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San Luis Obispo County has a lot of famous cities and attractions. One of them is Hearst Castle.

Hearst Castle is located in San Simeon city, a coastal town that's quaint and beautiful.

There's less than a dozen hotels in San Simeon but if you'd like to find a quieter part of California that's right at the coast, then San Simeon is the perfect getaway. Here's a list of hotels in San Simeon.

Cavalier Oceanfront Resort
This hotel is only 3 miles from Hearst Castle.

The Morgan at San Simeon Hotel
This is a boutique hotel that is pet-friendly.

Days Inn by Wyndham
Most affordable hotel rate in all of San Simeon.

Quality Inn San Simeon
This hotel is only 2 miles from Hearst Castle and has a pool.

San Simeon Lodge
This lodge has ocean view rooms as options.

Oceanpoint Ranch
They have ranch-chic style hotel rooms.

To see all hotel rates in San Simeon, click here. Many people stay in San Simeon or Cambria overnight to visit Hearst Castle. To see pictures of Hearst Castle that I took during my personal visit, click here.

Cambria, another beautiful and quaint California beach town is located only 3 miles from San Simeon. They have scarecrows on display throughout the town for the month of October every year! See all hotels in Cambria, California.

See pictures of hotels that I've personally stayed at in San Luis Obispo County for staycations.

If your kids are like mine, they usually crave to get more active by the 3rd day of any consecutive break. A few hours a day at a half day break camp can really help them have a more exciting break and still have time to relax at home.

There's a few regular places around the county that usually run break camps year round. Here's a list of places that I've found so far for 2025 that offer both Thanksgiving and Winter Break Camps. Usually in November, a selected organizations will post Thanksgiving Break offerings and then wait some time later to post the December Break camp information.

1. Basketball Camp: Youth Evolution Training are offered at more than one city in San Luis Obispo County. There are usually 2 ages groups: 5 - 7 years old and 8 - 12 years old. It's 3 hours a day. You register through the appropriate City's Recreation website. More details. 
2. Boys & Girls Club of South San Luis Obispo Fall Break Camp runs for 3 days and Winter Break Camp runs for 3 weeks according to the Lucia Mar District break calendar More details. 
3. Central Coast Gymnastics in San Luis Obispo are for ages 4 and up and they plan Thanksgiving and Winter Break Camps every year. They are amazingly organized. As a mom, I want to caution you about this place so I recommend googling "Central Coast Gymnastics" under the News section as something happened earlier this year in 2023. Please do some research, then make your decision. More details.
4. City of Arroyo Grande's Multiple Camp Options include Science, LEGO and Sports broken down by age groups and times. Click 'Youth' category. More details. 
5. Legacy Training Center in San Luis Obispo also has Thanksgiving day camp, Winter day camp and summer day camp for kids throughout the year. More details. 
6. Performance Athletics Gymnastics in San Luis Obispo has day camps during school breaks as well for ages 4 - 13 years old. You can pre-register for them online on their website. More details.
7. San Luis Obispo Repertory Theatre is having Thanksgiving and Winter ACT Theatre Camps with sessions separated by grade levels. More details.

There are 3 piers in Avila Beach but Port San Luis Pier is my favorite of the bunch. It's located on the farthest right if you're facing the ocean and driving into Avila Beach from the road. It's past the PG & E plant and lighthouse.


You'll see some campers parked there. Don't be discourage. Just keep driving and you'll see a free parking area. That is when you'll see the Port San Luis Pier. You can go fishing on this pier without a fishing license and also see sea lions from this pier. They like to hang out around here.

I really love coming here with the family. Like any fishing pier, it can smell fishy but if you love seafood, it shouldn't bother you. When it's cloudy, I feel like I'm in heaven as the fog hangs really close.


Here are more photos that I took from my walk on Port San Luis Pier on a sunny day last year. The restaurants were just opening again from the pandemic and we decided to come here as they have restaurant with an outdoor area to enjoy our meal.

See my video reel of Port San Luis Pier in Avila Beach on instagram.




A lot of boats were roaming around the bay. 


After walking around for awhile, we enjoyed a lunch at Mersea's, which is a seafood restaurant located right on the pier! I had their tacos while I enjoyed this fantastic view.

Port San Luis Pier/Harford Pier Address for GPS: 3950 Avila Beach Drive, Avila Beach, CA or you can GPS Mersea's Restaurant in Avila Beach and it'll lead you right to this pier as well.

All photos, even pinned photos from Pinterest are original from SanLuisObispoMom.com. Please give credit if you plan on using them. 

More about Avila Beach:
Avila Beach is located in San Luis Obispo County and is one of many beaches in the area. They have farmers markets, a lot of restaurants and shops and a great playground for kids. I've visited 5 different tasting rooms in Avila Beach. See pictures that I took at all of the wine tasting rooms that I visited in Avila Beach.

Avila Beach T-Shirts:

Avila Beach California Vintage Retro T-Shirt

Being outdoors can create such wonderful memories but it comes with a risk. Even if the sun seems mild, it's good to have kid's sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses and a sun hat to protect your skin. Swimming is always one great idea to improve your mood and get a bit of exercise if you feel bummed out for any reason so they are always great skills for kids to have.

To see other pictures of restaurants that I've visited in San Luis Obispo County, go to the Restaurants Page.

See more pictures of Avila Beach.

There are many different Pismo Beach t-shirts that you can find locally as souvenirs. There's not a shortage of souvenir shops near the Pismo Beach Pier that sell t-shirts, but it could be overwhelming to search through hundreds of them to find the right one. Upon going on a hunt to find Pismo Beach T-Shirts or 805 T-Shirts as a gift, I was getting a bit tired already after just finding a decent parking spot at the beach. I wasn't tired physically, just mentally tired. Then, stopping in one-by-one through a swarm of tourists was another obstacle. That is why I am such a happy online shopper. I'll happily go to the beach to put my feet in the sand but shopping for a t-shirt makes me a bit light-headed. 

Hey Transplant Mom,

I understand your pain, uncertainty and a bit of emptiness as you wait by the gate to retrieve your child and hear a group of moms chatting it up. You think, "I'm just going to focus on my child" but deep down, you wish to be in that conversation. The way they wave to each other and go on outings together to talk about mom life is something you only get to do via Zoom with your close friends from a distance. That group over there is maybe an established group that took a few years of growth or maybe less, but it took a good leader.

You've only lived here for a little while, still acclimating to everything while adjusting to the pandemic life. One adaptation to another, you reflect back to think of the all things you've achieved while you're away from your close friends hours away, states away or even countries away. I get you. I am a transplant mom. Friendships take time. If you're an introvert like me, then it'll take a lot of time!

So, how do I get around to coping with the thought of wishing my bestest friends live close to me? I created a blog. This one to be exact. I went exploring with my kids and focused all that energy on them, playing with them and being a kid again. What I lack, I made it up in other areas or at least I try to. I started joining in educational zoom meetings versus scrolling through social media feeds. I'd post content but not look at others' content. I did more creating and less observing. I took more pictures of my scenery, picked up hobbies like learning how to sew a fabric mask. (See blog entry here to see the masks I created.) And it's because I had more time to be creative and kind of learn about what I'm good at. Sometimes I think the reason why I have a great relationship with my husband and 2 kids is because I spend less time complaining about them (mainly because I have no one to complain to) so I tackle issues head on!  And I'm just trying to live the best life that I can with the circumstances that we have.

So what are you good at, or want to be good at? Start there and maybe with what you're good at, you can find others who share the same hobbies. Or maybe you'll become so good at something and it makes you so happy that it has filled a void in your life? So let's think about it. Let's start creating something soon. And if you're braver and wiser than me, you can be the leader and build your own mom group.

Love,
SanLuisObispoMom.com


Other things:

• See my Mom Groups & Childcare page
• Read my Preschool Reviews