 | Morro Bay Town |
| San Luis Obispo, CA Print Leave a comment |
Description
Morro Bay is a strange place. Here, a delightful 576ft perfectly-shaped rock stands surrounded by a peaceful estuary rich with herons, egrets, and pelicans. A bay with sailboats anchored on glassy blue-green water rounds out the scene. It would be a postcard-like sight, except for massive imposing smokestacks that stand beside the rock. Wow- of all places to build them, WHY THERE? We may never know...
A pleasant touristy area stretches out along the water on Embarcadero at the 700 block, offering restaurants and trinket stores. From the restaurants, you can look out the windows at seals swimming merrily by. It's a wonderful treat, and kids love to watch while they eat. You can also walk along the docks that border the stores and look out on the sailboats, kayaks, the dunes across the water, the birds and seals, and amazing Morro Rock.
Next to Sun N Buns Bakery, at Centennial Park, on the 700 block of Embarcadero, you will find a giant sized chess board! It's great fun and free to have a game! There are also some tables with regular-sized boards where you can play. This is one of only two giant outdoor chess boards in the U.S.A! The other one is in New York City.
Above the chess board is the Centennial Stairway, a gorgeous staircase made of redwood. This takes you to some more restaurants and also affords a fantastic view of the city, bay, and sand spit. Make sure you walk up it!
Morro Bay Aquarium, at 595 Embarcadero, is a tiny aquarium where for a small fee, kids can feed rescued seals and sea lions that are rehabilitating here.
Tidelands Park, at the very south end of Embarcadero, is a wonderful playground with a big wooden ship that little captains can steer! The views of the bay and Morro Rock are gorgeous here with peaceful rowboats bobbing in the water at the docks.
Morro Bay is a freezing place. For some reason it is always ten or twenty degrees colder than everywhere around it, so dress warm.
You can walk or bike from Embarcadero all the way to the base of Morro Rock and to wild, beautiful Morro Strand State Beach on the Harborwalk, which offers a separate pedestrian path and bike path.
A wonderful place to go if you drive north ten minutes up the coast from Morro Bay is Cayucos, a funky little beach town with great places to eat.
Photo Gallery
Click on photo to see large versionThe giant chess board in the middle of town. |
The trolley goes by in Morro Bay town. |
View from one of the docks along the main strip. |
The beautiful glassy water, as seen from Embarcadero (the street where the main strip lies). |
Giant chess set at Centennial Park. |
A dad and son play chess at one of the tables at Centennial Park. |
Chess game at Centennial Park. |
Directions
From Highway 1, head west on Morro Bay Blvd. Turn right on Main Street, and left on Beach Street. Turn left on Embarcadero. It veers to the right. Then park along the road as soon as you see an open parking space.
The red pin on the map is situated on the giant chess board at Centennial Park.
Sun N Buns Bakery, 803 Embarcadero, Morro Bay CA 93442, call (805) 772-4117.
This is an interactive map, you can zoom and move it.
Visitor Ratings
Overall Visitor Rating: 
lorna 05/20/2011 08:21 | my wife and i have been there lots of times,we want to go back but cant afford to right now cant trust our car either,so we just keep on waiting and waiting.i work at the irs right now my wife doesnt work because she has carpal tunnel in her hands and arthritis in her back.so she cant work were trying to get her on ssi but the attorney is taking forever.but one day we will go back | |
carol 06/26/2010 01:32 | Liked this place so much I'm coming back for another 2 weeks this year. Great birdwatching out near the rock. Drive up to Big Sur as a daytrip. Lots of unspoiled areas to explore. | |
kate 05/27/2010 20:14 | planning to spend another memorial day weekend here- can't wait | |
steve 02/10/2010 14:46 | My wife and I had a great time in Morro Bay. | |
Betsy 10/01/2009 14:21 | It's a privilege to be a local. | |
Jack 09/19/2009 20:57 | good views. wildflowers. Good ocean smell. I would visit again. | |
Emma 09/06/2009 22:13 | Love this place- the atmosphere when you hear the seals barking and the fog horn blowing. |