place. Now 

 made accessible by the coast line of the Southern Pacific, the attention of 

 pleasure-seekers is turned that way. Already two hotels, a few miles apart, 

 have been constructed — the Pismo Inn, at Pismo, and the Oceano Beach 

 Tourist Hotel, on "the Strand" at Oceano, both at nearby railroad stations. 

 What is said of the one will apply to the other. Picturesque, cozy, com- 

 fortable, with the roar of the tumbling surf ever in your ears, the great 

 blazing fires on the hearth conclusively fix in your mind the conviction that 

 here you will remain so long as business cares or worldly demands will 

 permit. Whether you take up your abode at the hotel or in the tent city, 

 at either place, about the same result will follow. The first day you will 

 dreamily wonder just what you will do; the second you will have tried the 

 surf bathing. From that time on the struggle begins. Just how to manage 

 to get a "dip" once and maybe twice a day and have time enough to dig 

 the ever-welcome clam, to roll in the warm, dry sand of the high beach or 

 attend to some one of the dozen excursions planned, to visit Pebbly Beach 

 or explore the rocky caverns to be found, to climb the adjacent hills or to 

 visit the beautiful sweet-pea farms of the Arroyo Grande Valley, to take 

 a deep-sea fishing trip or a steam-launch excursion to Port Harford, or to 

 visit the ancient mission at San Luis Obispo, and at the same time appease 

 an insatiable, glorious appetite, together form a problem that is never solved. 



