Lovely weekend in another Premium site. This time it was #25 at Sunset State Beach. This site tends to be booked solid all the time, even when the rest of the campground is empty. Its popularity is a well enough known fact that when we pulled up at the kiosk, the ranger said, “If you have site 25, you probably don’t need a map.” He was correct, we did not.
It is report writing season and this weekend was no different. The only unusual addition to the weekend routine was a prearranged tour of Dory on Saturday morning. It is really nice and thoughtful, and super appreciated, when people bring delicious things as thank you gifts when they come for a tour. This super nice couple brought us delicious pastries from a place called Gayle’s. I’m happy to give them another tour, any time!
Richard spent the day riding around, but I did get a chance to get down to Elkhorn Slough around dinner time. It was too late and too windy for boating, but we were still able to enjoy dinner at Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery, down in Moss Landing. Fun fact: Phil is one of the few chefs to ever triumph in a throw down match with Bobby Flay. If I liked cioppino, I would have definitely gotten some there.
Then we got to have a (windy) romantic walk on the beach before heading over to Moss Landing Beach for the sunset. There were all sorts of seals, playfully slapping the water, and otters, doing their rolling around thing, plus pelicans, seagulls, and your usual cast of beachy characters.
Sunday we milked the premium view for all it was worth before heading out, slightly past the noon checkout time. One thing we noted: people seem to be more inclined to walk right through sites these days, sometimes passing uncomfortably close to our personal space bubble, and Dory. I was hypothesizing on this. 
I do not think it is intentional on their part. I’m wondering if, because camping is becoming a generally more popular thing to do, that there are more and more people doing it who never went camping as children.
There are all kinds of “hidden rules” involved in sharing a campground. When you’re a kid, those rules become explicitly stated, like when your parents yell at you to “Get away from those people’s campsite!” You are told that it is unexpected to walk right through the middle of a campsite, or to walk right next to someone’s camper or tent. More and more, we’re noticing people who appear never to have gotten the hidden rules there, and they literally walk, and often stop, right in the middle of what is clearly, to us, our zone. And the more people do that, the more other people see it and figure that’s what is expected. 
In any case, it causes us to look at them with a confused expression, which most of them seem to be missing as a social clue. It’s more understandable when our site in on the way to a communal path, but this time it really wasn’t. It was just like part of exploring the campground included walking through sites and practically brushing against other people’s campers. I’m a special ed teacher. Perhaps I should create some visual supports and post them. Who couldn’t benefit from a social story, right?
On our way home we got some fun waves and honks from our super solar powered Altoistes friends. They pull with a Tesla and also blog about their adventures. You should definitely check them out! We waved and pulled off the highway to dump tanks at New Brighton, but it was fun to see them on the road!
One last thing to report: I’m trying out a new thingy on the faucet. It has been a long term goal of mine to figure out some way to get the faucet more out of the way in the sink. 
Short of putting in entirely new hardware and/or a new sink, I’m hoping this cheap plastic springy tube will make things a bit more accessible. We got a thingy to put on the aerator a while back that basically turns the water flow into a misty spray. That’s a good thing when you’re conscious of a limited grey water tank capacity. This new hose allows me to put the misty aerator on the end of it. The mister was probably part of a short term online scam because I can’t find it anymore. But we love our scam and got two of them before they disappeared. The hose thingy is really cheap and will probably break. But for now, it does exactly what I wanted it to do. We’ll live with it for a while and see if it’s a good addition.
Forgot to take data, but it was very slow going on Friday due to traffic. Site 25! No hookups, good LTE for both. Great solar, which kept the battery fully charged. Ok bathrooms, showers. No dump. Dump at New Brighton for free if you keep your park tag.
