Monday, July 30, 2007

Pismo

After the ATV experience, we decided to take a look at the beach and pier at Pismo Beach. One member of our party, not to be named here, was afraid of getting lost in the town of Pismo Beach. That person was not the driver. The driver knew where they were going, having lived there before.


If you are familiar at all with Pismo Beach, you know there is not a lot of real estate between the Interstate and the water. The passage of time has seen the additon of one more stoplight, but the Freeway and the Pacific Ocean limit expansion. Getting really lost in Pismo Beach is really hard.

I like Pismo Beach. I've been flashed there twice, but I still like it. There are lots of little shops where tourists(like me, now) can buy things made out of shells from the Florida Keys that say "Hi from Pismo Beach" and pictures of Dolphins from San Diego with captions like "Having Fun in Pismo Beach" Stuffed ban bag lobsters made in China and tattooed with "Pismo Beach" and don't forget coconut wacky heads that don't say anything. Coconuts have never grown in Pismo Beach, even before the blight wiped them out in Florida.

You can probably get a fantastic bowl of clam chowder in Pismo Beach. I don't like clam chowder. My first bowl of clam chowder ever had more sand than clams in it and I've never been able to even want it since. It doesnt matter, the clams in the chowder do not come from Pismo Beach. The giant clams that Pismo Beach is famous for were so well known that they are now an endangered species. They used to turn over vast amounts of beach with a bulldozer for the tourists to clam without having to dig. I think many of the clams that didn't get picked up failed to survive.


I remember watching surfers from the pier. There are still surfers there. I don't remember as many novice surfers, but everybody's got to start somewhere. Starting with a wetsuit, the water is COLD!

Dave and Joseph brought bathing suits to go swimming in the ocean. I'm not sure why. There werent many people swimming, though there were a lot of people on the beach in sweatshirts. The guys went wading instead, and said they'd had enough.

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