PISMOOOUUUE! (pronounced with outrageous west coast accent - think Otto the bus driver from The Simpsons)

By complete chance, we turned up coincidentally at the world famous Cali surf break that Will and Tom had been feverishly researching - Pismo Beach! We could instantly tell this was a brilliant location because the Police had a wave painted on the side of their squad cars - we speculated that the most action they would get during a day was alerting an unsuspecting surfer to a wrong board selection for the conditions.

Once again overwhelmed by the ultra-cool surf culture, we embraced the bohemian mood and found the nearest laundry. As well as a neatly folded pile of steaming clothes, the laundromat also provided a deluge of vital knowledge via the streetwise laundry woman. Following her pearls of wisdom as our clothes tumbled around, we booked up two nights at the local Blue Seal Inn, then struck out into the town to sample the highly recommended clam chowder, before hitting the local surf shops to find Will his elusive board.

Pismo is the 'clam capital' of the States, hosting an annual clam festival every summer. On the trusted guidance of the sage laundry woman, we headed straight to Splash Cafe, apparently home to the best clam chowder in town. As we entered the revered establishment, we were blinded by the reflections bouncing off the hundreds of clam awards hanging framed on the walls - the place looked legit. We ordered three clam chowders with seafood topping and eagerly awaited the results. In no time three steaming, freshly baked bread rolls were heading our way, ladled full of hot clam soup and topped with a generous helping of fresh crab and shrimp.

After a day of starvation, this wholesome comfort food was just what we needed and we chowed down on the delicious local specialty as the place filled up with a queue of expectant punters. It came down to a battle of manliness and stomach strength, and by the end we were all reduced to barely functioning zombies, stumbling across the street into the bright west coast sun. The next stage was to secure a board for Will. Having spotted a prime candidate earlier in the day, we returned to 'Esteem' surf shop to enter negotiations with the owner over a second hand board. After several tense moments, Will emerged victorious, holding aloft his new 6'4" thruster, for a bargain price. 

 
Understandably psyched, Will instantly ran down the beach and attacked the surf. Tom and Mike left him to it, finding a cosy bar from which to update the blog. The trio reconvened later that night to begin a pub crawl of the town's bars. 2 bars later, having made drunken friends with a dude named Paul, we stumbled en masse back to his modest apartment. Aside from two fat munters that we'd somehow accumulated along the way, the night was uneventful. We left.