More Callie Delight...Pismo Beach

Before we got to Pismo Beach we did an overnight stay at a Harvest Host. It was a Winery and Tasting Room for Geissinger Vineyards. It was only a shorty twenty miles from where we stored the RV for two weeks while we were in CT visiting family. That was perfect landing spot because we were up at 6:15 EST to catch our 10:00 AM flight out of JFK. Then, after the six hour flight, we had to pick up our car and then drive another hour and fifteen minutes to pick up the RV. So, the twenty minute drive was perfect for an overnighter.

We stopped in to buy a bottle of wine before they closed the Tasting Room and without even asking, the sommelier provided us a tasting of 4-5 different wines. It was good business on her part. We bought two bottles. After, we went to a hispanic market and bought some groceries. Since leaving the Coach for two weeks in storage we had to leave the refrigerator and freezer empty. Time to re-stock!

On a sidebar, when we left the storage facility the RV was at 15999 miles. Which means we have traveled about 6500 miles on our adventure, so far. Sixty stops down and about 90 more to go...

The Pismo Beach drive was only about two and a half hours. One of the reasons Brad picked the town was because of the distance from LA and then to Monterey (Our next stop) that made two, two-three hour drives before Yosemite National Park. Plus, they're both on the Pacific Ocean Coastline. Winner-Winner-Chicken-Dinner!

First stop was Avilia Beach and Pier. Pretty much every view of the Pacific Ocean for us has been Beautiful. Really it was our second spot but the first spot was at a little town called Arroyo Grande which was uneventful. We stopped into one of the restaurants (Mr. Rick's) that was right on the boardwalk that also had an outside stand-up looking out over at the Pier. We had a beer and Kathy got chilly. It didn't get much warmer than 65 degrees our entire stay here. Brad ran to the car to get her sweatshirt and it started raining by the time he got back. We moved inside and decided to get some eats there. The food was good, the bartender attentive. The Carne Asada fries were fun! They were nachos but instead of chips it had fries. After lunch we came back to the Coach and Brad watched the first Sixers playoff game much to Kathy's chagrin.

After the game we headed over to Grover Beach to catch the sunset. It was spectacular!

Easter Sunday we took a bike ride on Pismo Beach. There was a lot of action. Lots of cars, ATV's, even RV's right on the beach. It was breezy but well worth the price of admission. FREE! To celebrate Kathy's Easter we went to the Ventana Grill. It was only a few minutes away from our campground and it was over looking the ocean. The view was spectacular. The eighth picture below was our view from our table. It doesn't do it justice but the other pictures after were taken on the balcony of the restaurant after dinner. Those will give you a better idea of what we were peaking at. The food was good, the service was professional but they had too many people servicing our table so things took a little longer than they should have. We had five or six people servicing us throughout the meal. All good, we're never in a hurry. Even though Kathy thinks it's a downer when Brad gets too critical about a restaurant‘s service opportunities. Hey, you can't take the restauranteur out of the restauranteur.

We went back for seconds on the sunset that evening. This time we went further down the beach. From Grover all the way to Pismo Beach and the Pier. We'll let the pictures tell the story.

Monday we went to the Pismo Preserve which is a hiking and recreational area. We walked a bit but after Torrey Pines Preserve this was no comparison. It was a short hike. Next stop, downtown Pismo Beach and the Pier.

The beach area was busy. It had a good energy to it. Lots of kids, families too and we were one of the older folk on the beach. We dug it! It was pretty! We stopped at Wooly's which we found out was a sister restaurant to Mr. Rick's.

When we left there, we were driving along the coast heading towards home and we hit the motherland. Which by the way, when we cruise around that happens more often than not in California. We weren't looking for it, we never even heard of it, we just got lucky.

After lunch we continued our drive and we hit the Dinosaur Caves Park. It had these wild California purple flowers all over the place. Spectacular rock formations and caves below in between the rocks down in the ocean. Wow, wow, wow! The motherland. We'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Our stop before that was for a picnic lunch. We had no clue where we were going to picnic but we found a cool spot. Out west they call these places parks. It's a goof! They're often little patches of grass overlooking some awesome-looking body of water. Eldwayen Ocean Park was one of those below!

Mo's Barbecue for dinner which was recommended by Kathy's Facebook group “Fleetwood RV Owners”. We went back to downtown Pismo. We each enjoyed a "slab" of barbecue ribs. Kathy had Memphis and Brad had some tangy home-grown. We split the two...Kathy's was better.

On our last day in Pismo Beach we took a one hour drive to the Vista Sea Lion Overlook. Whoa, what a sight that was. We took route 1 for the drive and stopped in Marro Bay State Park and Hearst Castle along the way. The Morro Bay stop was an ad-lib. It was rock'n...literally. Morro Rock was the centerpiece of the park overlooking the ocean of course. This was one big F'n rock. It was more of a mountain than a rock. It popped up like 3000 years ago from a volcanic eruption. First, we parked across the street from the "little boulder" and took some pictures of the boats in the marina, the beautiful flowers, and the rock.

We took our bikes off the car and cruised the rock. If it weren't for that darn Pacific Ocean we would have been able to go all around the whole thing via bike ...but No! You'd have to swim a bit to get around the entire thing...we'll show you all available sides of it by land.

One part of the rocky island, people made their own rock pyramids. They were all over the place. Brad misses building stone walls and walkways so he built us a little pyramid.

We often save the longest car ride for the last day of our stops. First checking out everything within a half an hour, forty-five minute circumference. Then taking the hour plus car drives last. We continued the hour drive to San Simeon, where they have the Sea Lion Vista Overlook. Supposedly, It wasn't the "season" to see them at their best. Since it was Kathy's idea Brad kept busting her b@lls that there better be a damn sea lion here. On our way we stopped at the Hearst Castle, (home to media mogul William Randolf Hearst) but it didn't open till mid-May.

When we got to the Sea Lion Overlook it was packed with cars and people overlooking the water. Brad was thinking we'd be the only ones there. Nope! Kathy was right as usual. The 97% hitter is always on her game. It was sea lion city. They were shrouding which means they were lying around the beach shedding their skin for a new coat growing in. It was awesome. Sea lions barking, jousting in the water, swimming, flapping and just lazily laying around.

If you want a pretty cool video of these sea beasts, let us know and we'll send one to you. We had trouble downloading it to the blog. Next stop is Moss Landing which is a fifteen minute car ride from Monterey, Ca., which is the primary next destination. We'd like to dedicate this blog to our good friends Mark and Tracy Caswell. Mark's Mom passed, last week. Mark's usually one of the first ones every week to read our blog. This ones for him, Tracy and his Mom. Thanks for reading down this far. We appreciate you following our adventure. Have a great week! Kathy and Brad