Washburn and Morro Strand

June 8 to June 17, 2019

We have our annual, long, Father's Day weekend booked far in advance but we wanted to go over a few days early. Nothing much is available. The only sites I found were San Simeon Washburn campsites. That was fine and we are happy to get them, even though we have not been there before. 

We had a drip develop on our water tank cap. Two trips into town to get a new cap and washer to stop the drip. 

One one of our walks along the beach we saw several dolphins just hanging around the area, feeding I guess. So enjoyable to watch. 

We had a visit to the near by Mexican Restaurant. We always enjoy that. It is not as good as Old Juan's Cantina but still good.  

We drove into Cambria several time to enjoy a nice lunch and then also fix that dripping water cap. Besides that we played cards and relaxed. I did get a little bit of scrapbooking done. We did need gas but shocking it was $4.75 in Cambria $4.29 in Morro Strand just 30-40 minutes apart. We should have waited! 

We moved to Morro Strand. Deb and Sam were the first to arrive with some of the boys and one of Spencer's friends. We went and ate dinner that night at House of JuJu. After that it was mostly kids, chaos, busy camping sites, and they are small to begin with. We need at least 3 sites next time. Deb & Sam love their new trailer. The tents so crowded with people walking by - it was hard to sleep for some, which made Jeff grouchy.

Most of us took a drive down to Pismo to enjoy lunch at Splash Cafe. The pier is finally open so we took a walk as well. Of course, we would not be that close and not stop at Avila Farms. Julie and Miranda had a lot of fun feeding the animals.

We got oysters from Giovanni's again but they were so very small... too small really. Next time we will go for medium. Our special dinner was to be at Schooner's and it was. However Sierra and Matt left because they would not allow their dog Doug to be on the patio. I was surprised. So upsetting to Deb that they left. 

We wanted to stay on a few more days but it was not to be as EVERY PLACE is full up!

Trip to Reagan Library

February 25 to March 1, 2019  

We wanted to visit the Reagan Library to see the Pompeii Exhibit. 

We traveled down on Hwy 5. I dreaded it but it was really quite smooth and easy. There was very little traffic, only congested when we left 5 for 405, but we got to the campground safe and sound. Oak Park Campground in Simi Valley is just a couple of miles from the Reagan Museum. There aren't a lot of sites, we were in Campsite 4. The hosts were very friendly and nice the one time we saw them. It was with dread that  we realized there were railroad tracks just next to the campground. What have we gotten ourselves into? However, the trains were short, commuter-type trains. Thankfully, they did not run through the night. Plus, our Casita is well insulated from sound. 

We got Doggie Daycare for Tony at the nearby PetSmart when we went to the museum, that made it easier for all of us. My back is really bothering me so we didn't stay at the museum as long as we planned but we did see the great exhibit and a few other things. All the things like Air Force One seem so out-of-date, which of course they are. The Berlin Wall exhibit meant more to us since we have now see the actual wall in Berlin. It made the exhibit come alive. We hoped there would be a nice place to eat lunch at the museum but that was not the case. We had a boxed salad that was good enough. I still hope to get to Pompeii one day! So fascinating!

The next morning we left 9:45a, it started to rain when we left. The drive was easy we stopped in San Bernardino for gas and pulled over and made a chicken salad sandwich for our lunch on a croissant. It wasn't raining then so John took Tony for a nice walk. It is really lovely along 101 most of it is so bare along the way with undeveloped property. I always wonder why? I'm sure they could sell that property for a lot of money and put on it for a big price. As we got to Pismo area it started to rain again. We went to Pismo North Beach campground first and it is closed for restoration we found out later it will open mid May. I hope they made enough improvements to keep it flooding during the rainy seasons. We went on to Oceano where there were vacancies. It is finally open now and it's really quite nice with nice, new, roomy restrooms, and showers. There were plenty of vacancies but only for one night we have to check in the morning if we can have the same site tomorrow. It is not supposed to rain tomorrow so we might stay but if we have to move we will not spend another night and just go home that's too big a pain in the behind. We set up with just a little bit of sprinkles and then have stayed inside due to the rain it's not pouring down but it is constantly sprinkling and we just don't feel like getting wet and sharing our space with a wet pup! The next day we did a nice drive along the dunes, went to Avila Farms, ate at Old Juan's Cantina, and generally had a nice time. 

I wanted to add, when we went through Ventura earlier in the day, there were information centers for the Channel Islands. If they weather had been better, we would have liked to stop and gather some information. I would love to go visit those islands. I will have to research and see what I can find out. There must be some sort of transportation, a ferry, or something to get out there for the day. I'm pretty sure you cannot stay overnight out there and even if you could it would be tent camping. I think we saw the islands from the shore as we drove along. I could be wrong and I could not look at my phone while driving. We didn't have a map handy. It was a nice little winter vacation. 

Millerton New Years

Our last trip of 2018 and the first trip of 2019, combined in one. December 28, 2018 to January 1, 2019. It was pretty cold but we had a good time despite that. We played cards a lot. Jeff had to work one of the days so he came back into town but returned. Matt and Sierra came up for the day on Sunday. We took everyone up to Chukchansi for the buffet then we played horseshoes at camp. We welcomed in the New Year around the fire. Miranda was too tired to make it to midnight. 

Azalea Campground #87

So thankful to God and the doctors He provided! John is cleared to go into the high altitude again and we are headed to the mountains! We decided to come up early for the Labor Day weekend and get 2 spots so that any of the kids that want to join us, can. There were plenty of sites open when we got here, but not a lot of them were together. We did get #87 for us and #77 for the kids. They are back to back and it will work just fine. #87 is a large site. #77 has awkward table and fire pit settings but we can just use #87 since there is plenty of room. The weather is wonderful; clear, sunny, a tiny breeze. We had a great week, which went by very quickly! Deb and Sam joined us Thursday-Monday. 

Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

June 23-26, 2018

The most traffic backup was going through San Francisco on Hwy 1/101. I knew there would be delays but I didn't think it would take as long as it did. The alternative would have been going east on Hwy 17 and then up I-580 through Oakland and many other Bay Area cities, so no regrets. We had a lovely drive along the coastal Hwy 1 route. The big regret it the outrageously hot temperatures in Napa! Once we got to Napa we stopped at Genova's to get some things for a nice dinner. I even got some Zinfandel wine in a can to have with it. It was highly rated, we'll see. 

By the time we got to Bothe it was 106! Oh brother! It really didn't take long to set up but we were both exhausted from the heat. I even felt quite weak and dizzy. John read his Kindle and sat in the shade with Tony. I had to lie down in the trailer with the ice pack I brought and cold compress. If it is like this tomorrow, we agreed we will leave early in the morning. I am happy to report that we got cold in the night and the rest of our stay only had temps up to the mid 80's. 

The next morning we went to the cemetery and put flowers on a few of the graves, including Mom's. She liked to do this and I took her there often. It was a little bit hard but knowing it would have made her happy helped a lot. After that we thought to try Rutherford Grill without a reservation. That left us the choice of the outside patio and appetizer menu only. It was shady so we chose to stay and had guacamole, artichoke-spinach dip, and grilled artichokes with a margarita to cool us off. Now that the sadder moments are past us I figured we might try to see Chuck if he is at Caymus today. If he is not there I will text him and try to see him tomorrow with some photos he might want. The surprise was, he was there, and met with us also giving us free wine tasting! I was thrilled that he had such an interest and indeed wanted the few photos I brought to him. If he only knew how many more I have! I will be sure to bring them to the Glos Family Reunion planned in early October. He will have a chance to decide about many photos, some he may want. Anyway, it was a nice visit and he gave us 2 6-pack bags of wine to take home with us! Such a generous and nice man. Our day was complete with our ravioli dinner, a bottle of Zinfandel from the gifted wine, and multiple card games. 

Today I contacted the St. Helena Historical Society to offer them the rest of the photos Chuck did not want, along with some baby shoes. To my surprise, they wanted everything and were quite thrilled to receive the items. I assured them I do have more and in time they will get it. This time John and I had reservations for Rutherford Grill so we had a nice table inside and I could order the beloved ribs for our lunch. John shared them with me because he wanted the guacamole again. With the ribs, coleslaw, and fries, we still could not eat it all but it made a nice snack this evening. We decided that tomorrow we will head home. We are tired and we both want to watch the next World Cup game the following day, which is Brasil vs. Serbia.  

Now home, safe and sound. Trailer is stored and all went well. No health issues. Thanking God for that! 

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

June 19-23, 2018

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, site 7. What a lovely campground just a few miles from Santa Cruz, open seasonally April 1-Nov 1. The only negative is poison oak, and LOTS of it, around about half the campsites. Our campsite is spacious (ours would hold at least 5 tents!) and cleared of poison oak, but one must not wander off the trail or roads because it is everywhere. We are keeping Tony on a short leash. I see a lot of kids having a wonderful time playing in it --- I wonder how that will turn out for them? Anyway, as I said the campsites are nice, most are spacious with a large, sturdy table and a cupboard attached. Each site has the typical fire ring with grill. Most sites are shaded by a lovely canopy of trees, which is just beautiful, a few have full sun. If you are counting on solar power you would want to pick and choose one of the few sites that have sun when booking online. We are very happy with the filtered sunlight and cool weather. There are nice, hot, coin operated showers in two of the restrooms. Water faucets and trash containers are conveniently located to the campsites. I thought of Sierra and Matt because there are 14 hiking trails listed to explore from .3 to 3.3 miles in length, they enjoy hiking! One of the hikes is 45 minutes to the Redwood Grove. It is also a 5 minute drive. Guess which one we did? There are a lot of Rhododendron but not in bloom this time of year. There are 113 camps here with a variety of types. We drove around and noted our favorites. Notably but not comprehensive: 7, 35, 39, 42, 47, 96 - and double camps for the family would be 52 & 54 or 61 & 63.  

One day we drove the few miles to Felton and through the little town to get to the Redwood Grove. There is a one mile loop to walk with numbers and a little guide to read as you go. There is a small Visitors Center, gift shop I didn't go into, and some other facilities in the area. It was a nice outing.  You will find the Roaring Camp Railroad near Felton as well.  You can take this steam train on a narrated ride through the Redwood forest to Bear Mountain for some great views, then back. The other option is the Beach Train to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. You can catch this train in Felton, Roaring Camp, or at the Boardwalk, one way or round trip can be purchased. They advertise Ziplining but I didn't read much about it.

This would be a great family camp, but of course no beach for fishing close by. Now we are on our way to Bothe-Napa Valley. I should have thought this through better, departing on a Saturday and the emotional toll of returning to Napa. 

Morro Strand State Beach Campground

June 14-19, 2018

14-19: Morro Strand State Beach Campground, sites 75 & 76. This is our traditional trip to the coast with the family on Father's Day weekend. Jeff always has Miranda and he loves to fish, so this is the choice. Deb likes to hear the waves at night to sleep as well. The campsites are small and "not special" but the location is premium. We often get the ocean side but this time even trying 5 months in advance, we could only get the city side. It still works out fine. This time we had us, Julianne,  Deb, Sam, Spencer, Steven, and Saira. Julie had work on Monday so she went home with Steven and Saira on Sunday afternoon after watching the World Cup game and having shrimp tacos. During our time there is it also Sam's birthday. We celebrated at Schooner's in Cayucos - one of our favorites. We typically eat there at least once when on the coast. We also like House of JuJu and Giovanni's, we ate at both. We got fresh oysters Saturday night, Steven and Jeff grilled them on the fire and we had assorted sauces for our toppings. We are never that hungry after eating the big meal at Schooner's for lunch that day. The weather was great most of the time but the wind really kicked up Monday and actually drove us indoors for part of the time. It certainly was no weather to play Uno and even Yahtzee was hard to control. Sharon and her friend Sandy are bringing granddaughter's Rylee and Emery to see Hearst's Castle so they had a long drive but did stop to see us for a little bit before heading to their hotel.  Thankfully the wind died down by evening and was just starting to pick up when we departed on Tuesday morning. Deb wanted to stay and be sure we were hooked up and on our way before they left. After leaving Morro Strand we back tracked to Morro Bay State Campground to empty our waste tanks and replenished our water tans. Now we are on our way to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.