Father's Day in Pismo

As has become our tradition since 2010, we spent our third consecutive father's day in Pismo Beach.  If you have followed this blog, you are aware that I once lived in Grover Beach right next door to Pismo.  Coming here brings back a lot of memories and let's face it, this is just a FUN, FUN, FUN place to be!  There is a HUGE classic car show here every father's day weekend and really becomes one of the highlights of the weekend.  Arroyo Grande just across the 101, has wonderful antique shopping (I guess I really am that gay - j/k :-) and the ocean is an ever present distraction during good weather.  This year we once again stayed at Pismo Sands RV park in Oceano.  This weekend turned out to be one of the most beautiful (weather wise) that we have spent here.  Here's a Saturday picture of the pier in Pismo.  Notice the beautiful blue sky.

This is the second year that we have taken our motorcycle along.  Once we parked the truck and unloaded the bike, we pretty much rode everyplace we went.  Shopping, antiquing (NO, I'm NOT gay), out to eat, etc.  We took a bit of a ride on Sunday up to SLO to check out some interesting places.  SLO is only about 15 miles north of Pismo and is a wonderful destination in itself.  Anyhow, here's our motorcycle carrier setup.

Pismo is one of those spots where we can get back to the RV early for some wonderful relaxation (I'm resisting using the word 'fabulous').  Sandy and I are sticklers for eating only healthy foods and both of us enjoy a nice home cooked meal consisting of wholesome, non processed foods.  Red meat?  YOU BET!  Here's Saturday night's supper.  New York steak, bell peppers and home grown jalapenos.  Mmmm, Mmmm!

Of course, many will remember that this is also our anniversary weekend.  Our new favorite anniversary restaurant is Steamers on Price street in Pismo.  Always the food is great - almost as good as the beautiful lady that escorts me.

Wonderful trips must eventually come to an end, so pack up we must and hit the road to home.  Until next time, keep the shiny side up and the fire kindled.

Memorial Day 2012

I haven't been very good about keeping this blog up to date lately.  No excuses - this just isn't as important to me as a number of other things.  Sandy and I keep ourselves busy and happy and only share our adventures when we feel like it.  That reminds me of an old Steely Dan lyric - "I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long, this brother is free, I'll be what I want to be".  :-)  So with that, here's the update:

We made it up to the Sierra for Memorial day again this year.  Memorial day is that time of year when Bishop has it's Mule Days celebration, including a parade, rodeo and craft faire.  Big whoop?  Yeah, it kind of is for us.  This is the one trip per year that we make sure to take Buck the Wonderdog with us on our adventure.  Buck never really cares where he goes, just as long as he gets to go.  Although most of the time these days, Emily comes over and stays with him and Vashti (the CAT) while we are on the road.

While bumming around the Owens valley this trip, we took Buck to a nice little lake so that he could have a swim.  He is, after all, a Lab and ALL Labs like the water, right?  Well it seems that Buck, although a pure bred Lab, isn't all that fond of the water.  I was actually quite disappointed that he didn't go running out into the water at his very first opportunity.  Although he would wade in up to his chest, he wouldn't go further, even in order to chase a stick!  He did however do his normal wading in Big Pine creek while we were there.  Here's a slightly out of focus shot of him slurping up creek water.

I didn't get any shots of us in Bishop (just lazy I guess), but we had a pretty good time watching the parade and walking all over town.  We walked from the Jack in the Box (where we parked) on the south end of town, all the way up to Schatt's bakery on the northern end of town, then around the city park where the craft faire was and then back down to Jack in the Box.  Long walk, huh?  Yeah, poor Buck was really feeling it by the time we got back.  And then we walked from our campsite at Upper Sage Flat up to "the lodge" and back again.  We were well worn but feeling great for the workout.  Buck on the other hand was just tired.  He was so tired he wouldn't even eat!  However, he was ready to do it all over again the next day.  Here is Sandy and Buck on one of our hikes.

The weather was a little chilly.  You just never know what you're going to get up there at any given time of the year.  We have actually been snowed on over Memorial day on a couple of occasions.  In this case, the wind was blowing much of the time and it was just COLD.  Take a look at Sandy enjoying the warmth of a campfire.

Overall we had a great time, as we most often do.  We enjoy each other's company and can't wait to do it all over again!