San Luis Obispo Weekend Getaway – 2019.11

Mike Woodings

San Luis Obispo (SLO) and the Central Coast make a great destination for travelers and maybe even more so for Corvette people.  A road trip there offers not only many choices of sights and things to do, but also plenty of driving through beautiful countryside.  The weekend of November 15 – 17 was on our calendar for a weekend trip up the 101 to SLO and points beyond, and the plan was a popular one, one with time for getting together and time for individual interests.


Thirty of our members answered the call, eager for our annual weekend run to SLO.  Some of us were so eager, another day, November 14, was added for visits with friends in the area, shopping and the SLO Farmers Market held on Higuera Street every Thursday.  As Thursday was going on, our hearts were, at the same time, heavy with the events at Saugus HS.

Our advance-party conveyed to the main caravan that the weather was beautiful and we were eager for their arrival. First stop, Pea Soup Andersen’s for lunch. 
We all joined as planned on Friday afternoon at the Best Western on Madonna Road to officially begin our weekend.  We initiated the run officially with a mass gathering at poolside with beverages and snacks to get us ready for our mass arrival for dinner at the nearby Tahoe Joe steak house.

Saturday had no official agenda, but there was no lack of things to do as we rolled to the winds in our faithful Corvettes.  North and south, we found butterflies, elephant seals, cookies, farmers markets, apple farms, wineries, souvenirs, and cinnamon rolls.

There is likely even more, including rocking chairs.  I must add that despite my excellent packing skills, my trunk was filled with reminders of the SLO weekend.

Saturday evening brought us all back together for an impromptu happy hour at an undisclosed room on the third floor of the BW.  One more group dinner followed at the infamous Golden Gong, just south of our lodging.  Service and cuisine were just as good as last year!

Before you could blink, it was already Sunday.  Like the last day at camp, there were hugs and good-byes.  Some left early to miss Santa Barbara Sunday traffic and some elected to enjoy even more time in SLO.  It played out the same for us all in the end, we returned to our beautiful, but in shock, community with memories of a great weekend together.

P.S.  I felt compelled to make a stop at Bunnin Chevrolet of Santa Paula en-route home to see what’s up.  I was met by many familiar staff members there who reported they are indeed open and that virtually all of the sales and service employees were retained under the new business ownership and they are eager to see us at their Grand Opening.  I noted they have two Corvettes in stock as well, a Stingray convertible and a ZO6!  (Christian says he is anxious to make a deal.)  I was happy to see them up and running again.