To me, it seems that billing Morro Bay as a stunning nature preserve without ever showing or even mentioning that it’s got a huge power plant with tall and extremely noticeable smokestacks is…a touch disengenuous. If I’d read the Chron article, booked a trip to Morro Bay to chase egrets, then showed up to the place, I might be a little bit disappointed. And unhappy with the Chronicle.

I don’t find power plants particularly attractive–they tend to be built with an eye for functional rather than fashionable architecure. They are necessary to the modern life I adore, but I don’t want to stare at one throughout my beach vacation.

If it makes you feel any better, I think that the much lauded modern “art” architecture of the Centre Pompidou in Paris looks like a power plant that’s been finger-painted by a four-year-old. And I don’t want to look at it while I’m on vacation either.

It’s not about tearing down the infrastructure. It’s about enjoying the aesthetics. What can I say–I’m deeply shallow that way.

Personally, I’m not quite ready to return to the pre-industrial age.