A Rainy Valentine's Day at the Beach

Happy Valentine's Day!  Dave and I went out for lunch at Fin's at the beach.  The restaurant's decor was cute with tiki unbrellas and a Polynesian theme.  We ate inside instead of on the patio because it's RAINING here today.  Yes, this is only the second day that is has rained since we have been here.  Reluctantly, we will leave Pismo Beach on Friday morning to head towards home.

Today's  blog pictures were taken at Montana del Oro State Beach on February 5.  The park is located six miles south of Morro Bay.

After an enjoyable lunch out in honor of Valentine's Day, we drove to San Luis Obispo to get some maps of the California central coast area at AAA.  This trip may be almost over, but we are planning on coming back as snowbirds next winter. 

Sunday was a beautiful day and Dave and I found a tennis court where we tried to play pickle ball.  Unfortunately, after just a couple of volleys with the paddle, the carpal tunnel in my right hand protested.  We cut short our great pickle ball plans.  Boo hoo.  :(  I am a big fan of pickle ball would be sad if I can't play it again.  At least we know where the tennis courts are now--six at the high school and four more at a sports complex, as well as a couple along Highway 1.  This area doesn't seem to have dedicated pickle ball courts like we found in St. George, Utah last spring. 

I'm adjusting well to using my Nook Color.  I have finished several of the library books that I loaded onto it.  I've also learned to use the web features of the Nook, which work as long as I have wifi. 

We heard from our younger son, Jonathan, today and he is doing well in his eight-week field assignment and is half done with it already.  I can't say on my blog where he is or what he's doing, so if you are interested, email me.  Elder son, Tim, and wife Kiersten are doing great, also, and are looking forward to the last six weeks or so of pregnancy. 

Blessings and Problems

This snowbird lifestyle provides us with many blessings but some problems, too, just like real life.  You can read Dave's blog to learn more about our latest problem--the refrigerator.  With this motorhome, it seems like it's always something.  The refrigerator not cooling is a major problem since we have to figure out how to quickly use up all of our perishable food.  In addition, the plastic part that fastens the screen door to the motorhome door broke off this evening. 

Yesterday, before we realized how serious the refrigerator problem was, Dave played some golf and I went for a long walk on the beach.  It's so handy to be able to access the beach right from Pismo Coast Village RV Park.  There's a fast-moving river that has developed between the park and the ocean, but there's still a big area of beach that skirts the river.  It will be interesting to see how this river has changed by the time we come here again a year from now

The "river" is very fast-moving.

Another view of the river.  I don't know how deep it is, but no one was wading through it. 

These birds were too busy eating to admire the river ripples.

All the water attracts flocks of birds.

I like the beach and the ocean, but also the fantastic views back toward town and the hills.

Speaking of blessings, here is the latest ultrasound of our granddaughter.  See her head?  She's waving to us.  Only about nine weeks remain until we get to meet her in person.  What a cutie!

Oso Flaco Lake and the Dunes

After a refreshing overnight rain, the sky was still a bit overcast this afternoon as Dave and I drove about 20 minutes south of Pismo Beach on Highway 1 to Oso Flaco Lake, northwest of the small town of Guadalupe. 

This is part of the state park system, so we paid the senior day use fee of $4 to park.  The first part of the nature trail was an ordinary trail through a riparian area  containing creekside vegetation. 

Then comes the interesting park--a bridge walkway over the lake.  I forgot to take a picture of the bridge over the (non-troubled) water because I was so busy taking pictures of the lake itself.

I am sorry to report that dogs are not allowed on this trail, but it's a good place for strollers and wheelchairs and people like us who don't like to walk on water or in sand!

After crossing the lake, the bridge turned into a boardwalk through the coastal dune scrub area.

A panoramic view of the end of the boardwalk amid the dunes.

And, finally, our reward, a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean!

I'll share just a few bits of cultural history that I found interesting about this area:

1.  Chumash Indians resided in the area, making their huts out of the willow branches, covered with tule reeds.

2.  In 1769, Spanish explorer Portola landed in the area.  While hunting for meat, his men shot a bear at a fresh water lake and named the lake, "Oso Flaco" which means "Skinny Bear".

3.  In 1923, the film "The Ten Commandments" was filmed on the dunes. 

4.  From the 1930s to the 1980s, The Dunites, a group of artists, mystics, and hermits resided in the dunes. 

Elephant Seal Viewing Area

Dave and I have been in Pismo Beach for a week.  Today we decided to take a drive north up Highway 1 along the coast.  We went by the exit for Hearst Castle, but didn't visit this time since we had been there before.  The road is a long way from the castle, but I was able to get a decent, if somewhat blurry, shot from afar.

Hearst Castle

We didn't know exactly where the Elephant Seal Viewing Area was located, but as we drove a few miles north of San Simeon and Hearst Castle, we saw that it was clearly marked along Highway 1 and that there were lots of cars and people there.

This time of the year, elephant seals come here to mate and birth their young.  They don't bark like sea lions, but they make all kinds of other noises, mostly sounding (to me) like a bunch of cattle.

Elephant seals on the beach--no, they're not dead.

The one on the bottom left is loudly complaining!

This is a happy family (I think).

Most of the elephant seals were playing dead on the sand, but I caught these two frolicking in the water.

Besides seeing the elephant seals on the beach, the view of the Pacific Ocean's rocky coastline was spectacular here.

North of the elephant seal viewing area a working lighthouse was visible.  Of course we had to drive a few more miles up the coast to visit it.  

Piedras Blancas Lighthouse

The lighthouse wasn't open today, but can be viewed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  Do not, however, go to the lighthouse for the tour.  It's a guided tour that meets at 9:45 am at a motel one and a half miles north of the lighthouse. 

Viewing the huge elephant seals was the highlight of our day trip today.  The male seals grow to 5000 pounds and the females reach 1500 pounds.  The adult males arrive in early December after a journey from Alaska.   The pregnant females also begin arriving in December and each one selects a comfortable location to give birth.   Eventually each male will have as many as 40 females in his harem.

The first pups are usually born around December 20 and births continue through January.  By March, the next mating season, which begins about a month after the births, is over and the adult seals head out to the ocean leaving the weaned pups to teach themselves how to swim.

Butterflies and More

I am happy to report that after a full day of taking Vicodin, for a total of four pills, my hand and wrist are back to normal.  I am SO happy not to have any more pain!

Today's walk was intended to be to the Monarch butterfly migration area just south of Pismo Coast Village RV Park.  We started out on the sidewalk along Highway 1.  When the sidewalk ended, we walked through Pismo State Beach Park.

This park is closed for maintenance, but it's a nice non-hookup park right on the beach and right next to the butterfly area.

Camping sites

We saw a path that went south, so we took it.  It went up to the butterfly area, but it also went west toward the ocean.  We skipped the butterflies for now and went on to the beach.  We ended up at a long boardwalk area which had views of both the beach and the state park golf course.

Ocean view from the boardwalk

Looking back toward town  Golf course and wedding tent

Golf course

We walked all the way to the golf course along this boardwalk path, 2.6 miles.   We still had to walk back to the RV park, so we decided to walk back along the highway, and we visited the butterflies on our way back.

A butterfly lesson

The butterflies are hard to take pictures of

Eucalyptus trees

Our walk today turned out to be 4.1 miles.  That's the most we've walked at one time since we have been here. 

Pismo Beach Fishing Pier

On Sunday, we watched the exodus of many of the weekend guests.  Today we saw a few more leave.  But we also saw more people come in on Sunday and Monday.  The park is about as empty as it gets, but it is still over half full. 

South view of the beach from the fishing pier

Pismo Coast Village RV Park stores trailers and fifth wheels for a nominal price, and runs a service where they will tow your trailer from the storage yard and set it up in a site, and then tow it back to the storage yard when you are done camping.  Lots of people seem to use this service because those big tow vehicles were busy all day yesterday and some today. 

The beach view north of the pier

The air channel part of our Air Dream mattress on the sofa bed sprung a leak.  They come with a three year warranty, so we ordered a replacement while we were in Grass Valley and had it shipped to Pismo Coast Village.  The mattress came today.  We learned that we can have our mail forwarded here, too.  Next year we plan to stay for two months, so it will be handy to get our mail instead of having it forwarded to our son and daughter-in-law's house.  

Dave cleaned up some spots on our rugs today and installed a bigger window shade on the driver's side window.  He put the old, smaller shade on the passenger side.  We found two RV parts stores near here, so that is handy, also another Radio Shack, which we always seem to have to visit each trip. 

A view of Pomeroy Street from the pier

After resting up from the maintenance and cleaning, we went for a walk to the pier.  This pier was built in 1881 and was much longer then.  The pier was washed out by a storm in 1983, and was rebuilt a couple of years later.  It's still a popular fishing place.  We watched some surfers and saw one seal.

I was trying to take a picture of the surfers, but I ended up with this picture of  a seagull. 

Yesterday I spent the afternoon exploring while Dave stayed home and watched the two football playoff games.  I explored Shell Beach and part of Avila Beach.  I scouted out several more places to bike ride and to take walks.

Posing at the end of the fishing pier