My New Toy

My new toy is...a Nook Color e-reader!  Dave has been using his Droid phone as an e-reader, and we've been debating about what kind of device to get for me.  I'm not due for a phone upgrade for another few months, and we may not want to pay for two smart phones.  So we went to the Barnes and Noble in San Luis Obispo to look one more time at the Nooks.  The new color Nook caught our attention this time, so that's what we bought.  I am registering it and learning to use it tonight, so my blog pictures and update will have to wait until tomorrow.

My new toy, the Nook Color:

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.

All is Well...For Now

After having a mobile RV service technician come to our motorhome yesterday to diagnose the problem with our refrigerator not cooling, we were really panicked about possible remedies.  The young technician was full of doom and gloom which didn't give us much hope.

This morning we had to take pack everything up and take the motorhome across the street to the service repair place to get a better diagnostic done.  We weren't off to a very good start when our appointment got put back from 9 am to 11 am.  As we waited for 11 am to roll around, different scenarios went through our mind.  Would an expensive cooling unit have to be ordered and then installed?  Would we have to leave Pismo Beach earlier than planned.  How would we handle the lack of refrigeration?

After dropping of the motorhome, we came back to the RV park and hung out in the clubhouse.  We had just gone out for a quick lunch, when Dave got the call that the service manager wanted him to come back so that he could talk to him.  Uh oh, we thought, if it was good news they would have told us over the phone. 

Well, it turned out to be good news, after all.  The cooling unit was working.  How did that happen?  Was this just Norcold trying to get out of replacing the $2100 part?  No, it appears that driving the the motorhome jiggled the cooling coils enought to get them working again.  So is this good news or bad news?

We are looking at it as good news, but we are still skeptical that something more may be wrong.  We were told to turn of the fridge for about eight hours every month in order to let the "bubble" come out of the coils.  Well, we hadn't been doing that and the refrigerator has worked just fine until now.  So time will tell if this easy solution is an adequate solution. 

But for tonight, anyway, we have cold food and we're not using any dry ice!

Did you know that it's hard to find a clip art picture of dry ice? :)

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.