Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach, CA

Yesterday was a rare day of rain in Pismo Beach, CA.  We stayed inside all day except for when Dave walked over to the park store to get our mail.  We called it a "lazy day" but, really, all of our days here are lazy days!

Today was sunny, so we continued our walk on the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach.  It's a multi-use path that in prior years we have always ridden our bikes on.  This year we've been taking a lot of walks, so we decided to walk the trail.  Round-trip is six miles, so we divided the path into two parts.  

The middle part of the path has a small playground that is supposedly private and intended only for the residents of the the gated community along the trail, but I'm not sure that they enforce that rule. 

The west part of the trail runs along a beautiful golf course.

The whole path is paved and marked with a yellow dashed line down the middle.  It's hard to ride bikes on this path because the path is very popular with dog-walkers, stroller-pushers, and groups that like to spread themselves across both sides of the path.  All-in-all, this a gem of a path.  It's a little too short and too slow for a good bike ride, but it's great for taking a walk.

When we biked on the Bob Jones Trail two years ago, I was riding my bicycle that has hand brakes, and I had to press the brakes so much along the crowded path that it ended up aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome on my right hand.  I was in so much pain that I had to make a trip to a storefront emergency clinic. 

After that experience, I bought a retro fold-up bike that has coaster brakes.  I miss having gears, but the change in bicycles has been much easier on my wrists. 

The playground and halfway point of the trail.

Requisite mansion photo, along with an apple orchard in front.

I don't know what kind of bird this was, but it looked big, and it sat there quietly while we took pictures.

This bird has now been identified by Judy, the Bionic Bird Lady of Blogland, as a red-shouldered hawk.  Judy knows a lot about birds, and now she is bionic because she just had a hip replacement.  Thank you, Judy!