A Trip to San Luis Obispo

“We have nothing to lose and a world to see.”

We were recently hosted by The Kinney Slo hotel in San Luis Obispo, which is part of Pacifica Hotels located all over California (and even Hawaii). We had never been to SLO before, but had heard great things about all the fun activities and how it is perfect for families. We had a list of places we wanted to visit and realized that 2 nights was just not enough time, so it looks like we will definitely have to head back soon!;)

Here is a little bit about what we did do and about our stay at The Kinney Slo…

From the very start of the hotel we knew we were going to have a great time. There were games and bikes outside as we checked in. The kids could play while we brought in the suitcases.

The lobby has lots of fun sitting areas to relax and unwind from a long trip.

There are lots of fun places around the hotel for families to play and enjoy time together. Our kids loved the outside area that has fire pits and couches, a huge light bright and scrabble game.

They also loved the indoor games with shuffle board, skeeball and an old fashioned arcade video game.

There is an onsite restaurant/bar called Leroy’s with tasty food for the entire family.

If you are looking for another place to burn off some energy, you can head to the heated pool and spa.

The rooms are very clean with comfy beds (perfect for jumping on) and well lit bathrooms!;)

The Kinney Slo is centrally located to the downtown area, which has tons of places to eat and shop and also has the famous mission.

After breakfast one morning at Big Sky Cafe (which was super tasty) we had to visit the famous gum wall. A little gross and a little cool!;) Of course we had to add our own gum, but in the shape of two hearts!

The hotel is also centrally located to many coastal cities that are only 10-15 away. We decided to go on a little tour on our way home. First, on our way to Morro Bay, we stopped in front of the SLO sign to take a quick picture.  This sign was right off of HWY 1.

We made our way to Morro Bay to see the famous rock. If it is a warm day you could actually go to the beach area and play in the water.

Next we went to Avila Beach, we received lots of recommendations to go to the pumpkin patch at the Avila Valley Barn. The kids loved feeding the animals, but my only suggestion would be to go during the week because the weekend was VERY BUSY!

Not far from the barn we headed to the pier, which we could actually drive on, a very rare experience in California. We got out and saw some seals in the water and went into a small fish market. We also made a quick stop at a cute little park that has a small aquarium adjacent to it (which is closed on Monday’s). There were a few little places you could have eaten either on the pier or near the park, which in hindsight, would have been fun to do, but we were on a bit of a time crunch.

One of our last stops was in Pismo Beach to see the butterfly habitat. The kids thought it was pretty neat, but I honestly expected to see even more butterflies, maybe it wasn’t the peak season. So if this is not on your way home, it wasn’t a must see for me. I do remember going to Pismo Beach as a kid and loving it, I would definitely love to go back and just go to the beach to play!

Our very last stop was to see a suspension bridge in Arroyo Grande. I would definitely say if you have never been on one then it is neat, but if you have (especially if it was bigger), then this one will not be impressive. It was very short and for us not really worth the stop. BUT the little town that was near it looked super cute with eateries and you could make an afternoon of it. Again, this was a travel day for us so we were running out of time and had to head home.

Have you ever been to the central coast? We were also told there is a great children’s museum in SLO that we weren’t able to make it to this trip (it was also closed on Monday). But just another reason we would love to go back!;) Wondering where else to travel on the California coast? I’ve got a great post on San Francisco with kids HERE.