Recently, I took a trip to Pismo Beach to get away from the house for a bit. If you read my previous post, I recently made a wishlist of travel destinations for Californians that might still be stuck in their state due to the pandemic. Given that I’ve been working from home for over five months at this point, I decided that it was a good time to take a trip somewhere (also in the process getting my Marriott Platinum status).
The drive to Pismo Beach was relatively uneventful, with a quick three hour drive for someone living in Los Angeles. During the drive, you’ll have an opportunity to drive along the ocean side if you decide to take the 101 Freeway, as well as a scenic mountain drive as you head north towards Pismo Beach. California is known for its coast, so I decided to take the opportunity to enjoy the drive up to the beach.
Staying at the Vespera – A Review
Once we arrived to Pismo Beach, I dropped by my hotel right next to the beach. For this trip, I decided to stay at the Vespera Hotel, one of Marriott’s hotels that are part of the Autograph Collection. I chose this hotel for two reasons: the hotel is located right on the beach, and it would allow me to hit Platinum Elite for the year. Although the benefits are minor for status, for a regular traveler such as myself it is a nice badge of honor to have.
Finding the hotel wasn’t easy, and I missed the street a couple of times, mainly due to most of the local streets not being marked very clearly. Surprisingly, the streets were also packed, with a lot of cars trying to make their way to the beach parking lot.
The hotel is very much a luxury hotel, with a large price tag to boot. Although not the best option for travelling seeking a budget option, it is a great hotel if you are looking to splurge a bit. The hotel was quite busy, a telltale sign that most people are out and about travelling in spite of a pandemic going on.
The Room
Sadly, my view was angled more towards the street rather than the beach.
It also has a Chromecast in case you want to stream directly from your device.
The Town
The town of Pismo Beach was packed the weekend that I went. Even though we are still in the midst of a pandemic, every restaurant that had outdoor seating available for dining had lines out the door. Sure, part of that could be due to the social distancing guidelines set forth by the state, but there were a lot of people walking around the town, especially near the beach area. What surprised me the most was very few people were actually wearing masks (about 20%), which tells me that the people here weren’t too afraid of what was going on in the world.
Given the long lines pretty much everywhere, it was quite difficult to find a place that I could order from that wouldn’t take forever to get out food. I ended up choosing a place called Splash Cafe, which was known supposedly for its Clam Chowder.
They only accepted phone or online orders, so I ended up waiting about 30 minutes on the line while waiting to speak with a person right on the other side of the door, then another hour of so until I finally got my food. They food was pretty tasty, but I couldn’t help but think about whether I could’ve saved time going somewhere else, or whether all the restaurants in the area had the same amount of wait time.
Conclusion
Overall, this trip was pretty fun. I was able to spend some time on the beach and take some photos, fly my drone, and to top it all off it was very cool compared to the heat wave we currently have in LA. Although I wished that there were perhaps less crowds since we are still in the middle of an emergency, I can’t fault people for wanting to spend some time outdoors and enjoy the weather and the beach. After all, if California has anything going for it, it’s the weather and the beaches.
Pathfinders 