As a transplant from San Diego, moving to a small city from a bigger beach town gives me a different perspective. I'm used to the beach life but I've put my feet in the water here in Pismo Beach more than I have in the 29 years that I used to live in San Diego. That's because, hanging out at the beach here is so easy! And because, well, I have more time to enjoy the SLO life here.

During the summer months, most college...

Last month in July, my family and I went to Cancun, Mexico and stayed at the all-inclusive Finest Playa Mujeres for one week! It was hot and humid and I was in my bathing suit almost every day to cool down in the pool! I especially enjoyed seeing iguanas just roaming freely all over the resort!

It was a very wonderful vacation that we had and with the weather alway melting my make-up off, I opted to not wear foundation for most of my time there. There was only one night when I wore foundat...

One of my favorite ways to watch a movie is going to the Sunset Movie Drive-In Theater in San Luis Obispo for some outdoor movie watching.

It's a great alternative way to watch the latest movie instead of sitting in an indoor stuffy room. Don't get me wrong, I still go to the indoor movie theaters as they have more options for the latest movie selections than the outdoor drive-in theater experience. However, going to this local drive-in reminds me of camping a bit and I love it!

Read my re...

I saw whales from the Pismo Beach Pier during my regular walks yesterday! I've never seen this many whales before out here on the Central Coast and I was so happy that I was able to capture some videos. A couple of weeks ago, I went on vacation to Alaska and saw humpback whales on an excursion. (You can read about my Alaska Cruise Vacation to see a video of the humpbacks I saw.) We paid over $100 a ticket for that excursion which makes me laugh now because I was able to just watch it for f...

We drove 1 hour yesterday to specifically go to the Lompoc Aquatic Center to enjoy their two hours of recreation time that the City of Lompoc reserves for families and recreational play each day in the summer! The kids really had a great time!

It had waterslides on either end of the pool area. On the far end, the kids would have to be at least 48 inches to ride those waterslides. If they were not tall enough, they could go on the smaller ones on the opposite side. Even though it was a far d...

We went on a summer vacation to Alaska and Canada by a going on a cruise ship on the Crown Princess Cruise Ship that traveled from San Francisco Pier between June 17 - June 28, 2024. It stopped at 5 different ports; 4 of them in Alaska and one in Canada.

It was a wonderful way to travel for our family without having to hop on a plane since San Francisco is just usually only a 4 hour drive from San Luis Obispo (county that I live in) on a smooth traffic day.

This was my 6th cruise vacation wi...

When the weather isn't nice or it's rainy, staying indoors is the safest thing to do. When you have kids, trying to entertain the kids without a playground or outside activities can be tough. Fortunately, there are options for indoor activities for the kids.

Here Are Some Suggestions on What To Do Around San Luis Obispo County on a Rainy Day:

1. Take the kids to the museum. There are two children's museums in San Luis Obispo County: one in Downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO) and one in downtown Pas...

We went to The Austin Hope & Treana Tasting Cellar to try Austin Hope wines to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day.

My husband had made reservations a few days before and we were able to get an early reservation at 10:15AM. Most wine tasting rooms in Paso Robles don't open until 11AM so this was a really nice option for an earlier tasting. They gave us a private seating area with a view of the vineyards. The wines were excellent, especially their Cabernet Savignon. We were so impressed with ...

Flying out of San Luis Obispo, California, and traveling to Cancun, Mexico required our family to hop on two plane rides. Since our kids are much bigger now, luckily we no longer need to carry a stroller, car seats and diaper bags. I'll never forget how hard it was to fly with a baby and toddler! However, traveling with elementary kids still requires planning and organizing over a series of days for me.

• My Restaurant Reviews that I visited at Moon Palace Cancun
• My Playroom (...

• Pismo Beach Pier and Coastline

  
  A lot of visitors from the Central Valley, Los Angeles and Bay Area come to Pismo Beach to enjoy the beach weather and local restaurants. The Pismo Beach Pier is iconic and there are large stan...

Paso Robles is known as a popular wine country in California on the Central Coast and is part of San Luis Obispo County. Other beautiful cities like Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, San Simeon (where Hearst Castle is) and the Oceano Dunes also belong to San Luis Obispo County, or you can refer to it as just SLO (pronounced like "slow") for short.

Besides for being a wine country, Paso Robles has a very easy-walking downtown area with restaurants, tasting rooms and shops in short walking distance from...

HerScan is a breast cancer screening service using ultrasound. I found out about Herscan from a friend who is an RN and decided to book an appointment.

I had just turned 40 and my nurse practitioner left the medical office that I had been going to for the past couple of years. This is the 3rd nurse practioner in the past 4 years who have left the area. Instead of waiting around or calling around to schedule a check up that might take months for an availability, I figured I'd go ahead and sc...

DAOU Family Estates, or as many refer them as DAOU Vineyards, in Paso Robles is renowned for their French wines and amazing vineyards view. Upon arrival on Hidden Mountain Road, we drove up the narrow road (meant for sharing both directions without lines) and through rows of vineyards that they own, we reached the top of the estate to the tasting room, where we stepped out to an overlook of their vineyards and hills of Paso Robles.

We arrived 10 minutes...

As a San Luis Obispo County local, Clos Selene is one of my top 10 favorite wine tasting places in all of the county. It's romantic, intimate and every tasting that I had was so smooth. A tasting session here requires a reservation ahead of time and also a tasting deposit, which they charge immediately to hold your reservation. Then, on your reservation date, they will refund the deposit later on the day after you have arrived and just charge you for what you owe at the end of the tasting. I...

At the southern most end of San Luis Obispo County is a beach trail that goes over a lake called Oso Flaco Lake. It has a deck trail that is a mile long, easy to walk on and very scenic.

There isn't an exact address you can find to get here but if you Google: "Oso Flake Lake Trail", it will take you there to a parking lot where you can park for free and start your hike. It's about a mile long from beginning to the end where you end up with a beautiful view of the beach and ocean. It's about ...

1. Central Coast Gymnastics - Every month, Central Coast Gymnastics in San...

I've been on 6 different cruises on 6 different cruise ships so far. Three of them were on Royal Caribbean Cruises, 1 was a Disney Cruise, 1 was on a Prince Cruise, and 1 was a Carnival Cruise. Two of the more popular ones to the general public are Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises. Now that I've been on both of them, I can do a comparison between the two of them. There are definitely notable differences between the two and some similarities as well! I've created two Pro and Cons tables th...

Here's my list of Suggested Barblie-like Things To Do in San Luis Obispo County:

1. It's a no brainer for my first pick. The pretty pink boutique motel called Madonna Inn is our iconic Barbie place to be in San Luis Obispo. ...

Carnival Cruise Waitlist and Phone Reservation Experience

Kanpai Sushi is one of the best three top sushi restaurants that I've had in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County.

Over the weekend, we walked into Kanpai Sushi in Shell Beach for dinner without a reservation for two on a whim (kids were at a last minute kids' only event). The only reservations available left on Kanpai Sushi's website were 8PM and later so we decided to take our chances and walked in around 6:15PM to see if there was room at the sushi bar, which usually required no reservation. Luck...

2024 Update: The Lucia Mar Summer Swim Program has finally implemented an online registration and payment system! Therefore, the infamous long line to register your kids for summer swim offered by Arroyo Grande High and Nipomo High Schools is no longer required. However, enjoy reading my old story below on when I did have to get in line to register my kids for summer swim for the previous years.

On June 2 (a week before the school year was about to end and summer break was about to start), ...

I've gone to both Planet Fitness in Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo and there are some similarities and differences between the two.

Similarities with Planet Fitness Locations

All across America, every Planet Fitness uses the same logo, splashes of purple inside of their fitness centers and a very distinct brand. However, because every real estate space can be different, the lay-out and subtle details may be different.

I have the black card membership from Planet Fitness so that means th...

On the East Coast, we had bought one home and sold it 3.5 years later after we moved to the West Coast.

On the West Coast, we've bought two homes: one before the pandemic and one after the pandemic.

Each time, the process of buying a home was stressful.

What to Prepare Before Picking a Realtor to Buy a New Home

From what I can see now and for the foreseeable future, there is no shortage in REALTORs so finding a REALTOR is the easy part. We like to find a one who has been active in the busin...

I've been fortunate to have been able to accompany my kids' field trips as a chaperone for the last couple of years. Their school needed volunteers and I had the spare time to do it.
(picture of Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach)

Mistura does everything right! Located in Downtown San Luis Obispo, Mistura's ambiance is sleek, the service is sharp and the food and drinks are stand outs!

For a belated Valentine's Day celebration, my husband and I made a reservation online for Mistura for a Saturday.

We arrived about 15 minutes before our reservation after finding a metered parking spot. Luckily, we had coins because the meter we parked right by didn't not use the parking app that the other spots use in San Luis Obispo....

• Fitness 19 (As of August 2024, Fitness 19 in Arroyo Grande has gone out of business!)

  (Update: This is an old review as Fitness 19 went out business and closed down.) Located in Arroyo Grande and in the same shopping area as Marshalls, Wal Mart,...

My husband surprised me with an anniversary SLO staycation in Downtown San Luis Obispo!

He had presented me the reservation date and details on our actual anniversary day in an envelope as a gift but I had to wait a few weeks to experience it, when my mother-in-law was able to come to visit and watch our precious kids for us! It was a gift with big anticipation and he executed it well! Our staycation was extra unique as it was on a Monday night in December. It had rained earlier in the day bu...

After my pumpkin muffins (see this pumpkin muffin recipe) were a hit at my husband's work, I decided to try a bite-sized pumpkin pie recipe so that I could send another finger-food treat while they're hard at work. I felt that the pumpkin muffins were a hit, partly because they were easy to eat with your hands. So, I thought these bite-sized pumpkin pies would be great for the workplace too.
(picture of my bite-sized pumpkin pies)

My kids got to be my first tasters and enjoyed these bite-sized...

Cutting, Roasting, Dividing, and Freezing the Cooked Pumpkin

1. Clos Selene

   Clos Selene is way up here at number 1 for me because of the smoothness and taste of their wine and immaculate estate! Tastings are private and...

I had a very memorable date night with my husband earlier this month in Pismo Beach. We went to three different places on Price St, which is 2 blocks parallel from the Pismo Beach Pier. [ If you're looking for a date night suggestion for Downtown San Luis Obispo, read about our Date Night in Downtown SLO. ] 

First Date Stop in Pismo Beach: Tastes of the Valleys Review

There is a quaint wine bar in Pismo Beach on Price St. named Tastes of the Valleys. It stays open until 7PM on Saturdays so w...

A few jump links below, in case you're looking for specific information and reviews about this Royal...

• Eat at a nice and hig...

When we want to go to the movies, we usually go to Regal Arroyo Grande as they have a lot of restaurants and grocery stores close by! The restaurants list that are close include: In N Out, Urbane Cafe, Red Dirt Coffee, Palo Mesa Pizza, Blaze Pizza and Jamba Juice.

Tesla Charging Stations for Electric Cars Right Next to Regal Arroyo Grande

Jump to SLO Easter Brunch List

This year, Easter Day is on Sunday, March 31, 2024 so the the egg hunt events are mostly towards the end of March or the week before.

2024 Upcoming Egg Hunt List (Current Count: 11)

2024 Egg Hunts in Order by Date:

• March 23, 2024 (Sat) - Spring Fling at Meadow Park in San Luis Obispo from 11AM - 1PM. There will be a free egg hunt for kids who are between the ages of 0 - 8 yea...

1. Colony Park Community Center Teen Center for 6th - 12 graders. Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday from after school - 6PM. $10 yearly membership fee (scholarships available). Each teen will receive a Teen Center Membership Card to be scanned each time he/she enters the Teen Center. Each member must have a signed waiver to participate and must follow all Teen Center Rules. Please bring wai...

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Fleischmann's RapidRise Instant Yeast Fast-Acting (this one doesn't require proofing ahead of time). When you go to the grocery store, they usually sell them in a pack of 3 so you just use one of them. You can buy the same product here: Fleis...

• 1/2 cup of tapioca starch/flour
  
• Between 1/3 cup but less than 1/2 cup of brown sugar (depending on your preference on sweetness)
  
• 1/2 cup of water (divided)

• I used 80% of a can of Lite Coconut Milk as I had used a bit of it for a meal and these are leftover, but you can just use the whole can. (unsweetened) (I used field Day organic and a full can w...

There are beautiful Christmas light displays throughout San Luis Obispo County around the holiday season. Here are some of my experiences in the video shorts below. Just press the play button for any of them.

Christmas Light Sightings Around San Luis Obispo County:

Here's a list of grocery stores that I've found to have gluten-free snacks in San Luis Obispo County so far:

1. Grocery Outlet - The Grocery Outlet that we frequent is...

Emmet's Flying Adventure Ride & LEGOLAND California's Waterpark

The priority on our list was Emmet's Flying Adventure Ride since it's their newest ride! The waiting time was about an hour for that when we were there. My older son had a melt down because he was getting really hot but luckily it w...

Read our blog entry about our recent experience watching Circus Vargas perform on July 3, 2021 via this link.

Read my tips and experiences on going to Circus Vargas in SLO with kids.

1. Summer Experience at multiple schools in San Luis Obispo County for grades: 1st through 12th. Times and schedule vary by grade groups.


2. Summer School Camp from City of San Luis Obispo Youth Services They call ...

1. Go to a special event. There are special Mother's Day themed events around San Luis Obispo County. You can check o...

• Holiday Plaza with Christmas Lights in Mission Plaza has Santa available for pictures for a fee until Christmas Eve. However, the lights will be up longer than. It's free to visit here in the day and the evening to just see the Christmas decorations or watch the lights at night. See my most recent downtown SLO date night instagram video reel to get a small glimpse of some of the Christmas ligh...

Doesn't it seem like there are more events around the area for Mother's Day than Father's Day? Thankfully, some places do have something special planned for the fathers in our lives. Here are some ideas on what to do around San Luis Obispo County that could help make it a more memorable Father's Day.

1. Go to a Special Event.
   • There is usually at least one free concert in Grover Beach (part of San Luis Obispo County) that is for the public on June 16, 2024 (Father's Day). It is part of the Gro...

Jump to SLO Easter Brunch List

2024 Egg Hunts (Currently there are 11 in SLO County):

• March 23, 2024 (Sat) - Spring Fling at Meadow Park in San Luis Obispo from 11AM - 1PM. There will be a free egg hunt for kids who are between the ages of 0 - 8 years old (bring your own basket). After the hunt, stay and enjoy lunch both free activities as well as local vendors.Included in the event are special appearances by the Bunny and Roman the Romaine, live music by Ku Dog and Friends, and food trucks...

(Note: Their Grover Beach location is now at a different address and most of these photos were captured when we went to their older Pacific Flips Grover Beach location.)

Note: The long running Parent Participation Program in San Luis Obispo County in Oceano (South County area) has been permanently discontinued. However, the one located in San Luis Obispo Obispo City (North County part) is still running. Scroll down to continue to read about my personal Parent Participation experience.

Parent Participation in Five Cities

Every year, there is a lot of family-friendly and free Christmas events in San Luis Obispo County that are planned by the community and local city governments. Sometimes, you may also find free Santa Photo opportunities!

2024 Fall & Holiday Themed Upcoming Event List (Growing List):

• November 15 - 17 (Fri - Sun) - Atascadero Fall Festival at Sunken Gardens. Free admission event for 3 days. You pay for rides and games. There will be food vendors. Hours are Fri: 4PM - 10PM and Sat & Sun: 12P...

Desserts we've tried from Madonna Inn:

Raspberry Delight

Lemon Coconut Cake

Arroyo Grande is a city located in San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast of California. Only 10 minutes inland from Pismo Beach and Grover Beach, this more suburban city has a a bit of a historic charm with the Village of Arroyo Grande and also known for their many acres of rural farms. Even as you're passing by Arroyo Grande High School, you can see a view of a farm across the street.

Things To Do in Arroyo Grande

Sometimes, Arroyo Grande (also known as "AG" to locals) is a sleepy to...

Things To Do in...

Downtown San Luis Obispo

Free Summer Concert Series in Downtown San Luis Obispo: Free Concerts on Fridays in Mission Plaza from 5PM - 8PM from June 21 - September 6, 2024. Free entry and family-friendly. Bring reusable cups to event (no glass). No outside alcoholic beverages, no pe...

Sweetie Cup Tea House

Paso Robles Children's Museum

Morro Rock

Free Parking Areas

Kuma