A Visit to the Elfin Forest

Dave is up on the roof of our motorhome installing a part for the satellite to keep it from moving around in the wind.  I have to stay put in one spot while he's up there in order to not shake the RV.  So I'll take this time to catch up on my blog.

The other night was a clear, warm evening, so Dave and I drove out to the beach to look at the night sky away from the city lights.  The city lights along the beach are pretty, too, but there's nothing like looking at the stars and planets on a clear evening.  We had a great view of the Milky Way as well as some of the constellations and planets.  As we were looking up, we both happened to see a meteor.  I usually am looking in a different spot and miss such sights, but I was glad to see this one.  There's no replay button for something like that!

We are leaving Pismo Beach a week from today and will travel home by way of Monterey (Pebble Beach!), Pleasanton (Livermore), and Sacramento.  We will be staying at the fairgrounds in all three cities. 

We will have been here for two months--twice as long as we stayed last year.  We've seen many RVs come and go, and some  that plan to stay a lot longer than we were here.

One of my favorite walks we took was the Elfin Forest in Baywood, a small town located near Morro Bay.  This was the first time we went on this walk, but it will be an annual event for us from now on.

The Elfin Forest was built with the donations from a family who lost both parents and a school-aged daughter in a car accident.  The trail is boardwalk most of the way and is marked with signs identifying plants and birds along the way.  Every so often is a larger marker, like this one at the beginning of the trail, telling a story about a Chumash Indian girl who lived here many years ago. 

The Pygmy Oak Forest was one of my favorite stops along the boardwalk path.

The Fuchia Flowering Gooseberry was one of the more colorful plants blooming in February. 

One of the most common plants we saw was the Coast Silver Lupine.

Halfway through the loop walk, we had a good view of the mud flats of Morro Bay...

and iconic Morro Rock looming behind Morro Bay State Campground.

Even in the Elfin Forest, Dave was able to take the time to read an email on his smartphone.

After our walk through the Elfin Forest we drove into Morro Bay and had lunch at one of our favorite casual outdoor food stands, Lil' Hut.  As usual, I had clam chowder and Dave had a hamburger and fries.

While eating our lunch, Dave and I saw what looked to us like the world's smallest boat!

A Drive on the Beach

The following pictures are from our drive on the beach on Super Bowl morning, Sunday, February 5, 2012.

I had never seen jet skis being used in the surf.

The majority of people on the beach were interested in riding ATVs on the sand dunes. 

You could go on a group tour of the dunes.

If you didn't bring your own ATV, you could rent one on the beach.

If you forgot anything, you could buy it on the beach.  They were also selling air to put back in your tires in case you had to let some air out so you wouldn't get stuck.

Maybe you would prefer to camp on the beach?  Only $10 per night--pick your own spot as long as it doesn't say "No Camping Here".

We saw lots of different activities taking place on the beach.

Fishing

Bicycling

Horseback riding

Surfing

Boogie boarding

Dog walking

 

Jogging

A little football throwing before the big game

Hunting for treasure in the ocean

Wading in the ocean with an umbrella for protection

Fording the stream across the beach--we made it!

As we got closer to the big dunes, the sand on the beach got thicker, so we reluctantly turned our Honda CRV around and headed back.

All this fun on the beach was ours for free thanks to our handy California State Park vehicular day pass, as long as we were there between  the hours of 6 am and 11 pm. 

Sharing the Blogging

It's kind of a hassle to get lab work done away from home.  I had a good experience with getting my Pro-Time/INR anticoagulation test done.  I am a Kaiser Permanente member and they don't have any facilities along the coast of Central California.  I found a local non-Kaiser lab that was able to do the test for only $3 more than I pay at home.  I got the results by phone and picked up a copy of the results today, and the lab faxed the results to my physician and the program that manages my care.   

My test results were a little high, so I knew the anticoagulation nurse would be calling me.  Sure enough, she called today while I was writing this blog.  She received the results just fine.  I need to adjust my dosage of Warfarin a bit and get my blood tested again in a couple of weeks.  No problem, I said, now that I have an account set up with a local lab. 

I haven't been blogging as much lately but anytime you want to see what's going on with us, you can read Dave's blog.  He writes every day or two and he often includes informative videos and good pictures.  I've gotten lazy about blogging when he beats me to the punch with his updates.  Click here to read Dave's blog.

During our day trip to Solvang yesterday, I didn't take any pictures since Dave took some with his video camera.  We had a nice day with excellent weather and no crowds.  We saw several empty store buildings, including one big bakery, so the recession seems to have taken its toll on the village of Solvang. 

Oso Flaco Lake boardwalk to the beach

Dave wrote that we purchased a California state park pass, the Limited Golden Bear Pass.  We owe a big thank you to Kate who writes a blog called Kate and Terry--Travels in Cholula Red.  When Kate blogged about buying the pass, I assumed that only California residents could get the pass, but we had no trouble getting it at a nearby ranger station.  The park is good for vehicular fees at any California state park.  The pass is for the calendar year and excludes the months from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  For seniors 62 and over, the pass costs $10.  We've already used it three times at parks that cost $4 each to park, so we've already gotten our money's worth.  Many thanks, Kate, for blogging about the California state park pass!

Sunset at North Beach, one of the Pismo State Beaches. We used the Limited Golden Bear Pass to park our car right on the beach on 2/2/12.

Today we were returning from our ten-mile round trip bicycle ride to Oceano when Dave's back fender rack broke.  He was able to bungee the parts together and make it back to the RV park with me following him on my bike to make sure that he was okay.  We added visited a bike store to our list of afternoon errands and he purchased a new sturdy rack. 

What else can I say--nice sunny weather, cool nights, lots of exercise, plenty of good food.  Life is grand!