I love this town. Oprah Winfrey has called it America’s Happiest City.
Following are some pics I’ve taken on various hikes in the hills surrounding SLO, as locals call it. If you look in the distance, you can see the ocean in some of them. The mountains are ancient volcanos called, The Morros. Most were taken with my phone, thus the lack of great clarity. Sorry. Anyway, click to enlarge.
From Bishop’s Peak
From Reservoir Canyon
From Irish Hills
From Islay Peak (the day The Sub caught fire)
From Cerro San Luis
From West Cuesta Ridge
From East Cuesta Ridge, day…
And night
By chance, San Luis County is also the eponymous location, or “type locality”, for fossils found around the world that are from the specific time period that my story Opalescence is based in, hence the name, the “Luisian Stage” (circa 15,000,000 years ago). The Luisian is a substage of the Barstovian North American Land Mammal Age, or NALMA, (which itself is a stage within the larger Miocene epoch), that magical time when biodiversity on earth reached a wonderful peak.
From Middle Miocene Foraminifera and Stratigraphic Relations in the Adelaida Quadrangle San Luis Obispo County California.
Opalescence 
Not even a lot of locals know of the fossil treasures found here on the Central Coast, including prehistoric tigers and Mammoths. One place to take pictures that are awesome is the west end of Cuesta Ridge, where you can drive quite a distance to the forest there. You will find some awesome trees and views all the way to Morro Rock. Also head out See Canyon to the top of the hills there and find a place where you can view the ocean from the road. It is worth the drive all the way down the road to Avila. This area is full of natural views and uniqueness and I love it here. That is one reason why I started my blog. I want to make it affordable to live here for people on a budget. So many come here but can’t afford it. It is such a great place to live.
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