West Coast Trip: 24 Hours in SLO

Ahh San Luis Obispo, I love you! After Toree and I trekked through Big Sur, we stopped to stay the night in SLO. I'd been dying to stay at the Madonna Inn for years, and wasn't about to pass up the chance since this was on our way to LA. 

My biggest regret is that we didn't spend more time here in order to make it back for our flight in LA - we were there for less than 24 hours total. It was such a fun and relaxing spot after all of our busy sightseeing in the previous weeks, and I actually barely pulled out my camera. I'm hoping to swing a day trip down here on my next trip out west! 

If you've never heard of the Madonna Inn, it's a super cool hotel where each room has it's own unique theme. It was really fun to pick our top three and be surprised with our room when we arrived!

We landed a Versaille themed room (which I'd chosen for the balcony with a great view of the mountains!). It was decked out with blue shag carpeting, satin wallpaper, a settee, and fancy chandeliers. Pictures do not do this room justice.

Can we talk about this toilet in our room though? I was honestly overwhelmed by all the options and didn't take advantage :p

Everything on the Madonna grounds is equally as whimsical as the rooms. The restaurants are gaudy as hell (and I love them). We enjoyed some awesome burgers, giant pieces of cake, hot tubbing and wine we'd picked up in Carmel Valley. Perfect vacay!

Not to mention they have PINK basketball and tennis courts. Heaven!

We spent our morning wandering the ranch portion of the inn. Wish we'd had time to do a little horse back riding!

We stopped in downtown SLO just before leaving to check out a few places. First stop: the gum wall! We'd missed this in Seattle, so had to make a pit stop when we'd found one on the map in SLO.

Smiling, but secretly disgusted.

Downtown had some of the cutest shops! I definitely recommend Kreuzberg coffee, Lucky Lulus, and Rocketfizz (a favorite soda shop of mine that I've been to in Richmond).

Want to see everywhere we visited on this road trip? Check out my previous posts below: