A fitting finale..

What an end to a long weekend it was..!! I was looking forward to a nice, quiet and a lazy Monday to relax from all that cleaning. That is when I get this voicemail from my friend on Sunday evening inviting me to come to his alma mater at San Luis Obispo. And to do that, I had to cancel a whole bunch of appointments on Monday. My busy Monday appointment calendar ran thus:

Mon, Sep 3, 2007
11:59 am: Good morning! Start of a brand new day
Noon – 2:00 pm: Hunt for breakfast (or lunch..)
2:00 – 7:00 pm: Siesta Time (do not disturb hours)
7:00 – 9:00 pm: Dinner, TV, more TV
9:05 - … : zzzzzz

After much contemplation and mulling over, I asked my assistant (yea right!) to cancel my appointments for the 3rd. I woke up at an unearthly hour of 7:00 am (gee! Even the sun looks sleepy at that hour) the next day to travel 200 miles down south to some place called San Luis .. umm.. something. I got the “Obispo” part much later. Never knew that a city could have a first name, a middle name and a last name just like humans do. Talk about cities having a character of their own.

Well, the trip wasn’t disappointing as such. I got to taste the Mansaf (its a special dish of Jordan often prepared as a sign of honor for guests (me, me…!!). Made from lamb served atop a bed of rice and yogurt sauce, the dish is served family style.) at my friend’s aunt’s. And the baklava too. Interesting cuisines. Left a nice taste in the mouth.

So that took care of the food. So what else made it interesting? The weather. The sun, the sea and the beaches!! For a city with a quirky name, the place is surrounded by some nice seaside spots. If the water was as green (as in emerald/turquiose) as the Mediterranean, I wouldn’t be surprised if people felt that they were on the Riviera. As we drove, the coastline was ridden with cliffs and rocks with narrow coves for beaches.. Amazing!! The place can be easily listed as one of the most beautiful spots on this planet. There’s this beach called the Avila (nice name!) Beach which is popular with the College community of the area. So it was a hotspot for hot girls in two piece swimsuits, hot guys in speedos and some not so hot guys (I could only spot one, me.) in a pair of jeans and a tee.

The best part was walking up a cliff which has a sheer face dropping 400 ft into the sea. Let me make one thing clear here, I am scared of heights. Heights do a number in my tummy which makes it vibrate like a tuning fork till I end throwing up. It was a hair-raising moment to walk up the rock and peer straight down into the sea below (no wonder, I’m still having a bad hair day today). As I write this, my tummy’s on vibrate mode already. Some guts. Did I mention that I was scared of heights (and lizards, and roaches, etc)?

Then there was this other place by name Morro Bay. A fisherman’s village with a natural harbor. Quite nice too. Reminded me of a fishing village I had seen in Mass(ah-choo-setts. I always catch a bad cold there). In fact, it reminded me of the place in Scotland that Alistair MacLean wrote about in When Eight Bells Toll. There’s this mountain of a rock (called Morro Rock or something like that) which juts out and sits right in front of the harbor like a Colossus guarding Rhodes from the sea. When I took the pic on the left, the fog had enveloped the rock, making it misty (and mysterious). The setting sun behind the mist was a shadow of its former self. Incredible! And it looked cool too. Nice place to go to if you are a fish-and-chips guy and would like to watch the sunset and the sea-lions while you’re munching on your seafood. Anyways, the setting sun reminded that it was time to head back home for a 200 mile return trip. I just wished I could stay back. A weekend to remember… and a fitting finale. San Luis Obispo.. po be po be po. Sorry, Frank (Sinatra).

Note to self. Changes to calendar:

Mon, Sep 3, 2007
6:59 am: Good morning! Start of a brand new day
9:00 am - noon: Drive to SLO
Noon – 5:00 pm: Beaches, cliffs, beaches
5:30 – 6:30 pm: Dinner
7:00 - 8:00 pm: More beaches
8:30 pm: Drive back home and zzzzz

Tue, Sep 4, 2007
7:00 am - 9:00 pm: Out Sick