SLO Motion: June, 2007

Across a walking bridge from Mission San Luis Obispo, a brick patio featuring live music overlooks San Luis Creek. While not nearly as hot and humid, it felt a bit like New Orleans, although the music was more pop oldies than jazz. By comparison to cruise ship entertainment, this was amateur hour, but it was pleasant regardless. The outdoor tables provide a great place to enjoy lunch from the Network Mall restaurants. Amy immediately gravitated toward Cisco's when she saw they featured Greek Gyros. While standing in line, we noticed the nearby Flame Bay Mongolian Barbecue, which seemed like a great choice for Julie and me, who both have taken on the challenge of a low carb diet.


After a nice lunch, we headed back to our hotel to enjoy the pool area that includes a hot tub and comfortable lounge chairs. I did a little work, but I didn't bring a laptop to enable me to enjoy the free wireless internet access. Quality Suites also offers a free wine, beer and soft drink happy hour in the evening, so we indulged in a free pre-dinner drink.

We left as a barbecue featuring modestly priced entrees fired up, opting instead to return to our lunch spot, but when we arrived downtown, we surprisingly found the Network Mall restaurants closed, which seemed odd for a Saturday night. We walked off browsing shops while looking for another place to eat.

We ended up at Mo's Barbecue, where the food was tasty but portions were skimpy. The barbecue at the hotel had just closed when we returned, but the cook agreed to fire up the grill again to make me one of the $1.50 hot dogs. It came with inedible cole slaw, although perhaps that was better earlier.

Again, we reached that point in every vacation where I long for a cruise, returning to our room for some television instead of enjoying some evening entertainment. The room was comfortable and clean, but it certainly wasn't the Ritz.

This hotel's strength is in service, however, not in the building and grounds, and the next morning, we were happy to find that the included breakfast featured Atkins-friendly bacon, sausage and eggs as well as the more standard buffet of rolls, fruit and cereal. They also had some Starbucks-like items such as scones and cappucchino.


After breakfast, we headed over to nearby Morro Bay, a quaint beach town without crowds, before hitting the road back to L.A. En route, we stopped to take a look at UC Santa Barbara, another school in a great location. The campus seemed less inviting, although perhaps that was because we didn't bring a map with us. It is, however, located on the beach, which certainly has its advantages. I would say Cal Poly beat UCSB in our minds.