Kristin Smart, who disappeared in 1996 as a Cal Poly freshman, is still missing
19 years later. | Denise Smart/Courtesy Photo
I first heard about the excavations on the radio this morning. I was half asleep but this caught my attention because I remembered the news reports from twenty years ago and I recalled the underlying anxiety when my daughter prepared to enroll at Cal Poly.
Cal Poly is a wonderful university, one of those seemingly unique places where you get so much more than mere money's worth. The quality of the educational program and the caliber of the students are first rate and the physical surroundings are non-pareil.
The central coast is one of the gems of California. The beaches are beautiful. Cayucos, to the north is a beach town straight out of the fifties, Moro Bay is a working harbor with bbq'd oysters on the quay and a public golf course on the shore, the working man's Pebble Beach. Avila Beach seems to always be sunny, even when the rest of the shore is socked in with fog, Pismo Beach is a larger version of Cayucos, with one foot in the past but big enough to support many nice restaurants. If your idea of beach life includes dune buggies, sand rails and quads then there's Guadalupe Dunes.
The town of San Luis Obispo is a destination in itself, an older, well preserved downtown, great eating, and surrounded by rolling hills with scattered oaks, ranches, and too many vinyards and wineries to count, each with it's own tasting room.
I relate the foregoing only to communicate the heavy burden of tragedy against such a backdrop. To those involved there is no greater depth of heartbreak but to those of us who are only onlookers the pain is all the more sharply drawn in relation to its idyllic background.
Where is Kristin Smart? 19 years later, Cal Poly student still missing - May 28, 2015 - Mustang News California Polytechnic State University
Kristin Smart.com - Scroll down, it just keeps getting creepier and creepier.