Why visit San Luis Obispo County?

If you asked me that as an eighth grader — based on my first impression — it would have been two things: A men’s urinal and a big rock.

I kid you not.

My oldest brother Richard was working on his architecture/engineering degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo when we went down to visit him.

He insisted we go by the Madonna Inn along Highway 101 for dinner.

It was there that I got a glimpse at — and used — what arguably is one of the world’s most famous urinals in the hotel lobby.

It makes everything American Standard manufactures seem, well, uninspired.

The Madonna Inn urinal is a large waterfall made of rock.

You step up to do the No. 1 and you trigger a sensor that starts sending water trickling down the rock wall.

It is really an attraction.

On the way out, two women armed with a Kodak Instamatic camera asked if the restroom was occupied as they wanted to get some photos.

It is arguably the most photographed urinal in California.

The Madonna Inn sits on 1,000 acres and includes 110 unique hotel rooms and suites. That said, among those are theme rooms that take it to the next level.

Included is Bridal Falls, inspired by Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite. It has a rock shower along with a rock fireplace with rustic decor.

About that rock.

It’s the tallest of nine volcanic plugs known as the Nine Sisters between San Luis Obispo County and Los Angeles.

Morro Rock, formed 20 million years ago, stands 581 feet high overlooking the bay by the same name.

Morro Bay itself offers beaches worth spending some time on.

And if you’re feeling in the mood for a unique experience and looking to spoil yourself, there’s a two-hour gondola cruise (think Venice) with a three-course meal and bubbly for $400 for two.

If you want to forgo the meal and champagne, it is $140 for two for a 60-minute water adventure with a $25 charge per person for up to four more passengers.

Yes, the “gondolier” powering and steering the gondola looks like he stepped out of a National Geographic spread on Venice.

More details can be found at centralcoastgondolas.com

It goes without saying San Luis Obispo has a slew of beaches including the popular Pismo State Beach consisting of 1,050 acres along 17 miles of coastline.

Besides the usual beach activities, it is a popular calming spot and features the Oceano Dunes Off Road Vehicle Park. It is also one of the largest wintering grounds for butterflies in California.

I know of at least a dozen families that make almost annual pilgrimages in either RVs or to camp — and one that prefers motels — for five days to a week each year.

The 17 miles offers that much.

The motel family — actually an empty nest couple — likes the beach but they are more into the wineries (there are more than 200 countywide), dining, and laid-back setting whether it is on the coast or farther inland.

There are also areas along the coast that are more for the nature lover such as Montana de Oro State Park. It offers coastal bluffs, tide pools, and hiking trails.

A castle, a mission &

a funeral home search

San Luis Obispo County has 283,000 residents in 3,616 square miles. San Luis Obispo is the biggest of its seven cities with 47,003 residents.

By comparison to that sense of its laid-back feel, San Joaquin County has 826,000 people and 1,426 square miles.

That laid back vibe, by the way, is mixed with the true college town feel of San Luis Obispo.

With 20,000 students, the city’s downtown area has the appeal of Santa Cruz with shops, restaurants, and entertainment geared toward a strong mix of college students and local residents.

Downtown San Luis Obispo is also where you will find another celebrated quirky tourist attraction, Bubblegum Alley.

It is a 70-foot-long alley guarded by 15-foot-high walls covered with chewed bubblegum.

It got its beginnings in the 1950s.

Twice, the city did a major cleanup at the request of nearby shop owners but then resigned to the fact the wall — that some say was created by a rivalry between San Luis Obispo High and Cal Poly students — was never going to not be covered with chewed bubblegum.

The narrow alley is just wide enough for two suits to walk down side by side without crowding each other or scraping the walls.

It’s located off Higuera Street between Broad and Garden streets.

Downtown is also where you will the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.

It was founded in 1772 as one of the 21 California missions founded by Father Juniper Serra.

Mass is still conducted on a daily basis.

That said, I’ve never stopped by having only passed it at night while my mother was driving and I was “navigating” in search of a funeral home.

You read that right.

It was my brother’s last year at Cal Poly. For whatever reason, he didn’t start looking soon enough for an off-campus rental or put in for a dorm room. He could secure neither.

A friend came to his rescue.

The friend happened to be working as an assistant at the mortuary to help pay his college tuition. He was staying in an apartment that was located in the mortuary’s basement.

The owner agreed to allow Richard to be a roommate with the proviso that after hours if there was a pickup to be made, he had to accompany the friend to do so.

His “rent” was basically allowing the mortuary to avoid overtime costs for its employees for night pickups.

He was able to find a “normal” living situation by the second semester of his final year.

You haven’t lived until your mother asks you to knock on the door of a mortuary at 12:30 a.m. to see if your brother is there while she and your little sister waited in the car.

Richard is also the reason I came to the conclusion the uber-rich often lacked taste.

As an architectural student, he was assigned to help a state parks restoration team develop new blueprint drawings for several rooms at Hearst Castle.

Before I go farther, I can’t resist noting that wasn’t the two main projects he had to work on in his final two years at Cal Poly.

The two projects he did were as part of intern teams that developed working drawings.

One summer it was for beer baron mansions being restored in Cincinnati.

The other summer it involved historic outhouses in Wyoming.

You can’t make stuff like that up.

Needless to say, all of his photos from that summer that came from a dozen of 36-frame Kodak slide film were of outhouses in up-close intricate detail.

It certainly cured family friends when they visited of asking Richard if he had photos of his summer adventure.

Say what you want about being shown selfies and mundane smartphone photos of what people are about to eat, but it is downright thrilling compared to close to four slide carousels filled with nothing but slides of outhouses.

Hearst Castle, in itself, is worth the trip to San Luis Obispo County.

It was built by the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst who was satirized by Orson Welles in his 1941 film “Citizen Kane.”

The castle, including the main house and accompanying guest houses, was built over the hills looking the village of San Simeon and the Pacific Ocean.

It primarily employs Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean Revival with a mush-mash of other revival styles.

Hearst bought — although critics say he looted even though he paid for them — pieces of older European architectural and cultural elements to, in his own words, create a castle that is “a museum of the best things I can secure.”

Among the items he secured were over 30 ceilings, door cases, fireplaces and mantels, entire monasteries, paneling, and a medieval tithe barn.

There was often no effort to protect the origin of the treasures he requires.

As an example, the pages of a baroque Bible were used to create a light shade for a lamp.

Hearst Castle is now part of the California State Parks system.

The castle itself is on a 1,600-foot hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a spread with over 130 zebras running wild.

That’s right, zebras. They are a nod to the fact Hearst also had one of the world’s largest private zoos.

Speaking of hills, if you do go to San Luis Obispo, if you’re into hiking there’s a four-mile round trip trail that takes you to the 1,559-foot Mt. Bishop.

Enjoy the journey

It’s been said that one should enjoy the journey to your destination.

Getting to San Luis Obispo can be well worth it.

You can take the quick route via Interstate 5 and taking the highway made infamous as it is where James Dean died in a crash over to the coast.

Then there is Highway 101 — which is 137 miles from Monterey that takes two hours and 13 minutes.

But “the route” from Monterey to San Luis Obispo is Highway 1.

It’s less distance at 90 miles but it takes at least 15 minutes longer.

The route through Big Sur has by far the most rugged coastline in California, if not the country.

The twisty, two-lane narrow highway is literally on the continent’s edge, often at 500 or more so feet above the ocean, including stretches often above the marine layer, offering spectacular views.

And on the other side of the highway are the soaring peaks of the Coastal Range.

The only bad thing — for now — is you can’t get all the way through between Monterey and San Luis Obispo due to a Caltrans closure for repairs from a landslide.

It is expected to open by the end of March, 2026.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com