October 7, 2022
Still playing catch-up on my blog. Getting our Hawaii blog together put me behind getting this weeks blog ready to go. I am hoping by the end of the week I will be back to posting my weekly blogs on Saturday or Sunday again.
When we arrived back from our cruise on September 30th Frank’s sister picked us up from Bart and we headed out to get our RV from Frank’s cousin’s farm. We brought it into town and parked it in front of his sister’s house to get it reloaded and ready to travel again. We had gotten ants from our last campground (the Pleasanton Fairgrounds) before our trip. Before we left we had removed all our food and sprayed and left traps in hopes that when we returned all the ants would be gone. Instead they had multiplied so the rest of the day was spent going through the motor home spraying and scrubbing. We did do a little visiting with family between all the work. We ended up sleeping in Frank’s sister’s house that night before reloading the RV and heading out for Modesto to see my family.
10/1- We arrived at my niece’s house this afternoon and she had a perfect long driveway where we could park our RV and camp. We were able to plug into her power, open the bedroom slide and we were good to go. I had a wonderful visit with both my Niece and Nephew and it was so good to see family since Covid had kept us apart too long. My nephew’s wife knew of someone giving away a little dog and I tried to convince Frank to let me have it as a travel companion but that got vetoed. I would love to have a pet in the RV and I wish my cat had been a better traveler as we would have taken her along, but for now we will wait before adding anyone else to our journey.
10/2- We had not realized how difficult it was to find a campground in the area we were going. The plan was to head out toward the coast after church today, many phone calls later we found a spot available starting tomorrow so we were able to spend another day visiting and camping at my Niece’s house. We went with my Niece to church this morning and listened to a nice sermon. It was a very pleasant experience. Then after church we picked up much needed groceries before heading to the graveyard to visit my sister Dorothy and her two sons’ graves. We have really enjoyed having the time to visit with family and share memories.
10/3- Frank had to head back to work this morning so he was up and going early. As soon as he was done with his morning shift we packed up and headed off to Paso Robles, California where we will be spending the next four nights. Frank has a big install for his company so his work hours will be different while we are here. He will be working from 6 am to 2 pm everyday. The drive down took much longer than we expected but we arrived at a beautiful place, Wine County RV Resort. We were glad we had our Passport America membership as it cut the cost of camping here in half. While Frank finished his work day I explored the campground and got my steps in for the day. https://www.sunoutdoors.com/california/sun-outdoors-paso-robles
10/4- Got up this morning and while Frank was busy working I did some running around. I had gotten my nails done on the cruise and they had done a horrible job and they were all popping off so I went and had my fake nails removed and got a manicure on my real nails. Paso Robles is a cute little town and fun to explore. When I got back to the campground I enjoyed a nice swim and then worked some on my Hawaii blog.
When Frank got off at 2 pm we were able to go off and explore. Today we had planned to go to Pismo Beach and do some whale watching. When we got there we found out that the last boat for watching whales went out at 1 pm so we ended up walking to the end of Pismo Beach Pier where we were able to see quite a few whales at a distance. They were both spouting and jumping from the water but try as hard as I could I just couldn’t catch a picture of them. Still it was amazing to see. https://thewhaletrail.org/sites/pismo-beach/
We walked the beach and explored Pirates Cove. But we did not head down to the beach there as we had no intention in nude sunbathing.
Then we went hiking at a Monarch Butterfly Grove and were sad to find out that the butterflies’ migration pattern would not bring them there until early November. https://www.experiencepismobeach.com/beach-and-outdoors/monarch-butterflies/
On the way back to our campground we stopped in San Luis Obispo at Madonna Inn. It was a place Frank’s parents would often stop to eat on their way to visit his Aunt in Santa Maria. The inn continues to look just like it did when it was built in the 1950’s. Each room in the inn is designed differently and the dining room was very classic 1950’s. We enjoyed a pricey but delicious dinner. Frank had fried chicken since that is always what he had when he went through with his parents and I had salmon. https://www.madonnainn.com/our-history
10/5- Frank had another full day of working so I went and got my haircut, did some running around, went swimming and worked on my blog until he was ready to head out for fun. The weather was beautiful and we headed for Morro Bay in hopes of seeing some more whales and Morro Rock. On our way we stopped in Atascadero at an amazing Faces of Freedom War Memorial. It was well worth the stop and beautiful to see. http://facesoffreedommemorial.org/
As we got closer to Morro Bay the temperature began to drop and the fog moved in. By the time we reached the Bay it was over 20 degrees colder than when we left the campground and there was no seeing whales with the limited visibility. We had a nice walk on the beach and then Frank went back to get the car while I continued to walk down to what I thought would be an easier way to get off the beach. I walked past Morro Rock and continued on a path for over 20 minutes before we were able to find one another again and hit the road. https://www.morro-bay.ca.us/383/Morro-Rock-Beach
Since the weather was so bad at Morro Bay we decided to head down the road to Los Osos and explore Sweet Springs Nature Preserve. As we were driving through town we kept seeing signs for Elfin Forest which piqued our curiosity. We decided after exploring the Nature Preserve we would go see what the Elfin Forest was all about. We enjoyed the Nature Preserve and were able to get close to a fawn that was eating and watched it.
Then it was time to hike the Elfin Forest. It is called the Elfin Forest because of the Pygmy Oaks that grow there. With the small trees, hanging moss, and fog it felt very much like being in a Hobbit movie. We walked the whole loop of the forest and just as we were getting to the end a coyote went loping across the trail in front of us. I am glad that it was as afraid of us as I was of it. We were chilled to the bone and drove off to find a Starbucks for hot chocolate before heading back to the RV and much warmer temperature. https://www.elfin-forest.org/
10/6- Today was our last night in Paso Robles. When Frank got off at 2 pm and we hit some local spots in town. We went to the Estrella Warbird Museum and Woodland Auto Display which were right next to each other. Both were full of so many things to see. We spent quite a bit of time there exploring. I found a Cushman motor scooter like my brother use to have. When I was about 4 to 6 years old I would ride standing in front of him while he drove. Of course no one wore a helmet back in the day and didn’t think about how dangerous it would be to have a little child standing in front on the motor scooter. We spent so long at those two places that we barely made it to the Pioneer Museum before it closed. We did a quick run through there but couldn’t really appreciate all we saw. https://www.travelpaso.com/things-to-do/attractions/museums-and-history/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwy5maBhDdARIsAMxrkw1E5ebh7tZREO59tEiVh4GEPmpQdTdKJboDADGpwjEYAbMxt6_5zJAaAotYEALw_wcB
Then it was down to San Luis Obispo for the evening and their Thursday Night Street Market. We stopped by and saw the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. It had already closed for the evening so we could only walk around the grounds of the Mission.
We explored downtown San Luis Obispo and walked through bubble gum alley where thousands of people have stuck their chewed bubble gum on the walls. We were both very careful not to touch either wall as we walked through.
We found a wonderful place for dinner Burger Village which had something for both Frank and me, then we walked through the Street Market before heading back to the RV. https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/san-luis-obispo-farmers-market/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwy5maBhDdARIsAMxrkw1-7Sq-7FSmBWxvTqgoPSkiV9Hqku2Ya2LJ-1szeyXUSqwCMogrX7oaAvQFEALw_wcB
10/7- Frank was back to working a split day today as his install was done. After he was done at 10 am we packed up the RV and got ready to hit the road. We stopped for lunch in Lost Hills, California at Blackwell Corner Market where James Dean made his last stop before crashing his car. Then we headed on to Tehachapi, California where we are spending the night in Mountain Valley RV Park which is near a airport that does glider flights. Frank finished up his work day while I finally finished up typing my Hawaiian Blog.
We were done with our first week back on the road and ready to head to Arizona for our next adventure.
Ty for your videos
You are welcome. Glad you enjoy them.