A slow month in SLO, the Hearst Castle, and a crooked Christmas Tree
San Louis Obispo, CA is a lively little city filled with charm. It feels like a well-kept secret we were lucky enough to stumble upon. Its details feel whimsical, inviting, and unmistakably SLO; the brown street signs use a font you would find on the cover of a Lord of the Rings novel, and the streets are lined with gorgeous and massive ficus trees. Their branches all tangle together in a beautiful way, their bark smooth and gray, and their tops are bursting with bunches of leaves. They look a bit like giant broccoli framing both sides of the street. There is a stonelined path around the city’s river downtown, which we were lucky enough to see decorated for the holidays. Giant ornament archways to walk through and holiday lights all blinking to the beat of Jingle Bell Rock. This is the longest we’ve spent in one place for a while, and it's felt really nice. Forty days to get to know the local scene: the best coffee spots, the best food trucks and brewies, the best yoga studio. The...