Happy New Years!

Another year gone! This has been a great one for us. We've seen a few new places, but not nearly enough. We've met some great folks, and hope the future holds many more meetings with new friends! My attitude about life has undergone some shifting this year. With each year that passes, life becomes more precious. Friends are more special, family is more important. Telling the people in my life what they mean to me becomes more urgent. Every time I talk to my friends and family, I tell them I love them. I do this because I mean it, and because we never know if it might be the last opportunity to do so.

Today I did manage to stay home until time to go out to dinner. Jim has come down with a cold, so he rested most of the day. We did go out for a walk this morning with the dogs. There is a large parking lot across the street from the rv park. It's paved, and it's not being used right now, so it makes a pretty good place to walk.

I also took the dogs and walked this afternoon. There is a vineyard adjacent to the rv park with a connecting gate to it. We walked around the path twice to get a few extra steps, since I knew we were going to dinner.

I spent quite a bit of time researching campgrounds and rv parks where we might stay. I talked to my sister and brother in law about where we might be at the end of March when they plan a trip to Arizona. It's a change for us to not have a plan for where we'll be. I like it, but it will take some getting used to.

Wayne, Ruth, and Beverly picked us up in Beverly's car around 4:00. I was once again the designated driver. That's ok with me, I had a blast driving Beverly's car. It's a powerful V8 and drives like a dream. We headed over to Cambria to eat at The Sea Chest. This is a popular local restaurant that opens at 5:30, doesn't take reservations, and accepts payment by cash only. We got there at just a little past 4:30, and there was already a line in place. People come and bring their wine, sit in line and sip wine while they wait for the opening. Of course, the view isn't bad while waiting as it's across the street from the ocean. We stood about 20 or so people back, visiting the people in front and in back of us. A couple of us stood in the line and the others went to sit in the car to stay warm. We switched positions a couple of times. I sat with Beverly and watched the sun set over the Pacific. I could do that every day!

Dinner was spectacular. I had a scallop and scampi combo over linguine. The flavor was just perfect. Jim had a mahi mahi with a ginger sauce, yum! Beverly brought a bottle of her wine to save the cost of buying a bottle at the restaurant. I drank hot tea. It was a wonderful meal and a special time of being together with family.

When we got home, I jumped into the RV-Dreams chat room and celebrated New Year's Eastern Standard time with the group. Life is good.

Jim and I wish each of you a very Happy New Year! Let's see what 2008 has in store for us!

This and That

I almost stayed home today, but didn't quite make it. Both dogs got bathed and the Christmas decorations got removed and stored. I had a Kohl's Cash coupon that was good for $50, but needed to be used by Jan. 2. We needed a couple of things from the grocery, so it worked out that I would go. I went to Kohls, spent my $50 and a little more for a few items of clothing. (I recently sorted through clothes and sent several bags to the Goodwill, so I actually had some empty hangers in my closet! Not any more, balance has been restored.) I then stopped at the grocery store and picked up the things we needed before heading back home.

In the RV-Dreams chat room last night, I promised I would take some pictures of the crowded conditions here at Wine Country RV Resort, so here they are.

To borrow a phrase from Fred, of the Wandering Wishnies, we are "stacked up like cordwood" here.

Here is a motor home pulled in facing the back of a 5th wheel.

Here's another one where the front of the motor home faces the back of a 5th wheel.

Hard to see in this one, but the awnings on these 5th wheels are nearly touching.

A rew rigs left today, but were quickly replaced. Well, in a few days, we'll be off and rolling again, and we'll hopefully get a break from feeling like sardines.

Friends of ours, Marie and Louis, left a comment on yesterday's entry. They asked about Mr. Bo Jangles and Jasmine, so I thought I'd answer their question and talk about being fulltimers with dogs. Mr. Bo Jangles met Strumpor, Marie & Louis' "schnoodle" when they were both puppies. Mr. BJ (Bobo) was agressive then and he still is, to some extent. The introduction of Jasmine, our female miniature schnauzer, settled him down quite a bit. He didn't like her at first, but after a few weeks, he decided she wasn't so bad. They are good little travelers, but I do have to work with them when we're out walking in RV parks and we meet other dogs. They don't "meet and greet" other dogs very well. Some dogs are pretty mellow about saying "hi" to other dogs, and some are not. Mine are not. They usually do better the second or third time they meet another dog.

When we are traveling, each dog is in an individual harness which is hooked into a seat belt on the sofa. We also crate them when we're gone. We believe they do less barking and stay calmer while we're gone if they are in their crates. They also sleep in their crates. I know a lot of people don't like to crate their dogs, and it took me awhile to be comfortable with it, but I understand dogs don't feel the same way we do about crating. They are secure and comfortable in their crates. We're more secure and comfortable when they are too, so it works for us. The crates get moved to the bed during the day. At night, they are next to my side of the bed in a "condo" type arrangement; one is stacked on top of the other. We tried putting them out in the living area, but they like to be next to me, so that didn't work out.

I groom them myself, which saves us at least $60 every month or so. I have all the equipment I need, including a grooming table. I bathe them in the shower, which is very easy with a long shower hose and a low clearence getting into the shower stall.

Jazz likes to sit in my lap, and if I have the laptop there, too bad!

The football season is winding down, the Denver Broncos finished their season with a win, but they'll be watching the playoffs from home. Jim's team, the Cowboys, lost today, but will be in the playoffs, with home field advantage (as long as they keep winning). Another day in the life.

Hanging Out With the Family

Once again we started the day without specific plans. We knew we'd spend the day with Jim's cousin, Beverly, and her parents, Ruth & Wayne. Jim and I went to Beverly's house and we all piled into Ruth & Wayne's van to go to breakfast. We decided to drive over to Cambria, a little town on the coast. We'll be having dinner at a restaurant there for New Year's Eve, and we wanted to check out the restaurant.

Here's a picture of Morro Rock - it's the little lump in the middle of the picture. This was taken from the "summit" we passed going west on 46 from the 101 to Highway 1.

First, we had to check out the shops in the little downtown area of Cambria. I found a bracelet in an antique shop that I liked so I got that. Bracelets don't weigh much, and they don't take up much room. Living in a motor home does require some adjustments to my shopping habits!

After the shopping excursion, Beverly instructed her dad to drive up to a place called the Nit Wit house. We saw the sign yesterday for the "Nit Wit' ridge, and wondered what that was about. It turns out to be a wacky house built into the side of a hill. I have no idea of the history of the place, but it definitely looks like it was built by a Nit Wit.

Here's the mail box - 881 Nit Wit Ridge

Here's a shot of part of the house, the whole thing wouldn't fit in one picture. There are shells worked into the rocks, toilets sitting everywhere, and just a hodge podge of stuff everywhere. It looks like it might have been built piece meal by a group of 1960's hippies indulging in a little of the culture of the times.

Then we wanted to go see the elephant seals again, so up the road we went. Here are a couple more pictures of these fascinating creatures.

I think I counted at least 20 seals in this picture.


From the elephant seal viewing area we could just see the Hearst Castle in the distance. We didn't have our 300 mm lense with us today, of course. But if you look closely, you can make out the castle on top of the hill. This is as close as we'll get to it this trip.

Back to Cambria, past the Sea Chest restaurant where we're having New Year's Eve dinner, and then to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. By this time, we realized the dogs had been alone for about the limit of time we'll leave them, so we headed back. Wayne dropped me off at the motor home so I could take the dogs out. Jim had to go back to Atascadero to get the car. Oops, he's missing the beginning of the Patriots and Giants game. Thank goodness we have a dvr satellite receiver so we can rewind it.

Wanna go to Monterey for Lunch?

More often than not, we start a day without a specific plan. Today started out like that. Over coffee, we discussed whether to try to get reservations at the Hearst Castle, or go shopping, or just what we wanted to do. I asked Jim if he wanted to go to Monterey for lunch. He asked how far it is. I said, maybe 100 miles or so, couple of hours, no big deal. I even volunteered to drive.

Now, I've driven Highway 1 around Monterey and Big Sur, although it's been many years. Maybe I was being a little sneaky, but I knew Jim would love the trip, even if that hundred or so miles took a lot longer than a couple of hours.

We set out about 9:30 or so. On the way out of the park, we saw Grant and said "see ya later" to him. I'm sure we will see them again, they're great folks and I'd love to spend more time getting to know them better. Safe Travels, Grant, Kathy and Raider!

Jasmine was out of dog food, so we had to stop at a vet's office with her prescription to pick up her Hills WD food.

Finally, we got close to the 101 Freeway. I was in the left lane, ready to get on 101 South so I could take the 46 West over to Highway 1. It was at that point Jim realized I was not taking the 101 North to Monterey. Oh well, I'm driving, I get to choose my route.

What an awesome drive! Lots of twisty, turny, hilly road for about 100 miles, and that was after we got over to the 1. We actually made fairly good time, considering I was driving about 30 mph most of the time. We pulled off several times for pictures.

We pulled off where we saw a line of probably 50 to 75 people standing at the edge of the cliff watching something. We realized we'd gotten to the elephant seal viewing area. Here are several of the massive animals lounging and playing.

In another spot this lone seal was lounging.

Near the lone seal, this baby came out of the water and took a spot to rest.

At another stop, Jasmine wanted to be held. You can see the road over my right shoulder.

The skies were pretty cloudy and we got a little mist on the way to Monterey so a lot of pictures didn't turn out very well. I liked this shot though.

We got to Monterey around 1:00, not bad. We found a little out of the way deli and had sandwiches for lunch. We drove along the coast for quite a few miles before getting back on Highway 1 and heading back.

On the way back the skies were much clearer. We'd hoped for a good sunset but it wasn't all that great so we just kept going. Today I did all the driving and Jim did all the photography. Here's another of my favorite views.

We got back at almost 6:00. A great day!

Day Trip to Solvang & "Tag, You're It"

We just recently heard about the little town of Solvang, which is a Danish Village not far from Santa Barbara, CA. Today turned out to be the day to take a day trip with Ruth & Wayne to see it. Along with about 10,000 of our best friends. Well, maybe they weren't all our best friends, but we all picked today to see Solvang. Cute town, interesting architecture, too many people today.

Here are a couple of sights of Solvang.




About a year and a half ago, a friend called me all excited and said she was at a place we just "Have to" put on our list of places to camp. The place was Lake Cachuma. So that went on the list. Last Christmas we were coming to California for the Good Sam Rose Parade Samboree, and we thought we might stay at Lake Cachuma prior to the GS event, but it didn't happen then. I originally planned our route this year to include it, but we ended up not coming up Highway 101, so we still didn't get there. Today, we went to Lake Cachuma to check it out. When we got home this afternoon, I noticed a comment from Fred Wishnie, reminding me that he and Jo stayed there too and recommending it. It looks like we will probably be heading there when we leave Paso Robles next Wednesday.

This is a view of Lake Cachuma from the observation turn-out on Highway 154, a few miles before the turn off to the campgrounds.

TAG - You're It!

I got "tagged" by Froggi Donna, who's blog, From the Lily Pad I follow. I had the pleasure of meeting Donna when we were staying in Austin, Texas and she'd just gotten to Luling, Texas. She's a fun woman with a great outlook on life. Here's what she says about the new game.

We all remember playing tag when we were kids...great way to get exercise and unless all your friends ganged up on you, the playing field was pretty equal. Well, I've discovered that we can play tag as bloggers.

So, here are the rules as I've modified them to fit our RV lifestyle:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Share the 5 top places on your "want to see or want to see again" list.
4. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my 5 random and/or weird facts about myself:

1. Like Froggi Donna, I was once a long distance operator, back in the "cord board" days
2. I was the first woman power plant operator in Colorado Springs, Colorado
3. I'm a second-generation native of Colorado Springs, and I have several grandchildren who are 4th generation natives
4. One summer, when I was in my early 20's, I drove a tour car up (and down) Pikes Peak at least 2 times a day, and sometimes 3 times.
5. I was the youngest of 4 children, and grew up being spoiled rotten (still am, in some people's opinion!)

The top 5 "Must See/See Again":

1. The Oregon Coast - we've been there 3 times, that's just not enough
2. Glacier National Park - haven't been there yet
3. New England in the fall - I've been there, but Jim hasn't
4. Charleston, South Carolina - we haven't been there yet
5. Savannah, Georgia - we haven't been there yet

Who to tag, hopefully I get to these before any other of Froggi Donna's "Tags" do:

1. Grant and Kathy, BirdingRVers, since they're the newest fulltimers we've just met
2. Bobby and Shelly, Evans RV Adventures, we met them in Deming
3. Ed and Marilyn, The Happy Wanderers, we haven't met them, but follow their blog
4. Fred and Jo, Wandering Wishnies, because they're fun!
5. Tony and Jackie, Living our RV Dream, we've been following thier blog since their trip to Alaska

Let the games begin! Everyone enjoy watching for the TAG posts from these folks - I'm headed off to let them know they've been TAGGED.

Thanks for the fun, Froggi!

The Park Fills Up and We Meet Grant & Kathy

Wow, a lot of people travel in California the day after Christmas! Wine Country RV Resort was nearly empty this morning. But by late this afternoon, we'd watched probably close to 100 rigs come in. Big rigs, small trailers, 5th wheels galore. New rigs, old rigs and then a few more!

Today was house cleaning day again, gee, they seem to come around pretty often. But with three of us here for 3 days, it got pretty messy. Jim was going to do laundry while I cleaned. I talked him into a walk first, and by the time we got back, the washers were full. So he went to the store instead. I vacuumed, scrubbed the bathroom, and polished the kitchen sink while he was gone.

Just as I finished all that, Jim came back and said Ruth and Wayne were on the way and could we go to lunch. We ate at a Texas-Wannabe barbeque place called Big Bubbas BBQ. I had a salad, so I can't comment on the quality of the barbeque.

Back home, I walked the dogs again and then relaxed for most of the afternoon while I watched the parade of RV's checking in. Jim had gone to do the laundry and I wandered over to help him fold and hang. We visited with people in the laundry room while we waited for the clothes to dry. It's fun talking to other fulltimers and get their perspective on the lifestyle. Funny, we never seem to talk to people unhappy with their decision to give up a house and hit the road.

After the laundry was done, we decided to walk over and introduce ourselves to Grant and Kathy, who are beginning their fulltime adventure. Even though they've lived in their beautiful Montana 5th wheel since September, today is their "official" start on the road. They had arrived earlier in the afternoon. Grant responded to my query on the RV-Dreams Forum regarding our route to Paso Robles. In our correspondence we discovered we'd both be here at Wine Country RV Resort. They will be here 2 nights before heading further south. Smart move on their part, it's cold here!

Here are Grant, Kathy and their loveable Golden, Raider.

We chatted about our respective paths to becoming fulltimers. Again, we have found many commonalities as well as differences. But our love of RVing is something we definitely have in common. We'll get a chance to visit again tomorrow, I hope.

Tomorrow we are planning a day trip to Solvang, a Danish town which is about an hour and half south on the 101. That should be interesting!

A Wonderful, Quiet Holiday

This was a quiet day with family. We didn't "do" a lot of gifts, since our gift is being together and enjoying our health, our friends, and especially, our family.

We did have Christmas stockings, so we got into those first thing this morning. Following that, we went to cousin Beverly's house and visited for awhile.

Then we came back home and the three of us just had a quiet afternoon together. Jim grilled steaks and I made a green bean casserole. After we ate, Josh packed up his few things and prepared to start the next leg of his journey, which is to the Eureka, California area to visit his best friend and family. He decided to leave this evening since it's over 500 miles and he wants to arrive during daylight. He'll drive a few hours tonight and then find a place to stop to rest and finish the drive tomorrow.

We talked to my sister, Ann and brother in law, Bob, in Colorado Springs. They were enjoying the day with their family as well. We also talked to daughter Robin in Colorado Springs. It's really cold there, so we don't miss that. We were glad Josh came out to visit us. We already miss him, but understand that he was ready to hit the road and enjoy the last half of his vacation with his friends.

We hope you've had a joyful holiday too.

Christmas Eve in Paso Robles

Today's first picture is to wish everyone a very Merry, Blessed Christmas. This was taken in Rockport, Texas, at the beginning of December. We miss the family and friends that we're not with tonight, but we're grateful and happy that we can share this holiday with some very special people in our lives. Today was quiet. I braved the streets this morning to get a hair cut. I also stopped at the grocery to pick up the items for our Christmas dinner tomorrow. Josh and I took a nice walk through the neighboring vineyard which allows rv park residents to walk their path during the afternoon.

Then this afternoon we joined Ruth, Wayne, and Beverly to go to Avila Beach. Beverly had made reservations for Christmas Eve dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, Olde Point Inn, at the end of the Port San Luis pier. We got to the village early so we could walk around and enjoy the beach before dinner.

Here are Josh and I chatting.

While we were standing in the spot shown above, we noticed a small camera laying on a railing. We looked around but didn't see anyone. Jim took a look at the pictures on the camera and spent the next 30 minutes or so looking for the people shown in the pictures. There was a baby in many of the pictures, so we knew the family would be terribly disappointed if they lost that camera.

Finally, Jim spotted a man on a cell phone standing by the open door of his truck. He recognized him as the man in the pictures and walked over. The man realized Jim had his camera, so hung up his call to take the camera. He was so grateful! We were happy we could reunite the camera and it's rightful owner.

Here are a few more of my favorite beach pictures.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner that included sauteed mushrooms, fried calamari, stuffed prawns and a variety of other goodies. Jim's cousin Beverly, who lives in Atascadero, is quite a wine afficianado. She brought along 2 bottles of wine for dinner. As the non-drinker in the group, I was the designated driver for the evening. We sang Christmas carols and enjoyed each other's company on the way home.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Son Josh Arrives!

I've got my Christmas present. Our 30 year old son, Josh, drove out to Paso Robles, CA, from Colorado Springs to spend Christmas with us. He got in around 8 p.m. last night. We sat and visited for awhile, and then got to bed early. We were all pretty tired, he from driving for 2 days, me from not sleeping much the previous night.

Today, I needed to get one more gift, so Josh went with me. Gift purchased. Sorry, can't say any more about that just now. I told Josh I needed to go take a picture of a tree, so off we went.

Here's Josh standing next to the tree. Notice anything unusual about it?

What about from this view?

It's a pretty big tree!

Here's the interesting thing about this tree. A couple of days ago we found a geocache here. The description of the location included a paragraph about this tree, describing how birds drilled holes in which to place acorns for their later use. The whole trunk of this huge old oak tree looks like this, with acorns stuck into it. Quite a sight.

I decided to take Josh for a drive over to the coast so we took 46 West to Highway 1 and drove down the coast a little ways to find a place to pull out and stare at the ocean for awhile. We needed the time to be together and discuss the things mothers and sons discuss. He's facing a hard time right now and we used the time to talk about our lives.

Back home, we were treated to In-N-Out Burgers delivered in person by Bev, Ruth, and Wayne. Then we decided to take a drive over to Morro Bay. On the way over, we talked about getting some sunset pictures from Morro Rock.

Here's Jim at the base of Morro Rock, watching the water and waiting for sunset.

One tiny part of Morro Rock. As a rock climber, Josh was really disappointed that climbing is not allowed here.

Josh is watching the waves crash against the rocks.

Sunset on the Pacific

Time to head back home and settle in for the evening before Christmas Eve. But then, I already have the best present.

Back to the Beach

I had a bad night's sleep. I wasn't feeling well when we went to bed and it took me a long time to get to sleep, then I didn't sleep all that well. I knew we were getting up early to get to Target to finish up some Christmas shopping; maybe that played into the bad sleep. Since retirement, I really dislike having to get up at a certain time. Well, actually, I didn't like it before I retired but I put up with it then out of necessity.


As a result of the restless night, I was a little slow and sluggish, not to mention cranky, when we got started this morning. I picked up a latte at Starbucks in the Target store, which helped my mood. Jim and I split up while we shopped. I can't tell you what I bought, because he will read the blog so you'll just have wait, like he will. We don't buy a bunch of presents for each other, but we still like to do stockings, so what I picked up was some surprises for that. I also picked up some items for our son, Josh's, stocking, since he will be here for the holiday.



After shopping, we headed to Jim's cousin, Bev's house. The 5 of us headed out in Uncle Wayne and Aunt Ruth's van for some beach time. We decided to go to Avila Beach, which is almost always sunny and warm. The temperature here was in the 20's last night, sunny and warm sounded great to us.


We drove around just enjoying the sun, listening to the waves, smelling the sea air, and enjoying the view.



Here's an elephant seal, enjoying the day as well.

I never get tired of taking pictures of little boats on the water

This pelican put on a little show for my camera

We ate lunch outside at Mr. Ricks in Avila Beach. Here are Aunt Ruth and Uncle Wayne taking it easy.

Here's a different view of the shore from under the pier

Ane one more view from the top of the pier.

After lunch and a walk out to the end of the pier, we got ice cream cones. While enjoying those, Josh called to let us know he'd made it past Barstow and would be in Paso Robles this evening. It will be my best present, to have him here to spend Christmas with us.

Friday Before Christmas

Yesterday, I told Ruth & Wayne, Jim's aunt & uncle, that they might enjoy geocaching. They suggested going today, so we made arrangements to go this morning. Jim decided at the last minute that he wanted to go finish some shopping by himself, so off he went in one direction and Ruth, Wayne, and I in another.

I'd read about a cache near a large, old oak tree here in Paso Robles that had been drilled and stuffed with acorns by birds. We found the location but had to be sneaky about the cache. It's located in a residential area and there were yard workers raking leaves at the house nearest this massive oak. We got out and wandered over to the tree, studying the incredible acorns stuffed into holes all over the tree. Ruth took pictures with her camera while I nonchalantly wandered around where the cache should be. Ah, found it, grabbed it, now time to go back to the car and take a look. We got the log signed and the cache returned safely to the hiding spot.

Picture? Oh, that. Well, I, uh, I forgot my camera. Yes, I know, how could I go out and leave my camera at home! I'll get back over there to take pictures, I promise, because it is truly an amazing sight to see all of these acorns stuck into this tree.

With the first cache under their belt, Ruth and Wayne were ready to go find another. I was trying to navigate to the next location and sign on to the geocaching website at the same time. I had a very slow connection to the internet, so the clues and descriptions weren't happening. I did have my little Garmin with the locations pinpointed, so we could at least get to the next ones. The second location was certainly not that scenic or interesting. But, Wayne was getting into this treasure hunt idea and he actually found the second one. We were two for two!

The third one turned out to be elusive and we didn't find it, but we did find a neat pioneer museum that Ruth had a great time exploring. By the time I gave up on the third one, we decided to call Jim and see if he was tired of the crowds and shopping so we could go to lunch. He was, so we met him in the Walmart parking lot (What were we thinking!) and found a little restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we came back home and I finished my Christmas cards. I wasn't going to send any this year, but I kept remembering people I hadn't talked to or heard from in a while and wanted to get in touch with. So, while we were in Tucson, I picked up some cards and wrote a quick Christmas note to include in some of the cards. Finally, today I got them all finished and dropped in the mail. Some will make it in time, some will not. It's the thought that counts, I hope!

I was then getting ready to log on to the RV Park's free wifi that has been working great since we've been here, but I couldn't connect. I kept getting a message that the server wasn't responding. I walked over to the office and they checked with their technical guy who said he was on and it was ok, so I came back, messed with it some more, still not responding. I tried it on the other laptop. Still got the same message. So, I took the laptop over to the office and the tech guy came in. He messed with it a bit, then called the provider. More delay. Finally I think the provider must have restarted their server and we were back in business. I do have service with my Verizon air card, but we're not in a broadband area, so the connection is very slow. The wifi signal in the park has been very strong, reliable, and fast, so I've been using it instead.

Since I didn't take any new pictures today, here are three more we took yesterday in Morro Bay.

We Make it to the Pacific Ocean

Finally, we both slept a little later today. I woke up around 6:15 which is later than I've awakened for several days. After our coffee and my walk with the dogs, Jim headed out to the nearest grocery store while I started the cleaning. He doesn't like to be here when I vacuum, and I don't much care for grocery shopping, so it works out pretty well for him to shop while I clean. I didn't get finished before he came back, so I took a break to walk the dogs again while he put away groceries and sorted laundry. Then he went over to the laundry room and did 4 loads of laundry while I finished the cleaning. This coach was very dirty! I think we still had Texas sand from Rockport in here. But it's pretty clean now. We still need to do the windows, but it was drizzling this morning so we decided to postpone that job.

I also finished the decorations for Christmas. I asked Jim to get a strand of colored lights to put around the windshield, and we have a tiny tree, so it's looking a little like Christmas around the RV. I didn't bring many Christmas decorations from our house. Over the years we had accumulated at least a dozen big crates full of every imaginable kind of holiday decoration. I only kept some of the most precious ones that I just couldn't let go of.

Jim came back with the clean laundry just as I finished up with the cleaning and decorating. We took the dogs and went off in search of some lunch and a nice drive. Lunch turned out to be Mexican at Senior Sanchos. It was pretty good but not spectacular.

After lunch we drove over to Morro Bay. We didn't get out to do much exploring in the town, maybe another day. We did drive out to the huge Morro Rock and took a few pictures. I think my blood contains salt from the Pacific Ocean, because I get really antsy to get out to the ocean as often as possible.

A view of the little town of Morro Bay from the base of Morro Rock

The ever-present gull

This looks like a very well-fed ground squirrel, but I've never seen them so close to the ocean, so I'm not sure if that is what this little creature is.

I love the way the water shimmers in the bright sunlight

The waves were really crashing against Morro Rock

Today was our first trip out to the coast this visit, but I know it won't be the last. I'll try not to bore you all with endless Pacific Ocean pictures. Or maybe I will, but you can count on seeing more ocean pictures anyway.