Leavenworth, WA

Today was my birthday and I got to pick our destination.  I chose Leavenworth, a quaint Bavarian village located in an alpine setting along Washington's Highway 2.   In 1962, after the Great North Railroad relocated from Leavenworth to Wenatchee, the town's economy became sluggish.  After visiting the Danish-themed town of Solvang in California, a committee suggested that Leavenworth could be remade into a Bavarian village.  The idea caught on, and today Leavenworth is a year-round thriving tourist village.  Arrive early, because it's hard to park!

The snow-capped mountains add to the charm of Leavenworth

We didn't buy any souvenirs, but Dave and I had a good time window shopping and taking pictures.  After brunch at Cafe Verona, we walked all around the town and then walked downhill to the path along the Wenatchee River.  Suddenly we were away from the mobs of tourists and enjoying the beauty of nature, along with the company of a few other nature-lovers. 

From the path along the Wenatchee River

After spending a few hours in the Leavenworth area, we drove back to our motorhome.  We are parked at the Chelan County Expo Center in Cashmere, a few miles east of Leavenworth and a few miles west of Wenatchee.  One other motorhome came into this park yesterday, and our two rigs have the place to ourselves.  Sunday afternoon we will return to Wenatchee Confluence State Park for a few more days. 

Since we ate brunch in Leavenworth, we decided to eat dinner in Cashmere.  It's my birthday, you know, so I can't cook today!  We stumbled onto a non-fancy, but oh so tasty barbecue place called Country Boy's.  Yummy, yummy food--we highly recommend it if you're in the area and like southern-style BBQ.

Oink, oink--you'll get a lot to eat at Country Boy's

We rounded out the day by watching a DVD of The King's Speech.  It was a great movie, and I can see why it won so many awards.  Now my birthday is almost over and I can relax until next year, when I face the big 6-0 birthday!

Thanks for indulging me today, Dave!

Sunset at Pismo Beach, CA

Friday night Dave and I walked to town to have dinner at Brad's with our friends Debbie and Bill.  We saw the most amazing sunset and I had to keep stopping to take pictures of this wonder of God's creation.

Sunset as we left Pismo Coast Village RV Park

Crossing the bridge on our way to the beach 

Walking on the beach path

The sky kept changing

 The end of the pier at sunset

We reached our destination right on time at 6 pm,  just as the sunset views were gone.

I usually edit my photos  using the Picasa program, but this time I posted them just as they were from the camera.  I'm so glad that we took the time to enjoy this sunset!

Friends and Mansions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday our friends, Debbie and Bill, drove up here from Downey, California.  The drive took them five hours, but once they got out of the LA area, the drive up the coast was beautiful.  We ate dinner at a nice Italian restuarant in Arroyo Grande called Gina's.  We had intended to go to a steakhouse in Nipomo that Debbie remembered from years ago, Jocko's, and it was, in fact, still there.  It looked like a bit of a dive, but it must be a very popular dive because there was an hour wait to be seated.  We didn't wait and ended up at Gina's, which was a fine choice.  Debbie and Bill are visiting the elephant seals today and we'll all meet for dinner tonight at Brad's in Pismo Beach.

Every day, Dave and I like to take at least one walk or bike ride.  Today's excursion was a walk that I discovered a couple of weeks ago.  A sign points to a "coastal trail" which is reached after driving through a residential area.  We snagged one of the five or so parking spots for the trail, and off we went.  This is a paved path along a coastline bluff.  There's a scenic coastal view along the paved trail. 

This handicap-accessible, dog-friendly trail is open to the public and runs along in front of some multi-million dollar mansions.  We, the public, get to enjoy the view for free.  These houses were quite impressive.

My favorite, a mediterranean-style villa

If you think I'm exaggerating about the multi-million dollar view, the lots in this gated community are selling for 2.25 million dollars for a little over an acre of hilly, ocean view property.  Each house probably cost at least a few million dollars to build. 

2.25 million dollar lot for sale.  How many do you want?

After the walk we ate our lunch at a park at Shell Beach and then came back to the RV to relax for a while.

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. 

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. 

Urgent Care

Tuesday morning I tried to lift the recliner chair to straighten a rug that was underneath.  My right hand immediately was painful.  I have carpal tunnel in both my hands and wrists and I wear braces at night to keep from damaging them.  I put the brace back on my right hand and it felt better.

Bob Jones Bike Path, Avila Beach

So Dave and I decided to go for a bike ride.  My hand felt okay as long as I kept the brace on.  We rode on Avila Beach's Bob Jones Trail.  We had a nice six-mile ride along this multi-use path.

A bridge near the end of the path.  Ahead of us was a sewage plant which was located next to a golf course.

Avila Beach is a picturesque upscale community.

After the bike ride we drove to Avila Beach's San Luis Bay.  Along the bay, we were stopped by some road work.  Evidently they were fixing a rock slide area, and part of the fix was to cause more rocks to slide down a hill.

The brown area was the slide area.

After we had been back home in the motorhome for  a couple of hours, my hand and wrist started hurting badly.  I can't take ibuprofen because I'm on coumadin (blood thinner) since I have an artificial aortic heart valve.  So I took some Tylenol, but it didn't help the pain at all.  I finally called Dave, who was playing golf at a nearby golf course, to ask him to stop on his way home and get some BenGay salve and some higher strength Tylenol.  He also bought me an ace bandage. 

A couple of more hours went by and my pain seemed to be increasing, not lessening.  Dave walked over to the RV park office and was directed to an urgent care clinic not too far away.  We drove to the clinic and discovered that it closed at 6.  It was now 5:40 pm.  The clinic  people were super nice and took my Kaiser information so that they could bill them.  The doctor confirmed that this was a classic case of carpal tunnel inflammation.  He gave me a prescription for Vicodin, which we had filled at a nearby Walmart. 

I took the first Vicodin last night and within a few minutes, my pain abated somewhat.  I went to bed early last night and woke up at 3:30 am and took another Vicodin.  This morning, the pain was mostly gone.  In fact, I felt so good that we took another walk to town.  We were trying to locate a couple of geocaches, but we didn't find either one.  We did, however, enjoy the sunshine and warm temperature.  I can't ride my bike until this pain goes totally away, so I am happy that I was able to go for a walk.

Another Pismo Beach clam landmark, this one not decorated.

And yes, the urgent care clinic stayed open until I was treated!