Chula Vista/San Diego, CA

Yesterday I hauled my “house” a very short distance down I-5 from Anaheim to Chula Vista a southern suburb of San Diego. Nice to only be on the road for an hour and a half.

In addition to this being the furthest point I’ll get away from Ottawa and most south-westerly, it’s also about the mid-point of my No Fixed Address North American Tour. Hard to believe this started more than 5 months ago when I picked up my little house in St. Jerome, QC. That was 21,296 km ago. Wonder how many beaches I’ve walked on, how many lighthouses I’ve seen, and how many times I’ve hitched/unhitched my house? Guess I should have been keeping track.

I’m here in Chula Vista/San Diego for two weeks, and won’t move until December 1st when I head to Palm Desert. So I may not post every day. Depends on what I’m up to. There are a million things to do in the San Diego area but I’m also using this stop to rest, catch up on some reading and generally chill. I know, I sound like a spoilt brat, but t’s tiring being on the road and uprooting yourself on a regular basis, just when you’re getting to know you way around. So, yes, please play your world’s smallest violins for me, having to rest up in sunny San Diego. Also, please send me any suggestions you might have about what I should do while in this region.

Today I did some laundry and then headed to the Seaport Village and Embarcadero area of San Diego. My temporary home in Chula Vista is near the southern most part of San Diego Bay, just south of National City. At National City there is a huge car/truck port and there are hundreds of cars stored along the shoreline, and a mile of car dealerships along one of the main thoroughfares. I headed north towards San Diego on Harbor Blvd, which passes through Naval Base San Diego. It’s huge but you can’t see much along the way. I do hear the helicopters overhead on a regular basis throughout the day, but I think they stopped around 10 pm last night.

Seaport Village, as the name would imply is on the harbour. I had been here years and years ago at a sales meeting, and I remembered the Seaport Village area, but San Diego has grown up around it.

The convention centre complex along the Embarcadero opened in November 1989 and most of the highrise hotels weren’t here the last time I was here, so the complexion of the area has changed a lot. The convention centre reminds me of Canada Place in Vancouver, with it’s teflon sails. Turns out it was designed by Canadian architect, Arthur Erickson.

I wandered the shops, bought an ice cream and went for a long walk along the various parts of the waterfront, all the way from Seaport Village down to Embarcadero Park at the south end of the development. Absolutely perfect day.

On my way back to the KOA I stopped by a mall nearby and turns out it’s huge, and includes a Macy’s, Nordstrom, etc. However, there are a bunch of outlet malls here too, so I’m going to check those out before shopping at a regular mall. I will be here for U. S. Thanksgiving and Black Friday, when I’ll be on a beach or anywhere far, far away from any shopping.

Anaheim, CA

Today I decided my ultimate destination would be Santa Monica Pier, but that I’d wander a bit before getting there. I didn’t stop to take too many pictures because most of what I saw is stuff you’ve all seen pictures of anyway and I wouldn’t have been able to cover as much ground if I stopped frequently.

I started at the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park. I’m ashamed to admit it was just to stop to take a picture of the Hollywood sign since I’d read it was a good place to get one. I just didn’t have time to stop and have a look at the Observatory, although it looked really interesting.

Hollywood was my next stop. I parked near Hollywood and Highland near the heart of the area. Turns out they were just implementing a diagonal crosswalk at that corner and the traffic was a mess because everyone was confused about what was going on, both pedestrians and drivers. I managed to cross without getting killed.

I wandered along the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking at all the stars there. I was actually surprised by how many of the people I didn’t recognize. In one block is the Hollywood Ave entrance to the Dolby Theatre which is where the Academy Awards have been held since 2001 when it was opened (previously called Kodak Theatre). There is also a 4 story mall with restaurants and shops as part of the Theatre complex.

It’s just down the block from historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre which is where the Oscars were handed out in the 1940s. It was opened in 1927 and still hosts openings of movies from time to time. In the courtyard in front of the theatre are the hand and footprints (and glove print in the case of Michael Jackson) of generations of Hollywood stars.

There are other tourist traps as well such as the Madame Trussaud’s Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

Then it was down to Sunset Blvd and the Sunset Strip and then over to Rodeo Drive which I drove from north to south where it joins Wiltshire Blvd. I didn’t stop to shop or even take a picture. Every designer you’ve ever heard of has a store there.

Then on to Santa Monica Boulevard for a quick stop at the Beverly Hills sign and lily pond, and then all the way out to Santa Monica Pier. Yes, another pier. This is my second favourite after Santa Cruz. I think it must be the roller coaster and carousels. It was cool and really windy, so not a great beach day. Santa Monica is the western end of famous Route 66 which used to go east all the way to Chicago, Illinois covering 3, 940 km.

Coming back I freeway-hopped back to Anaheim. At times I was speeding along at 90 and others I was crawling along at 40. Thankfully I was never stopped completely. I certainly couldn’t do this freeway driving on a regular basis.

Anaheim, CA

Yesterday was time for me to leave all the yucky stuff going on in the world behind and enter into that “happiest place on earth”, Disneyland. I was about the 20th guest into the park at the 9 opening and I didn’t leave till 11:30 pm. I was exhausted, had really irritated my SI joint and eaten too many calories (yes, I had a churro), but I was happy.

I’m sure many of you have experienced Disneyland or Disneyworld so I won’t go into too many details here. It’s been a long, long time since I was there last, and really, things haven’t changed that much. Which is a good thing. It’s Disneyland’s 60th anniversary this year, and the Sleeping Beauty Castle is decorated in diamonds, silver ribbon and the “60” is on the castle, banners and at the entrance.

What was different this time, is that given the time of year Christmas has taken over some of the attractions and their decorations. “Jungle Cruise” has become “Jingle Cruise” and their theme is all about missing Christmas decorations. “It’s a Small World” has more Christmas songs than their annoying theme song and many of the scenes have been augmented by Christmas decorations. The Haunted House has Halloween and Christmas touches as well and the afternoon parade is totally Christmas themed, (aptly named “A Christmas Fantasy”), including dancing reindeer and of course Santa as the finale.

The evening parade was called Paint the Night and I’m sure Chris Hatfield could have seen the lights from outer space. I hadn’t planned on sitting on a cold, cement curb for over an hour waiting for the parade among the hordes of cranky kids but I got talking to a grandmother from Omaha, Nebraska who was there holding a spot for her daughter, son-in-law and three kids, and she offered me a piece of their curb and I ended up talking to her non-stop for the hour and a half about everything under the sun. She was really interesting and I was impressed she even knew about our new Prime Minister. And the parade was great.

I stayed around for the 9:30 fireworks and the Fantasmic show at 10:45pm. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza (to be near my designated Fantasmic watching spot) instead of Main Street, and enjoyed both. I was glad that I’d lugged my fleece around all day despite the afternoon temps of 28 degrees or so, because by 9:30 it was really cool. The fireworks were great, and so was Fantasmic. Amazing effects, but hey, it’s Disney!

Disney California Adventure is a new park located right next to the original Disneyland property. In fact you enter each through the same plaza and security checks. (Oh yeah, that was new too-just a quick bag search). I didn’t even venture into the new park. Will save that for the next time I come to California to check out the Missions I haven’t managed to see.

Logistics things I discovered:

Single rider – if you are willing to go as a single rider you can get in much quicker on some of the attractions. I did that on Splash Mountain and I was on the ride in about 10 minutes when the regular wait was at least an hour. You enter through the exit and then are fed into the loading of the line when they have a single seat available. A couple in front of me took the single line and ended up in the same log anyway.

Fast Pass and early opening – Disney has a system where on some of the most popular rides you can use your Park entry pass and go to the Fast Pass kiosks to get a ticket to come back later in the day. They assign an hour of time that you have to come back and when you do come back you go in the Fast Pass Entry line where there is no or minimal line up. You are feed into the regular line at some point. If you pay extra for the early opening ticket you could get a bunch of Fast Passes.

Sore SI joints really don’t like the Matterhorn ride

Fantasmic- Is a great show taking place on the Rivers of America. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza instead of Main Street, and you get the added benefit of a presentation on the water at the same time as the fireworks and it’s less crowded. You can also book reservations at some of the restaurants around the Rivers of America and have a seat and watch the show over dinner instead of standing in corals or sitting on cold cement.

Anaheim, CA

Let me start by adding my condolences to those of other Canadians and people from around the world to the people of France, for their losses with the horrific terrorist acts there today. They will be in our thoughts as we carry on with our lives, with increased vigilance perhaps, but carry on nonetheless, or the terrorists win. I only hope that our Minister of Defence is correct in his assessment of the ability of our security agencies to protect Canadians against radicals where ever they are from.

Today I travelled from Santa Paula, north west of Los Angeles, south to Anaheim. It was a straightforward commute, east on an east-west connector near my campground and then south all the way on Interstate 5, right through Los Angeles and out the other side to Anaheim. At one point I counted 12 lanes of traffic. And I lost count of how many freeways intersected with I-5 along the way. I certainly needed to pay attention but my GPS helped a lot with knowing which lanes to be in and I got here none the worse for wear.

I quickly set up (backing in to a really tight spot, unassisted, BTW) and then tried to catch some sightseeing before the sun went down. I headed down I-5 to Freeway 55 and over to the Pacific Coast Highway Hwy 1 at Newport Beach. A wrong turn had me heading north on Hwy 1 so I carried on to Huntington Beach to look for a lunch/dinner spot. It was 3 by the time I got there and found parking.

Huntington Beach is a long, wide beach, some of it in a State Park, and some owned by the City of Huntington Beach. It’s mind boggling how many grains of sand there might be along the west coast!

It has a small downtown core with lots of restaurants and bars on both sides of Main Street just off Highway 1. It also has a wharf, wouldn’t you know. And yes, that’s where i headed to find something to eat. I found Ruby’s Diner at the end of the wharf and grabbed a salad there, enjoying the view out to the Pacific. The food was great, and the service pretty quick.

Then I hopped back into the car to see if I could get back to Newport Beach in time to see the sun go down but I just missed it. I did catch views of a beautiful sunset (caused by pollution unfortunately) along PCH though, and the sky was still nice and red when I got to Newport Beach and walked out onto the wharf. The wharf there is on a peninsula and the streets around the wharf had piles of restaurants and shops. I didn’t have time to look around much because i wanted to head back while there was still some light, since I’m not that familiar with the area.

Turns out it took me twice as long to get back with the extra traffic at rush hour on a Friday. Gotta love LA freeways. The good news is I found my way home and am safely tucked away, getting excited about seeing Mickie tomorrow!

Simi Valley, California

Yesterday when I was at the KOA office, in the rack of tourist brochures I noticed the brochure for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I had no idea it was so close and since I was just going to spent the day chilling I decided to go see what a Presidential Library looks like. It was a really interesting experience. I’m not sure if I’d have chosen Reagan’s Library if I was given the choice of which President’s library to visit, but I’m glad in the end that I did decide to take the opportunity today.

I traveled from the valley where I’m staying near Santa Paula, through a canyon and into the Simi Valley. It was a short but beautiful drive with twists and turns and great views of each valley from the top. Each valley is beautiful and green with some kind of agriculture or another, all needing irrigation, of course.

Just as an aside, it is beyond me why a State with so many water problems continues to develop new agricultural land. On one hand, they have someone going around checking our water connections at each camping spot to be sure there are no leaks, and on the other they’re continuing to expand fields as far up the hillsides as possible.

The location was impressive enough. Perched high on the hills on the north side of Simi Valley, north-west of Los Angeles, and on a peak that allowed for a view through the Santa Monica Mountains to the Pacific, stands the Reagan Presidential Library. The courtyard at the front of the building is a beautiful entry point and the last chance to breath fresh air for a while. I didn’t read everything or push every button and didn’t dawdle long anywhere, but it still took me almost 3 hours to go through all of the exhibits.

For those interested in the social life of the President, they had Nancy’s gowns from various special events, and pictures of Diana dancing with John Travolta at a State Dinner, gifts which Reagan had received from various world leaders, etc. which was all very interesting. They had a display on the various world threats over the tenure of Reagan and other Presidents. Air Force One, used by 7 Presidents, in it’s imposing huge building, was really fun to see. What struck me was the old technology on board – a fax machine, no less. And a mock up of the Oval Office as it was when he was there felt like I’d been there already given how many times we’ve seen it portrayed on TV. The display about the assassination attempt was really well done and you learn a lot about his character from it. But being a political animal, of course, I was interested in both the campaign and administration displays. Amazing how “old fashioned” and corny they all seem now.

Throughout the Library are examples of why he’s considered one of the Great Communicators of our time. His speeches, even back to when he worked for GE, were inspiring and showed he had a great grasp of what people were thinking. You might not agree with his politics, but you had to admit that he was able to get across what he was thinking and the themes seemed to always be “on message” and clear.

One clip they gave star billing to was a televised campaign address Reagan made for Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964 entitled, “A Time for Choosing”. It is suggested this was the first time people started to see him in a political context.

One of my favourite of his quotes is, ” Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem”

And then there is, ” Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” June 12, 1987 Berlin

Displayed outside was a chunk of the Berlin Wall. Surely one of his most memorable accomplishments was when the wall came down.

Also outside on the crest of the hill is the “Rose Garden” replica of the one outside the Oval Office, and his final resting place. Probably the saddest part of his death was the horrible disease that he succumbed to, Alzheimer’s. For someone who had so many amazing memories, it is so sad he was robbed of them slowly over nearly 10 years. It must have been so frustrating for Nancy as it is for all loved ones of anyone with Alzheimer’s. In a letter to the American people advising them of his disease, his final sentence was:

“I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Upon his death, his body was displayed at the Presidential Library for two days and then flown to Washington where he lay in state for 34 hours. On June 11th a state funeral service was held in Washington and his body was returned to the Presidential Library where he was buried, poetically, at sunset.

All in all, an interesting experience.

This morning I did what I’m sure many of you did, and I watched the coverage of the Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Last year and the previous years since moving to Ottawa I was there in person, but this year watching live streaming of the memorial had to suffice. I missed being there and being able to say “Thanks” in person.

I have been reminded how important our freedom and democracy is by volunteering as an election observer in Ukraine 3 times in the last 3 years, where that is something that can not be assured. I will never forget those Canadians who have given so much of themselves so that we can speak our minds and go about our lives in peace; those Canadians who have given their lives or the lives of their loved ones, and those who have been injured physically or mentally, those who have given up time with their families and those who are continuing to serve in some capacity in the armed forces. Always an emotional day.

And then, I had an appointment with another Mission. This one in Ventura, called Mission San Buenaventura. This was the last mission founded by Junipero Serra who had previously founded 8 other Missions in California. On September 23rd of this year Saint Junipero was canonized as a Saint by Pope Francis you’ll recall from a previous post.

This Mission has a similar history as the other missions I’ve visited, of fires and floods and earthquakes but in addition they had to flee into the hills with sacred items at one point to avoid piracy. The aqueducts that brought water 7 miles to the Mission resulted in a bountiful and beautiful garden and even George Vancouver commented it was the finest garden that he had even seen according to historical records.

Holy Cross School, originally started by the Nuns of the parish in the early 1900’s, in recent times has come under the administration of lay professionals. The parish fundraised and built a new facility which opened in 2001 and the modern school lies just behind the Mission in downtown Ventura.

The Mission is at the end of Main Street in downtown Ventura so I took some time to wander some shops before heading off to the beach and harbour.

The beach is Ventura is long, and consists of various areas of public access, a public pier, State Park and at the far south-east end, a huge man-made harbour for both fishing and pleasure craft. It’s there that I grabbed some lunch at a greek restaurant overlooking the harbour, called The Greek Mediterranean Steak and Seafood. The food was excellent, and the service was terrific and friendly. I had saganaki, and a pear and goat cheese salad, and both were excellent.

Then it was back to Santa Paula for the evening.



Yesterday I kicked back for the day and let my SI Joint have a day off of driving, did some laundry etc.

Today I took a beautiful winding road from my campsite, north on Highway 150 through the Ojai Valley, and the town of Ojai. The road through the hills to the Ojai Valley was beautiful and the many cyclists must have thought so too, however, I was glad I was driving. Lots of up and down.

Ojai is just a short drive and is an interesting little tourist town. Its nickname is “Shangra-La” because of both its natural beauty and for the number of spiritual and health-focused small businesses there among the boutique hotels and galleries. Then I headed back up into the Santa Ynez Mountains (think hills) and out to the coast to pick up Highway 101 heading north to Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara was permanently established by the Spanish missionaries and soldiers with the presidio being built in 1782 and the mission being built by 1786. It is now a thriving tourist and resort destination and I really liked its character. Of course the spanish/moorish/californian architecture had a big influence on that.

My first stop in Santa Barbara, as it is with most places, was the wharf, called Stearns Wharf after its builder. It is pretty much the same style as the others I’ve visited and doesn’t really have as much variety of shops and restaurants to offer as some of the others. But it does have some interesting history and has been through severe storms, earthquakes and fires over the years. It was here that I stopped for lunch at the Moby Dick (the first version was destroyed by fire in 1998), and made the mistake of going for a turkey sandwich at a seafood restaurant. Not great, but the service was good and the scenery great.

One of the things you see along the coast here are several offshore drilling platforms which as you can imagine are still contentious, even though drilling has been going on in the area since the turn of the 20th century. The silent film industry started in Santa Barbara in the early 1900’s and Loughead Aircraft Company, which was to become Lockheed, was established there as well. Both moved to other locations when more space was required.

Next it was a wander down the beach and then into the downtown area for a look on my way to the Santa Barbara Mission. This mission was the 10th of the 21 California Missions to be founded by the Franciscans. The Mission I saw today is the one that was rebuilt in 1820 after the 1812 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the early one.

It’s gardens and cemetery are so peaceful, and the colours so warm. Standing on the front portico you can look out over the grounds and the city below and out to the Pacific Ocean. I have only seen a couple of the 21 missions so I’m thinking that’s something to focus another trip itinerary around.

After touring the Mission, I headed back downtown because as I drove down the main shopping street (State Street) I had seen a couple of shops I wanted to check out. I managed to escape without buying anything but it was very tempting. It’s a lovely place to shop with mostly independent shops, and a few chains very carefully camouflaged to look quaint. There are a wide variety of restaurants and I was sorry I had already stopped for lunch.

My last stop was the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, and what a way to end the day. It is the most beautiful building. It was completed in 1929 having replaced the previous building because of an earthquake in the area in 1925. I was told that it is built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style which was adopted by civic leaders to be used in much of the new building at the time. It has a 4 story clock tower which I climbed to get a great view of the city and the ocean beyond. The tile mosaics and murals in the building are fantastic, although hard to photograph since flash is not allowed.

Then it was on to the freeways to head back to my “house” before rush hour and dark closed in.

Santa Paula, CA

Today I travelled south on Highway 101 from Avila Beach, near San Luis Obispo to Santa Paula, and to Ventura Ranch KOA. I was looking for somewhere to kick back for a few days before hitting the Orange County area and then on to San Diego. This definitely fits the bill. It’s like being in the wilderness, but with all the amenities. I’m looking forward to resting my SI Joint, and doing some reading. So you may not hear from me for a few days. Although there is Santa Barbara and other beach communities to explore……

Enroute today my only substantive stop was in Solvang, California. It’s just east of Highway 101 on Highway 246. I had read a little about it and so spontaneously turned off to have a look. It’s only 5 km or so off Highway 101 and worth a quick stop, especially if you’re looking for a meal or a snack.

Solvang was originally settled by Danes after the first world war, and over time it has transmogrified into a major tourist attraction. The locals started building things using the Danish traditional style and they even furnished the town with copies of the Mermaid from Copenhagen and a bust of writer Hans Christian Andersen. (I didn’t see them in my brief wandering). Build it and they will come, I guess.

One of my books on the area says there isn’t much to do in Solvang except “walk, gawk, and buy pastry”, so I did just that. Couldn’t pass up on buying Danish pastry in this environment.

The campground I’m in is very nice, with great facilities, and doesn’t appear to be very busy. It’s got great things for kids to do, but I’m only here for days during the week so don’t imagine I’ll see many around. What I have seen are wild peacocks which have the run of the campground. Seems very strange.

San Simeon, CA

Today I headed north on a portion of Highway 1 that I hadn’t seen yet as I made my way to Hearst Castle at San Simeon. I had arrived at Hearst Castle one day last week, coming down Highway 1 from Santa Cruz but I lollygagged so long on the way down that I was too late to take any tours of the castle that day. This time I booked two tours for today on line to be sure I could see what I wanted to see, The Grand Rooms (which I’d seen on a previous visit, but I wanted to see them again), and one called Cottages and Kitchen, which also included the wine cellar.

To back up a step, Hearst Castle, as it is referred to now, was commissioned by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst working with accomplished architect Julia Morgan. It wasn’t even 2015 and he chose a woman! Hearst grew up in a priviledged household, but he also went on to amass a fortune himself and built what was at the time the largest newspaper publishing business in the world. He was also keenly interested in politics having been twice elected to the US House of Representatives. You may recall it was his grandaughter, Patricia Hearst, who was kidnapped by, and then joined, the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970’s.

Building started in 1919 on 240,000 acres above San Simeon which is about half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hearst told Morgan that he wanted to build a small 3 room cottage at the top of the hill they had camped on for years near San Simeon. He referred to it as “the ranch”. Talk about “scope creep”. It was never actually finished as he still had plans for more additions which he didn’t ever get around to building.

There is the main house (Casa Grande) consisting of 115 rooms, 3 guest cottages (the largest has 8 bedrooms and is 5350 sq. ft.), and a total of 56 bedrooms, 60 bathrooms, two pools (one indoor and one outdoor) and 41 fireplaces. In Casa Grande, the main rooms are the Refectory (reception room) billiard room, movie theater, library, a gothic study, beauty salan, butlers pantry, kitchen staff dining room, and a huge basement under it all which included the wine cellar.

The two guides were both outstanding and not only knew their stuff, but presented it in an interesting way. As we asked questions, each of them became more animated and we got some great stories from them aside from the facts and figures. Basically if you were anyone in the 1920s and 30s you were invited out to “the ranch” for a weekend or evening. Some of the names I recall are Cary Grant, Harpo Marks, Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Howard Hughes, John Barrymore, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Pickford and lots of others.

On my way back to Avila Beach I stopped for lunch at a nice beach community along the coast, just south of San Simeon called Moonstone Beach. I sat on the patio once again, of a restaurant called Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill enjoying the warmth and sunshine and then a walk on the beach. It’s a lovely spot and there are many small and great looking motels, inns, and cottages right across the road from the boardwalk overlooking a typical wide long beach. There were lots of surfers out, but really not a lot of challenging waves.

Avila Beach, CA

Today was a travel day from Santa Cruz to near San Luis Obispo. Actually it’s nearer Avila and Pismo Beaches. The trip down was uneventful and only took 3 hours or so. As you can see, I didn’t get a lot further south than when I traveled along Highway 1 last week. I wanted to stay overnight nearer to Hearst Castle so I could visit there and wouldn’t have to drive the Pacific Coast Highway in the dark.

Unfortunately, this is the least desirable KOA I’ve been to. There is some work going on so maybe there are new owners who are trying to fix it up, but the pool and club house are both closed, the pool was supposed to re-open Nov 1 and it’s still closed, opening “maybe Sunday. Well I’m leaving Sunday morning. The campground is small, and the sites are small (although at least they have fences between them). It’s “very convenient to the highway” and just simple things like the picnic tables needing a coat of paint, and very little attempt at landscaping implies a general lack of interest in keeping it up. The washrooms are old and not particularly clean. Anyway, enough griping. I’ve done pretty well otherwise.

After setting up I headed out to Avila Beach to see what it was like. It’s a really small community on a really big beach with not one, not two, but three piers. The freight and fishing one is quite far down the beach, the second one is nearby but is a environmental department pier, not open to the public, and the third is shut down for safety concerns. It got damaged in a storm 2 years ago, and then last spring when the whales were migrating and drawing a lot of tourists to the wharf, they noticed it weaving under the weight of so many people so they immediately shut it down.

The town itself seems upscale, is very cute, clean and has some great restaurants. It was 24 degrees this afternoon when I was looking for lunch and so I sat on a patio overlooking pier number 3 and the beach. Quite delightful.

After hanging out there for a bit I headed south to Pismo Beach. It is a much more established beach with lots more, but older accommodations, etc. They have a pier that I walked out on but for some reason I forgot to take a picture of it. I watched the pelicans fishing and the surfers surfing and then I headed for home before it got too dark to find my way.

Not a really exciting day on the California coast but a pleasant one.