It's Hard Work Being a Cat #77 -- November 25, 2013

We have a special guest this month.  In October, we visited beautiful San Luis Obispo for the dedication of the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum and the 2013 Central Coast Railroad Festival. We stayed at the Madonna Inn.  On our way back from breakfast, we met this nice cat, who came out of the grass by the paddock, meowed at us and rubbed our legs.

Read more about the trip on my Park Trains Page:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/

Madonna Inn -- October 15, 2013

We visited beautiful San Luis Obispo for the dedication of the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum and the 2013 Central Coast Railroad Festival.  We got off work early on Friday and had a nice drive down to San Luis Obispo.  We checked in at the Madonna Inn and found it as interesting as we had always heard.

There were rocks in the walls and the paving and the chimneys.  Alex Madonna's pick and shovel symbol was in all the concrete. 

We parked near our room and saw that there was a large paddock, with cows and two horses. 

We stayed in the Pioneer America Room, a large room with rustic furniture.  There was a big map over the bed with pictures of various explorers, from Columbus to Lewis and Clark.  There was a blunderbuss and a powder horn in a display case by the side of the king bed.  The furniture was rustic, except for a leather couch and a love seat. 

We went out to dinner, and the NLCS game between the Cardinals and the Dodgers was on.  We got back to the room during the eighth and we lay to watch the end of the game.  It went on to the 13th.  We were happy to see the Cardinals win. 

Saturday morning we walked down to the restaurant to have breakfast.  There were more stones.  The place was very busy.  My waffle was excellent.  Walking back to the room, we met a nice cat, who came out of the grass by the paddock, meowed at us and rubbed our legs. 

We were happy we finally got to stay at the Madonna Inn. 

Central Coast Railroad Festival 2013 -- October 14, 2013

The dedication of the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum (http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2013/10/san-luis-obispo-railroad-museum.html) was part of the 2013 Central Coast Railroad Festival.  Events took place around  San Luis Obispo and throughout the central coast.  We visited an HO narrow gauge at the library.

Union Pacific sent an SD 9043 MAC, 8087, for the occasion.  It was impressive to see it up close.