Pismo Beach, California

Another week of very nice weather here in Pismo Beach. Had a chance to run up to Cambria in the week and have breakfast at the Creekside Garden with Pat and Bill who are now back from South Africa. They were gone from Cambria for 3 months and it was good to see them again.

We were also able to spend a little time with Chuck and Sheila who drove down here from Cambria to spend an evening with us. Sheila is the author of Lifesigns, a must read book. What a fun evening.

Chuck and Sheila

Also was able to see Toni again. She lives right near the beach in Shell Beach and she had us over for an evening. After dinner, we were able to walk less than 100 feet to watch the sun go down.  Here are pictures we took that evening.

Jerry, Chant and Toni watching the sun go down.

And the picture taken from behind them.

Beautiful pink sunset that evening

We were able to go biking one day this week and took the beach route back to the RV park.  Actually, riding a bike on the beach wasn't that bad as long as we rode close to the water where the sand was firmer.

Caught lots of seagulls with my cell phone one day while on a walk.

This week we also celebrated Jerry's 69th birthday and the 38th year of our first date. We are very thankful to be able to celebrate this life together and take nothing for granted.  

Have a great week!

Pismo Beach, California

Getting anxious to get on the road again, but we first still have more to do here in Pismo Beach. Spent the last two weeks scanning old photographs into the computer and making up disks for each of the kids.    Makes one realize how fast time flies.

Had a very nice weekend with Shannon (son) and our 7 year old granddaughter, Natalie, who drove up here from LA and spent the night. Natalie also helped remind us that time is flying fast. When Jerry built a camp fire last night, she wanted to roast marsh mellows. Since we didn't have any on the coach, someone had to walk her to the nearby mini-mart to buy some. It was dark outside and I offered to take her to the store. What do you think her greatest fear was? How about her statement: "I don't want grandma to go with me because she is old and cannot protect me." FYI, we took flashlights and made the trip without incident.

Jerry, Natalie and Shan by the fire (sorry, but I took this picture with a flash)

This morning we checked out the Monarch butterflies again. 

Natalie studying the butterflies on the ground

 Monarch in tree

We did run up to Cambria to get our mail this week past week. 

Here is a picture of the coastline near Morrow Bay.

Hwy 1 Coastline near Morrow Bay

Have a great Holiday Weekend and coming week.

Pismo Beach, California

This Pismo Coast Village RV Park is a beehive of activity on the weekends. On the weekends, the place is nearly full with campers. Then, come Monday, it empties out and we have the park pretty much to ourselves (along with other full-timers who do not have to leave to go to work on Monday.)

This is what we saw from our front window on Wednesday.

Right now, everyone around us is packing up to leave. Guess they want to make it back home before the Super Bowl game starts. Speaking of the game, we are looking forward to watching it later today. Jerry has stocked up with the food and is making more.

A Wall Street Journal article discussed the relationship between the Super Bowl and the DOW. If history is any indication, it reports that IF the team that was part of the original NFL wins (in this case, the Giants), there is an 80% chance that the market will go up in 2012.  Go Giants!

During the week, we ran over to Paso Robles to pick up new business cards for Jerry. Came across this accident on Hwy 101 just south of Atascadero. Hopefully no one was seriously injured.

Accident on Hwy. 101

We were able to connect with a few people this week. First, we had a nice breakfast at the Creek Side Garden Restaurant in Cambria on Tuesday with friends, Cheryl and Sammy. Here is a picture we took of them.

Cheryl and Sammy

Later, Toni joined us for dinner at our place. Jerry and Toni go back 47 years when they met at St. John's Hospital and Health Center where they both worked.

Jerry and Toni

When we were in Cambria, we dropped off all of our tax materials to our accountant. Getting our tax returns done early -- and it feels good.

Other than that, here are some scenery pictures I took this week.

Taken with the cell phone while on my walk with Chanti. Shows steps 

out of the park to the ocean as the sun is setting.

There are actually three sets of steps from this park to the ocean.

Just having fun with my cell phone.

Taken on another evening with the Nikon D300s.

That's all, folks. Have fun watching the game and don't eat or drink too much.

Pismo Beach, California

Today we are going to learn about the Monarch butterfly because Pismo Beach has the honor of hosting these beautiful creatures for 5-6 months each year. Would you believe that they leave the Rocky Mountains and Canada in late August or early September, traveling at speeds of 100 miles per day and flying as high as 10,000 feet, to reach Pismo Beach, California, by October? That is a trip of over 2,000 miles that they instinctively make each year.

Did you know that they have four wings and six legs?

They come to Pismo Beach for the grove of Eucalyptus and Cyprus trees that provide them with just the proper humidity, light, shade, temperature and protection from the elements while they feed on the necter in the flowers. That's why we keep coming back to Pismo Beach, too.

The park rangers conduct classes twice a day for the public and schools.

We watched and listened to this instructor while he asked the children, "and then what does the caterpillar turn into?" One quick child yelled out "an airplane?" At least he knew it would be something that can fly.  

There were thousands of Monarch butterflies everywhere!

As often as we have come to see the butterflies, we have never seen so many of them just flying around and not clumped together in large packs. They "cluster" in large groups to stay warm and keep from being blown away during high winds. Come to think of it, every time we went to check on them prior to today, the weather was cold and often times rainy. Today, the temperature is 68 degrees and sunny.

As they are on vacation here, they also take time to mate. They mate on the ground, not in the trees. One little boy asked his dad what those two butterflies were doing. The dad answered, "they're wrestling."

Leave it to Jerry to capture this one.

And, that's the end of today's lesson.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pismo Beach, California

We are back at what we consider our "home park." We call it that because we spend two month each year at this park -- the Pismo Coast Village RV Resort. It is also our time to "get things done" so that we can spend the rest of the year "on the road."

Sun setting in Pismo (taken with cell phone)

This past week, for example, we spent some time "organizing" our storage bin in Paso Robles. When we left last time, we hauled all the stuff we needed to remove from the house to the storage bin. Let's just say, when we were finished, we couldn't find anything that we wanted or needed. It was so packed in that we couldn't even walk into it without removing tons of stuff.
Not any more. We bought sturdy shelving from Lowes and spend Friday putting the place in order. Now, all of my photos are in one spot -- as are all the dishes and kitchen items, papers we are required to keep, my yarns and knitting books, Jerry's books and business things, etc. You get the picture. We felt good afterwards.
We also have our doctors' appointments scheduled and are in the process of scheduling the maintenance items on the RV.
Didn't take any pictures yet, except with my cell phone while on walks on the beach.

Taken with HTC Rezound cell phone. (Don't know the girl in the picture.)

Ventura Beach, California

Arrived here on Wednesday for four days on the beach before heading up to Pismo Beach for two months. Weather is great, in the low 70s during the daytime and 40s at night. Best part about the stay this time is that the surf has been high nearly all of the time. We leave our bedroom window which faces the ocean open at night. We love hearing and seeing the crashing waves on the shore as we go to sleep and awake in the morning.

  Captured the sun setting on the first night we were here.

And, the sky turning orange-red!

We discussed whether the streak in the sky was a North Korean nuclear missile, but decided that it was just the vapor trail from an airplane flying east. It eventually passed right over our heads.

Thursday morning was our only calm day before the high tides set in.

Thursday evening -- still a bit calm

By Friday, the surf was 10 -15 feet tall and came to nearly a 

third of the way up the rocks next to the coach.

Pretty exciting, and LOUD, too!

For those who want to see the ocean in action, watch this VIDEO taken this morning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Happy New Year - 2012

This is one more posting of people before we leave Temecula tomorrow, and thus ending the round of enjoying family and friends for this holiday season.

John and Marijean graciously opened their house to their long-time friends for a most fun New Year's Eve get-together. Since they have a four bedroom house, everyone stayed at their place except Jerry and me. We are at the Pechanga RV Resort, a short distance from their place. 

Before I show pictures of the group, let me tell you about the FOOD. John and Jerry (both chefs in their own right) made the bulk of the dishes. Others contributed, too. We ate and munched for five hours. We had (not in any particular order): caramelized onion tarts, deviled eggs, marinated mushrooms, various cheeses, french onion soup, cornish game hens with Minnesota wild rice (made with bacon), smoked pork on the grill, potatoes, cream style corn, raspberry cheese cake (took Dee three days to make), and pinot noir chocolate port cake with whipping cream -- and then a little champagne! 

Bob, John and Jerry

Patti and Linda

Marijean and Dee

Nancy and Bob

Greg, John and Bruce

Nancy, Dee and Bruce (something shocks Dee)

The Group taken with my cell phone panorama

The Group taken with Nikon timer so that we all could get into the photo

The next day, we went to the Chinese Restaurant in the Pechanga for our traditional New Year's Day Chinese food. Eating Chinese food on New Year's Day is suppose to bring you good luck for the year. Jerry's family has been faithful to this tradition for years. 

Everyone has now left Temecula. We plan on joining John and Marijean for dinner yet tonight. And then, Jerry has plans to get the air conditioner checked on the RV here in Temecula tomorrow before we head out of here. Going back to the beach in Ventura.

We sincerely wish nothing but the best for everyone in this new year. It is the year of the Dragon in Asia which denotes power and success. May everyone experience a successful 2012.