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I'm back! Although I hadn't originally planned being totally
unplugged from the matrix for a few days (internet), it felt good to prove once
in awhile I could.
I left home last Monday morning, after gathering up a daughter
(Tami) and 10year old granddaughter (Isabella) to make a
trip to the coast for the week. Isabella, hadn't seen the
ocean, other than a single experience at San Francisco.
The plan was to journey south of San Francisco, through Pacifica,
Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Carmel and Monterey - then onward to
Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and inland a tad, to the Danish village of
Solvang.
We had only a few agendas, while the Dire
Straits album, "On Every Street" was playing away in
the car's CD player, (1) See the ocean (2) Eat GREAT food (3) Sample
and find the best Salt Water Taffy along Coastal Highway 1, between
Santa Cruz and Pismo Beach.
In the next few days when I've rested up, I'll process the photos I
captured along the way, and blog about the little ocean towns
we traveled through.
But today, let's talk Salt Water Taffy!
It all began at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Marini's has
been at that location since 1915. That's 95 years, Folks!
We bought our first pound or so of taffy there, to kick-start the
Great Salt Water Taffy trials.
Personally, I was content with nearly all flavors of Marini's.
Grandkid, Isabella, wasn't doing any complaining at that point
either. However, daughter, Tami, spit out one nugget, finding
it a bit waxy, as if it had absorbed some of the wax wrapper.
When we arrived in the quaint village of Carmel, we found a candy
shop, which carried the "Taffy
Town" brand. Because this taffy was packaged in a
container, which had the shop label on it, we mistakenly thought it
was their brand. It was the candy wrappers that eventually
gave it away.
This was also true in the town, further south, Cambria. It was
"Taffy
Town" candy, packaged with the local shop's label. We
found a large number of California coastal candy shops carry the
"Taffy Town" product.
In Solvang, we came upon a confectioner, who made their own taffy,
plus they carried many more flavors of "Taffy Town" candy
than we had seen before. Isabella was beginning to hone in on
the "Red Licorice Swirls" and "Cherry" flavors,
but was finding "Peppermint" her favorite. Tami was
really content with the taste of "Licorice," but also enjoyed
the "Mango" and "Guava" bites. Several of
the Solvang shop's original taffy flavors were also quite good!
However, I located taffy Nirvana easily at Crill's
in Morro Bay. This little shop made and sold it's own
brand of taffy. I found the flavors to be really mellow, more
natural with a "homemade" quality. The chewy little
nuggets possessed perfect consistency, which were solid,
but melted in your mouth with totally un-messed with flavors.
"Black Walnut" was my favorite. I couldn't get
enough of ‘em! Crill's Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor also
knocked my socks off!
At Tomasko's in Pismo Beach, they made and carried
their own brand. We tried a few samples at the counter, but
didn't care for them enough to buy more than ½ pound - just to
make sure. Of the taffy we had sampled from the 5 different
locations. Tomasko's came in 4th place, with
Marini's in Santa Cruz coming in dead last.
Daughter, Tami and grandkid, Isabella, thought "Taffy
Town" candy available at several coastal locations was their
first place favorite - labeling "Taffy Town" the
"Jelly Belly" of the California coastal salt water taffy
enterprise. They agreed that Crill's in Morro Bay was also
excellent! Crill's was my first place favorite!
We bought approximately 8 pounds of Salt Water Taffy on this
trip at the various locations. Some of it even made it home
with us.
Oh, by the way, my favorite "Dire Straits" song is "When
it Comes to You."
I hope you all had a GREAT week!
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- California Coast visit: July
5th - 9th 2010
Written by: Myrl Jeffcoat - 7/10/2010
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