Farewell to California Tour, Stop 2

B and I didn't have the same Spring Break this year (I know, poor us), so we took a long weekend at the end of my Spring Break and headed south with my mom and Tod.  We stayed at an Air Bnb Place in Arroyo Grande, just outside of San Luis Obispo.  We took the scenic route down after B's class and drove through Big Sur, which we had done about a year ago with B's parents.  Highly recommend this stretch of Highway 101!

Before I go on, it's important to note that all photo credits for this trip go to Tod.

The next morning, we got up and drove up near Paso Robles (pronounced by Californians as Paso Ro-bulls) to our favorite winery that we had stopped at with B's parents the year before, Adelaida.  Highly recommend!  It was a picture perfect day, so we took many pictures!

After the wine tasting and picnic, we headed back toward SLO to a winery whose name escapes me at the moment, but it was also lovely.  We had patio seating and a lovely day for sitting outside.

We attempted a third winery and showed up at 4:55 (ok, maybe :58) and it closed at 5...we were told we were too late.  Luckily, we were docile at this point and chose not to put up a fight.  We headed into SLO for their famous farmers market.  On the way there, we decided to try something a little different...beer!

We continued our walk to the market and walked through the most disgusting alleyway ever...the alley of gum!  There are even more disgusting photos than this that aren't blog appropriate, but here's an idea:

The farmers market was incredibly busy but we managed to find a crepe stand for dinner!  I love crepes!!

The next day, we went for a hike by the ocean.  Mom had recently broken her toe, but she was quite the trooper!

 I included the above photo because it reminds me of going to museums in my childhood, particularly the Field Museum in Chicago.

This guy was our faithful picnic companion, until Tod got too close with the camera for comfort.

After our hike, we made time to make it to one more winery and picked up this bottle for dinner.  We cooked out steaks and veggies on the grill.  We also learned what a salt block is, and what happens to it if it heats up too quickly (explosion).  Good to know.

 

After the winery, we drove down to Pismo Beach.  B figured out from Google Maps that people actually drive on the beach, and how many opportunities do you have to do that?  We decided to join them.  We soon found out something that Google Maps doesn't tell you....that in order to drive on a beach, you need to let a significant amount of air out of your tires.  Or else you'll get stuck.  Luckily, we had the wherewithal to not dig ourselves in too deep, and just letting the air out of our tires allowed us to push out of the problem.  And by us, I mean B, Tod, and two good Samaritans who probably help people like us 10 x a day and refused to take payment.  Thanks guys!

After that, we made it back to town in time for ice cream and meat shopping for our cookout.

Some more shots from the house we stayed in:

The next morning we got up very early to make it to Monterey in time for our whale watching tour at 9 am.  It was 4 hours long and we saw 13 whales and several dolphins as well.  By far the highlight was the end, when two whales were basically playing with our ship, showing off and showing us all different parts of their bodies.  At one point, we got seriously sprayed with the spray from one of their blowholes, which I can attest does smell as bad as you'd think it would.

It was a great trip that made me nostalgic for leaving California!

Stop One on the Farewell, California Tour - the Lost Coast and Mendocino

Our Spring Breaks didn't coincide this year, so we had to settle for a short weekend trip over B's break.  Our original plan had been to backpack the Lost Coast but the weather forecast didn't comply.  Instead, we drove up and camped one night in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, where the really big redwoods are.  They were incredible.  We got our tent set up at around 10:30 pm and as we zipped it up it started to rain in earnest.  It didn't stop! We drove over to the Lost Coast with hopes of doing a hike, but the road was washed out about a mile from the coast.  We parked there and just walked to the Coast.  The wind and rain were whipping around us and were so loud that we could hardly hear each other speak.  When we got to the coast, we were alone with a flock of seagulls and a couple of seals who were hanging out in a tidal pool and occasionally glancing at us.  We unfortunately have no photos of this day because the rain was unrelenting.

That night, we drove to Mendocino where we had reserved a "European style" hotel room in an historic hotel.  For the record, European style means you get to walk into the hallway to use the bathroom and you might get Athlete's Foot.

 

The first night we went out to an Irish Pub to watch UVA play in the Sweet 16.  When we left for the two block walk, it was kind of raining but not too bad.  When, dejected, we headed home,  it was absolutely pouring.  We squealed...ok, I squealed...and ran through the streets of Mendocino and ended up completely soaked by the time we got back.  On second thought, maybe that's where the Athlete's Foot came from.

We woke up to a birthday and started the day early in the hotel lobby.

Waiting for him to deal with birthday texts

 

Dealing with birthday texts

 After having a lovely cup of coffee and tea, we took B's birthday chair picture, reminiscent of last year in the Dome House.

We walked around town getting a feel for the very small, adorable town of Mendocino.

We had stopped for our hiking essentials -- a baguette and some cheese and salami

 We went for a birthday hike in Russian Gulch State Park.  Look how cool this tree is!    It grew on top of a stump and had to grow roots way down!

 We walked to this waterfall and had a lovely picnic next to it!

 B took this picture to show me how best to take the photo.  See below.

There he is!

 After our hike, we went to check out a lighthouse near the park.  You can tell I didn't pack appropriately because I'm wearing B's sweater.  Sometimes living in RWC I forget that it's not always sunny and in the 70's everywhere.

 My favorite tree!  They are all over the coast.  I will miss these trees.  I believe they are Cyprus.

 A third thought is that the Athlete's Foot could have come from the entire day spent hiking in my rain boots.

I actually remembered to have us take not one but TWO pictures together on this trip!

 After a birthday dinner, we headed back to our hotel for drinks.  B met a birthday twin who was turning 62.  He bought our drinks!  B set a reminder in his phone to pay it forward in 2045.  The next day we headed home but stopped in Petaluma at Laguintas and met a good friend of mine from the Peace Corps and her husband.  We then headed to a couple wineries in Sonoma County and got some ice cream in Sonoma.  Of course we forgot to get a photo of the group, but I think my friend got one so I'll have to get it and add it later!

All in all a fantastic trip.  One that could have been a whole week if we had had the time.

Bridgelandia does Portlandia

After our few beautiful days at the Oregon Coast, we made a trip to Portland.  We had freakishly sunny and warm weather for November and had a day to ourselves to putz around town.  It was really beautiful!

Amazing that there hadn't been a dog gym before now, right?

 

After traipsing around downtown, we found a cafe where we could get some famous Portland coffee.  And even though I'm not a coffee drinker, I had some coffee as well because there were only 5 things on the menu, and they were all coffee.  Photographic evidence is below.

We got to catch up with a good friend of mine from the Peace Corps who lives in Portland and got to stay with him one evening.  [no photo evidence] Then we stayed with my mom's cousin and had Thanskgiving with their lovely family.  On the way home, we stopped in Eugene to meet up with one of B's friends from grad school who is a professor at U of O now.  It was beautiful and we declared it a potential future Bridgelandia residence.  On the way home, we passed Mount Shasta around sunset and stopped for a couple of photos.

 

 All in all, it was a great trip!