Moonstone Beach Day 3

Between San Simeon and Morro Bay, is a town called Cambria. It's an awesome little artist colony with great restaurants and shops. We avoided the little downtown area and went to their beach. It's called Moonstone.  Moonstone Beach is at the bottom of a pine forest that leads to a rugged shoreline. There are several small motels across the street from the ocean. It's a stunning place...

Okay, enough of the stunning shoreline, let's get to the things I like.

I saw a 1953 Chevrolet rally car.  The wording on the car said "Carrera Panamericana." Google told me that it's a 2000 mile road race in Mexico. I have no idea what the car was doing here, but it was kinda cool.

I saw a very odd looking man body boarding (enlarge please)

I'm sure many of us have done some body boarding at some time in our lives. I've done it and I've seen a lot of other people do it, but I've never seen a TROLL do it.  You've must enlarge these two photos to check this guy out.  I don't mean to be mean...but wow!

We just left Moonstone and are about to turn right onto Pacific Coast Highway. What pulls up next to us but a 1919 Harley Davidson! The really odd thing is that my bro-in-law Don (smile Don) had a T-shirt on the day before, with a silkscreen of that exact year Harley on the back of it! Don is a motorcycle guy.   Then i saw the string of hot rods pulling up to the light in the background and I was really happy. (more for the hot rods than the bike)

Look at the Harley's headlight

We turned right onto PCH and in about 20 minutes we could see Morro Rock.  Our last night in town was spent going out to dinner and then finishing off our alcohol.  It was a great trip.  Once again I'm reminded that I enjoy small road trips every bit as much as organized and long distance vacations.   

I'm also reminded of how fortunate I am to live directly on one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.  I thank my lucky stars for that... 

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San Simeon Day 3

The third day of the road trip was also set aside for exploring.  Some of you have probably been to San Simeon to visit "Hearst Castle."  Hearst Castle is the primary tourist attraction on the central California coast, but this trip was about relaxing and messing around, not about going to tourist attractions.  After breakfast we left Morro Bay and drove about 40 miles north to the Piedras Blancas light house area.  (Don't get me wrong, Hearst Castle is an amazing place, but not this trip.)

California has 840 miles of coastline. Most of it is beautiful. This spot is no exception. If you enlarge this photo you will see a young male Elephant Seal (towards the lower right hand corner).  He's just this minute coming ashore after a 3,000 mile migration from the Aleutian Islands to this very spot.

If you noticed that the water is sort of rusty red around this guy, it's because he has just totally cleaned out his bowels and bladder before going ashore. They don't like rolling around in their own muck on shore, so they go "shi shi" and "unko" in the water.  Oh sorry, that's pee pee and poo poo in Japanese slang.

Nothing but nature at it's finest going on in this shot.

A few hundred yards south of the pic of the young male Elephant Seal, is a bunch of other seals (mostly females) who  have recently arrived. They come and go at all times and don't travel in groups during their long journey.  We're looking at only about 10% of the beach. During January and February the entire beach is covered with seals. Earlier I said they wouldn't muck up their rookery, you can see here how clean it is.

We decided to take advantage of the beach and catch a few rays. That's me in the middle looking around for the concession stand.   I passed, as all they had was herring on a stick...

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Shell Beach Day 2

So, we left the historic confines of San Luis Obispo and headed back to the coast. Our goal for the rest of the day was to look at some high priced real estate that white trash like us could never afford and eat some cookies that were way over priced at one dollar each.  This post will be boring, I assure you. We didn't run into any people worthy of sneaking their photo...

The was the view from the back edge of a vacant lot we stopped at.  Although I can't be sure, this one went for at least a million dollars.  When the tide is out you have your own private beach. Of course you have to build the stairs that allow you to go down there (in addition to the house).  Now I may be mistaken, but doesn't it look like erosion has already "taken" some of the cliff face away?

The house in the photo is three lots over. Poor bastards don't even have a beach. I wonder if anybody who lives like this worries about the occasional "rouge wave." One moment your asleep in your bed, spooning with your pet of choice, and the next minute your trying to climb onto the Kon-Tiki, which in this case now happens to be your floating coffee table.

I made a pact with myself that I'd never post flowers on my blog.  I'm not saying I don't take photos of them, because I do. I just don't want to post them.  For the moment, forget all that. This vacant lot was totally empty except for a downed power pole and two flowers. This is one of them. I was going to pluck it out of the ground and give it to my wife, but then she might expect such things from me that might be illegal in Shell Beach.

This is the other flower.  I thought it looked kind of cool next to the industrial stuff. Okay, maybe not, I promise I won't be posting blossoms for a long time.

Another lot down the street. No telling how much this lot would cost.  Seriously, look at the view!  In the pic from right to left are buymebarbies, her sister, and her 81 year old mom. That's right white people. Friggin' 81 years old! She's got better skin than most whities half her age.  I thought about throwing her off the cliff for making me look old.

The one dollar cookies sucked pretty hard, so I'm not going to give them any ink. For half the price maybe, but not for a buck.

Okay, this blog post sucks. I realize that. Nice photos of a nice place. But no people or odd things to take photos of.  Had I spent more time working on my career instead of trying to avoid being arrested, maybe I could live there...

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San Luis Obispo Day 2

On day two of our little trip we headed inland a bit to visit San Luis Obispo and then back to the coast to visit the little town of Shell Beach.

In 1769, Father Junipero Serra, a member of the Order of Franciscan Minors, received orders from Spain to bring the Catholic faith to the Natives of Alta California.  The fifth mission founded in San Luis Obispo, blah blah blah....

Okay, enough history, you all know I wasn't in San Luis Obispo to take the same photos everyone else does.  While we were there I saw...

People who like to have their photo taken

  

People who don't

A woman who had obviously just been hit by lightning

David Archuleta being mentored by an old hippie

The remains of a crime

A bicycle that couldn't be ridden by the driver of the SUV behind it

(read the bumper sticker)

When your clothes go out of style, you just smoke them...

Yeah, right! I'm not shopping in this death trap!

I have no idea how to describe this whack job local citizen. In order to be a little less obvious, I used my little point and shoot camera for this shot. My SLR with the big lens, might have resulted in the slashing deaths of me and my lunch mates...

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Tomorrow, Shell Beach...

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Morro Bay Day 1

I've been off the blogosphere grid for several days. I did schedule a few posts in advance, but I haven't had any Internet access at all until yesterday.  We've been gone since early last Friday. We (me, buymebarbies, her sis, and bro in law) hit the road at 5:00 A.M. and headed up the coast. We stopped at Pismo Beach for breakfast (much too foggy for any photos). We then headed for Morro Bay where we stayed for three days. In case you've never heard of it, Morro Bay is a small fishing town that just happens to have a gigantic rock in its small harbor.

By the time we got to Morro Bay, the fog was burning off a bit, but it was still very overcast. Those of you who take a lot of photos know that bad light means poor pics. This one is no exception. The Morro "rock" is actually what is left of an ancient volcano.  The colors stand out a lot better in sunlight.  Once you get there you can:

Rent colorful kayaks and paddle around the little harbor.

Walk around the obligatory tourist shops (and buy a fresh baked dog bone for your mutt).

Check out the local fishing fleet.

Hold your breath as you walk by abandoned sail boats.

Check out the local Coast Guard Station

Hang ten

But above all...

You'd better beware of the giant seagulls....

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Why I Can't Afford to Ever Have a Yard Sale

In our area, local real estate agents occasionally organize neighborhood garage and yard sales. There is one of them taking place on our street this weekend. I won't be taking part...

The first and last time I held a yard sale, I had all my worthless junk "gently used" items arranged in my driveway, in front of my open garage. I threw the crap on the ground went to a lot of trouble sorting it all out and marking prices.

I had no idea what I was doing was relatively new at this and a few things became very clear to me.

1. People will steal things when you're not looking.
2. People don't want to pay a penny they don't have to.
3. People are more interested in what's NOT for sale.

I sold very little of the yard sale items.  What I didn't sell, I gave to Goodwill.  I did however, pretty much empty out my garage.

I sold:
An old poker table that a friend left at my house, for $20. A little new felt and it was probably worth $50. I should have gotten at least $30.

A non-working 25" television set for $5. I learned later that most of them can be "fixed" for less than $20, if you know what you are doing. I should have gotten at least $25 for it.

An old tandem surfboard for $20. I found out later that they were rare and I should have gotten at least $100 for one that old.

Sold all my old scuba gear (that I thought I'd never use again) for $100. I saw what I think was the whole set-up in the next week's PennySaver for $200.

Sold a bunch of rusty old worthless Craftsman tools for practically nothing. I found out later that you can take ANY old Craftsman tool back to Sears and they will replace it with a brand new one for no charge.

Last but not least, I sold my old crusty and rusty old bike for 5 dollars. I forgot that I had an "emergency" 20 dollar bill hidden under the seat. So, I actually ended up paying the guy 15 dollars to take it!
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The obvious label choices for this post are many...

Blockhead, dolt, donkey, dope, dunce, fool, imbecile, nitwit, numbskull, simpleton, twit, addlebrain, blunderer, bonehead, botcher, bumbler, butcher, clod, clumsy oaf, duffer, dunce, featherbrain, fool, foul-up, fumbler, goof off, goofball, harebrain, idiot, ignoramus, incompetent, klutz, mismanager, muddler, muffer, screw up.

Sequoia 02

importing yet again

Yeah, we were a little bit crazy climbing out onto that rock. It wasn't very slippery, but there was nowhere soft to land.  We were on an established high country trail, but we couldn't see it because of the snow.  We also hadn't seen another human in quite a while. I was just a tiny bit worried.  It wasn't supposed to snow at all and we really didn't have the gear for it.

I entered this photo in a contest and I must admit, I was a little surprised when it didn't win. I'd love to find Christmas cards with this on it.  If  you enlarge it, the frozen fog and trees in the background are pretty amazing.

First Day of School

A few of the blogs I follow have had recent posts relating to the first day of school this year for their children.  As many of you are well aware, I don't have many fond memories relating to my own childhood.

The first day of a new school year is no exception.

I was 7 in this photo. It's the only photo of me that exists between the ages of 3 and 11.

On the first day of school at our house, there was no fanfare, no nice new clothes, no hearty breakfast, and no fancy packed lunch with a note inside.

My mom usually sent us on our way with a threat "you better get your ass out of this house! If you're late on the first day, there's gonna be hell to pay when you get home!"  Of course she could only threaten us, if she was actually there to say it.  On more than one occasion, she wasn't. First day of school and mom is missing in action.

So I'd leave the house with my county welfare supplied "lunch ticket" safely tucked into my "new" jeans.  They weren't usually exactly new, but they were new to me. They usually came from the thrift store, or from some generous local family.  Of course these jeans, "had better last all year," so my mom sewed double patches into the inside of the knees. 

I know most kids have a lot of questions and what-ifs before the first day. My "what-ifs" were usually a little bit different than most kids. Mine consisted of things like "what if someone makes fun of my clothes?" "What if someone comments on my "welfare lunch?" "What if someone makes fun of how poor my family is?" "What if someone calls me white trash?"

It wasn't really a matter of "what if," it was a matter of who and when.  My quandary was usually related to whether I would try to kick their ass during school, after school, or wait until I saw them away from school?

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