Small Town Bliss

Cayucos Creek Barn - where we got married

Cayucos Beach

Where?
Cayucos!
Where is that?
On the Central Coast.
Central Coast?
Yes, California has a Central Coast....just north of Morro Bay.
Oh. How do you even spell that?

I thought being from Guatemala was hard to explain, but folks hailing from the small coastal town of Cayucos probably have just as hard of a time explaining, to anyone in the SoCal bubble, where they are from. Not many people have heard of Cayucos - even our family didn't discover it until my mom and aunt took a road trip up the coast scoping out possible family vacation spots about 10 years ago. They came across Cayucos, about two hours north of Santa Barbara, and it's been a steady vacation spot for our family ever since. And for Jord and I it's doubly special because that's where we got married!
With a population not quite reaching 3,000 and a cozy spot on the beautiful coastline, Cayucos is easy to miss, but hard to leave - if you do find it, you might just fall in love.
I was pleasantly surprised this trip to find that Cayucos has made itself even more cute and inviting in recent years, with the addition of a few key elements:

Renovated Skate Park
Jordi loves skate boarding, and especially loved the new ramps and uncrowded conditions (if you go during school hours) of the improved park, located behind the Clam Chowder restaurant next to the pier.






Brown Butter Cookie Company
How do I even begin describing these fall-apart-in-your-mouth pieces of goodness in the form of butter cookies topped with sea salt? Every morning these fat little cookies are hand-rolled in the ever so cute little "factory" in downtown near the pier. They offer free samples of their distinct cookies - ranging from original brown butter to bourbon, gluten-free cocoa mint, and my sister's favorite: chewy honey - all made with browned butter and topped with a pinch of sea salt.

We definitely got addicted to these, but luckily we found out that they ship them all over the country - one of the places being the Cellar in downtown San Clemente! Lucky me :)



Cayucos Candy Counter

Every beach town needs a good candy store, in my opinion, and this one is perfect. Cayucos Pier is an ideal location to be selling huge ice cream cones and bags of salt water taffy and candy. There is also a cute little coffee/ espresso counter that opens onto the sidewalk for those cold, foggy mornings.




Renovated Duckie's Clam Chowder
Also right next to the pier, skate park and downtown is the newly cute Duckie's. A fixture in Cayucos, now it's actually tourist friendly, with a bar and stools out front to eat chowder bowls or fish and chips, and an inviting airy interior with bright red booths. New England and Manhattan chowders were both delicious! (Although my foodie brother-in-law thought the tomato-based Manhattan version to be salty...)



Aside from these new and exciting additions, we had a fun time enjoying typical favorites:
Beach
Miles of gorgeous and practically empty beaches are just calling to be enjoyed. As a family we surfed, boogie-boarded, ran or walked, napped, played frisbee, football, and lots and lots of bocce ball!
Downtown
Most of the residences in Cayucos are within walking distance to downtown or the beach. We were fortunate to be close to both, and as mentioned above, downtown is a fun little outing. The Cayucos Pier is located downtown, as well as the skate park and most of the shops and restaurants. Another restaurant I've heard good things about but didn't have a chance to try is Hoppe's. Also, there is a new wine tasting room downtown, with $5 tastings of local wine - a good deal!
More of our favorite stops included the town pharmacy which was more like a card store - lots of fun stuff :) Also, Cayucos Surf Company and Good Clean Fun are both great for rentals, wetsuit deals, and affordable sweatshirts.
Elephant Seals
A short and scenic drive up the One leads you through San Simeon, home to the famous elephant seals, which are pretty entertaining to watch. In the same area is a secluded beach and pier, and Hearst Castle.
Montana de Oro
South of Morro Bay lies the 'golden mountains' of Montana de Oro State Park - rolling hills covered in wildflowers along the cliffy coast. We used to surf here a lot during college - beautiful hiking, biking and horse back riding found here as well.
SLO Farmers' Market
Definitely a fun outing after a week of slow Cayucos life, San Louis Obispo Farmers' Market is like going to the fair! An incredible amount of fruit and vegetable vendors and blocks of local restaurants have booths along both sides of the road. Street performers, activists and musicians also abound.
Taco Temple
A trip to the central coast is not complete without a stop to this shrine. In fact, according to my Dad, a trip anywhere within 100 miles of the unassuming taco fusion restaurant requires a detour. The massive servings, freshest ingredients, and Temple-Ade (pink lemonade with sugar on the rims) are all just part of what makes the beachfront shack a legitimate Temple to Tacos.
Hiking
Hiking isn't hard to come by in this area, but one day we drove out highway 41 to hike to the top of a mountain instead of just along the hills. Climbing Cerro Alto would have been a beautiful hike if it weren't for the hundreds of bugs attacking us the entire time! Jordi had devout following of about 20 bugs that formed a halo around his head the entire time as I was being mercilessly bitten by some sort of fly. All five of us that went on the hike were miserable from the flies, gnats, and bugs constantly buzzing and biting around us. We ended up not making it to the top, and running back down the mountain straight into the car and booking it back to the overcast and mosquito-less coast.
I'm not sure if we were there at a bad time of year, or if hiking early in the morning would have made a difference. I'm not sure I want to go back to find out though!

So if you think small towns are boring - think again! And if you have time, I definitely recommend Cayucos as a stop (or final destination) on your next car trip! :)