North Jetty, Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington
A couple of years ago, when I was driving around, I discovered a somewhat hidden coastal walkway. There's a small six-car parking lot, so we've learned not to do this walk on weekends because it's too hard to park here.
It's a short walk, 20 minutes each way, but the views are spectacular and the fancy houses facing the ocean aren't too hard to look at either!
Here's my favorite mansion that we saw on this walk.
One of our favorite parks in Pismo Beach is located at Shell Beach, just north of Pismo State Beach. This area has cliffs but very little beach area.
There's a park here named Dinosaur Caves Park. The name comes from a large cement dinosaur that a man built here many years ago. The neighbors objected and he was forced to abandon the project. All that remains is a few dinosaur eggs in the playground area.
Another part of the park is dedicated to a civic volunteer, Margo Dodd. We've seen weddings take place in this gazebo.
Not a bad place for our morning walk, as long as we stayed on the paths and well away from the dangerous cliffs!
North Beach State Park is located just to the south of Pismo Coast Village RV Resort. It has a very nice non-hookup campground. If you walk up some vegetated dunes and back down the other side, you will be on the beach. The state park also runs a golf course that's adjacent to the campground. One of our favorite walks is on the North Beach State Park boardwalk that goes from the park over to the golf course and a big parking and picnic area.
This year each end of the beach boardwalk trail has a new sign. Dogs are allowed on the trail, but no horses or motorized vehicles. The beginning of this trail is about 1/4 mile from where our motorhome is parked. 
The coastal access trail takes us on the edge of North Beach Campground.
At first the trail consists of hard-packed dirt.
Winding our way up to the beach boardwalk. 
The boardwalk
Golf course view
Beach view
Picnic area
More beach views on the return trip.
This horse was not illegal--the horse and rider were crossing onto a sand path that is adjacent to the boardwalk.
The North Beach campground is popular on weekends and we saw a lot of tenters during our walk on Saturday afternoon. 
Saturday morning we made the big move from site 160 to site 161--the easiest and shortest move we've ever made. We really enjoy site 161 as it is one of the few sites that is on the end of a row, so we have no neighbors on our right. Our new site is spacious and we enjoy having a bit of grass (no, not the marijuana kind!) in our site.
Site 161
And on Sunday morning, we walked to another type of boardwalk, the Pismo Beach town pier. 
We dressed warmly for this walk to the beach, but as soon as we began retracing our steps back to the RV park, the wind was at our back, and it was much warmer.
Pismo Beach flag
Take a look at Dave's blog to see his great photo of a pelican that was hanging around on the pier railing.
Today's walk was at Elfin Forest. The whole town of Los Osos was getting new water mains installed, so we encountered several road blocks on our way to Elfin Forest. This special forest area was created as a memorial after a local couple, including their young daughter, Siena, died in a plane crash.
The initial access is via a sandy path.
Then a boardwalk loop covers the rest of the area.
The boardwalk contains plenty of places to rest, contemplate, and to watch for birds.
Morro Rock and the Morro Bay estuary.
My favorite flower of the Elfin Forest was the dramatic fuchsia-flowering gooseberry. 
Poison Oak
Morro Manzanita. This threatened plant is found only from Morro Bay to Montana de Oro State Park.
Coast Live Oak Grove. Limited by the coastal dune environment, here these trees only grow to about 12 feet high. Lace Lichen dangles from the branches. These "plants" are actually fungi and algae living together in symbiosis. The Lace Lichen is helpful to the oaks, collecting moisture and nutrients from the foggy air. 
Coast Silver Lupine. This is a critical food plant for the Moro Blue Butterfly.
A couple of pictures of the hills and rocks to the north.
Another view of the estuary.
The mud flats of the estuary with Morro Rock in the background.
Finally! A bird sits still long enough that I can take its picture.
After visiting Elfin Forest and waiting in another traffic stop, we made our way back to San Luis Obispo and ate our picnic lunch at Laguna Lake. Then we had to hurry back to the motorhome so that Dave could do some consulting work for a client. Yes, he's officially retired, but he still occasionally does some online computer work for a few former clients.
We had rain today, but with the temperature in the low 60s, it felt like a spring or fall rain at home. As we were driving to the beach, we saw part of a rainbow in the cloudy sky. I wasn't able to take a picture of it until we drove out onto the beach.
Waiting for the sun to set and enjoying the effect of the mist along the beach.
After we got back to the motorhome after watching the sunset, I tried out a new recipe that I found on http://skinnytaste.com/ for baked chicken parmesan. I didn't take pictures of the final product, but Dave and I both deemed the recipe to be a success. The SkinnyTaste web site contains excellent pictures of the whole process.
For the first time ever, I made Shirataki noodles. I looked for some the other day but couldn't find any. Today I went to Ralph's "Pretty Good Grocery" (Garrison Keillor fans will get the reference). I just happened to see the Tofu Shirataki at Ralph's, so I decided to try it with the parmesan chicken. Yum! The soy-based product contained only 40 calories for two servings, both of which I ate! Once I put a bit of salt and pepper on them, the fake spaghetti noodles tasted great. They contained no cholesterol, no sugar, were gluten-free, vegan, only 6 carbs, and 4 grams of fiber. As the package said, they were "guilt-free". The two serving package cost $1.99, so they weren't cheap, like most good-for-you foods.
The empty package
