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Cambria is a small tourist town just south of San Simeon. It is the primary rest stop for visitors to Hearst Castle. The main drag is lined with artsy shops, motels, and pricey restaurants. The surrounding area is more recently peppered with vineyards.

Cambria has done a fairly decent job of managing the balance between growth and community preservation. At least they have figured out that the old family ranchers in the area deserve respect. The big constraint on development is water, which is stingy on the entire coast.

My great uncle and his wife (the matriarch of my mother's side of the family) was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church there for about twenty years. When we were kids, our family used to stop over in Cambria on the way to Southern California to visit my mom's family. The parish is now split with the house being an internationalist youth hostel and the church itself as a Christian fellowship hall.

We stopped by there last year for the first time in forty years so that our kids could trace the route I so often took as a child, so of course, we drove around until we found the church. The hippies in the house/hostel were most accommodating. The old ladies in the parish still burn the coffee every Sunday. Some things don't change.