Pismo SB North (3)

Our next stop on the birthday week tour was just down the road at Pismo. We took a quick detour at the Costco in San Luis Obispo to fill with the least painfully expensive gas possible. And to get a hot dog and chocolate chip cookie. Also, we didn’t want to arrive at the campground before 2 because we remembered they are sticklers for no early check ins. Nailed that one and pulled up to the kiosk at exactly 2:00.

Here we took it easy and spent a lot of time relaxing. I made, took apart, and remade a crochet box for Momo the cat. I have now learned how to do joined rows, but I’m not good at it yet. The box turned out to be harder than I thought, but it’s fun to learn a new skill with every project. When we weren’t chilling, we were walking on the beach noticing cool little creatures who appear to be “Valella Valella” or “By-the-wind sailors.” I guess these little guys often show up on the shores in April, when the winds turn and they sail onto land from deeper waters. I have never seen them before, but they are a striking blue color, with clear little dorsal fin sails on top.

It was finally good enough weather that I got to cook outside. I made panko breadcrumb topped salmon, with scallion rice and garlic green beans. The sauce was a sweet chili mixture with just the right balance of sweet and salty. On our walk, we saw someone catch a huge frog and he asked us if we knew if it was big enough to eat. We certainly did not know anything about the edibility of wild frogs.

On the next day, we rode our bikes over to the Pismo Preserve where we hiked the nearly six mile Discovery Loop. These trails are so well signed, and all color coded to keep you from getting lost. The views of the coastline are well worth the bit of climbing and there were some nice wildflowers blooming. We had considered driving out to Carrizo Plains, but pictures online seemed to indicate it was nowhere near the bloom we saw three years ago. And in that case, it’s not really worth the two hour drive each way. On our way back, we rode through town and I got a scoop of mint chocolate cookie from Cowboy Cookies & Ice Cream. It was good, but nothing super special. We caught a nice sunset and I tried to take some artistic pictures.

We did manage to get in one long bike ride up to Huasna Valley. Instead of riding all the way through Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande, we drove it and parked after it stopped being so towny. It’s a nice ride with very few cars and pretty farmland.

It was still early in the day, so we decided to grab a late lunch/early dinner at Bee House Thai. We got the drunken noodles and panang curry. Fabulous and just the right level of spicy. There was enough to take for later too. We enjoyed one last sunset and that wrapped up our second stay of the week.

We love this campground and the site I got was great because it was off to the side and away from others. It’s a very city feel place, with a huge RV park right next door. In the fall you can sometimes see the Monarch Butterflies during their migration and that is right next to the campground. There are endless places to eat, including Old West Cinnamon Rolls and Surfside Donuts. Both are good, but not top of the list kind of places. Everything is touristy there, but if you go knowing that, you can enjoy the amenities and get in a good walk on the beach.

Total miles from Montana de Oro: 28.3 with Costco stop in San Luis Obispo, 15.2 mpg, 1 hour 30 min. Site 81, excellent site. No hookups. Great dump, great solar, great cell service.

Activism Afterward

Stay tuned for endorsements for candidates running for primaries. In California, the race for governor is full of drama. Stay up to date with your local chapters so you know who is actually running by the time the vote rolls around. Here’s a link for the CA Dems endorsements page. They have not yet made endorsements for all the positions, but the field is changing fast at this point.

Endorsements Look Up Tool

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