As our big trip of 2020, Eric and I decided to take a month and do a road trip from Denver to the top of Washington, and drive the entire Pacific Coast Highway. After a wonderful evening in Carmel, followed by a morning visiting Scheid Winery in King City, we finally made it to Pismo Beach, where we planned to spend 2 nights.
We checked into the beautiful Vespera ON OCEAN hotel, part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott.
The hotel is right on the beach and the pier, and our room had a great view of the pool and the ocean.
After dropping off our bags and freshening up, we made our way out into town. Everything you could want to do in Pismo is within walking distance of the hotel, and we started off at Sans Liege winery for a quick wine tasting, trying out their various blends.
We had planned to have dinner at the Cracked Crab, and when we stopped by after the winery, we found out that our wait would be at least an hour if not more. To fill the time, we walked over to the Pismo Brewing Company. They have an awesome selection of brews, and we got a Pretzel too as a little appetizer before dinner. The beer was great, and we were able to try a few – they also have taster flights where you can get a full idea of all their different styles.
Back at the Cracked Crab, we still had a bit of a wait, but luckily they were allowing to go drinks from the bar that you could enjoy outside in the front patio. We had one round, and then made it to our table. The crab here is PHENOMENAL. We started out with the crab dip appetizer before digging into the main meal.
We opted to do a mix of different crab, including the alaskan king crab legs, which were MASSIVE and absolutely delicious.
Overall, it was some of the best crab I’ve ever had, and we were SO FULL by the time we finished eating and headed back to the hotel.
Day 2:
Day 2 in Pismo was mostly spent laying by the pool and spending some time on the beach. This was really the first time that it was warm enough for us to lounge by the water, and we took full advantage. The hotel bar had some incredible drinks, including a strawberry frozé, of which we probably ordered a few too many.
For a late meal, we walked back into town to Hot Shots. There honestly wasn’t a lot open due to COVID, and this was one of the spots that was doing a great job with social distancing on their outdoor patio, which also overlooked the main street, so plenty of great people watching.
As we were walking back to the hotel, we saw this hilarious sign – Pismo is sort of in the middle of the state, and having spent so much time in northern and southern CA, we found this amusing.
We spent the rest of the day by the pool, and then went to sleep early so we could make it out early the next day. In the morning, we grabbed some Starbucks before heading out to our next destination, Solvang, which is known as the Danish capital of the US. Be sure to check out our entire Pacific Coast Highway itinerary here!
