Trip Report: The Great “Rail” Journey of April 2008

by Ted & Sylvia Blishak

Day 8 & 9 of 26, Monday, April 14, and Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo

Ted’s niece Anna, along with nephew Greg’s wife Tonia, picked us up at the Courtyard and drove us out to the elegant Eberle Winery tasting room for a picnic on the patio overlooking many square miles of Central Coast vineyards.  The weather was perfect, sunny with temperature in the low 70s.   A couple of bottles of cold white wine complimented the tasty picnic lunch prepared by our hostesses perfectly.   We have been enjoying sitting outside in our shirtsleeves here in California after the long harsh winter that Klamath Falls endured this year.

Anna and Tonia dropped us off at the Paso Robles station where we waited for shortest train segment of our trip, or perhaps of any trip we have taken, Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo on the truncated Coast Starlight.  No 11 arrived late today, so it was a very brief stop, just to board a half dozen passengers, and we were on our way.  It is only 28 highway miles between these two towns, but the railroad route up over Santa Margarita Pass and down the spiraling Cuesta Grade takes 90 minutes.   But it is 90 minutes of some of the most spectacular scenery on the route of the Coast Starlight.  Due to late rains, the hills are the unique green color that only California can produce (before they turn “golden” later in the year).  There are brilliant orange poppies and sky-blue lupine in profusion.  An upscale subdivision has materialized on the hills since we last came this way, just before we reach the Horseshoe Curve and descend through the agricultural and animal husbandry sections of Cal Poly. 

Central Coast hills in the springtime

Bishop Peak in San Luis Obispo taken from Coast Starlight on the Cuesta Grade

We are met at the San Luis Obispo station by our friends Merlyn and Eileen Van, long time residents of Sylvia’s home town, and our hosts for the next two nights. The weather here is quite cool and windy, with clear skies.

Of course, no visit to San Luis is complete without a steak dinner at McClintocks of Shell Beach, just a few miles south. The restaurant was popular with Sylvia’s parents in the 1940s.

A steak BBQ the next evening caps our visit.