Why do they call that big thing "golden" when it is more like terracotta or the color of my milkbone biscuits? Oh well, at least I am out of that urine scented hotel room where mom & dad had to pay $23 a night for me to stay and I didn't even get my own bed!
we got new tires for the camper and we are headed south about 5 hours to san luis obispo county, SLO for short, to a place called morro bay just south off cayucos. this area is cute... the towns are quaint and unpretentious and the landscape is beautiful. morro bay gets it's name from the volcanic plug that anchors the bay, rightfully called morro rock.
while in san francisco, kristen and i went to take of tour of inn san francisco, a uber-cool b&b once owned by kristen's uncle tony. as far as bed and breakfast's go this place was grand, with over 20 something rooms and well adorned with a roof top deck and a tropical garden featuring a pergola covered hot tub. it was absolutely beautiful.
we spent a wonderful 11 days with weston exploring; santa cruz, the redwood forest, napa valley and sonoma county. we ended the trip at wes's home in fairfield where we had christmas. we made a traditional christmas eve meal of roasted chicken and stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Christmas day we saw the movie avatar in imax 3d and had mexican food. Although we were not with our immediate family... our time spent with an old friend over christmas was awe inspiring.
day 68 we packed up bento box and headed for san francisco. we got about 40 miles when we recognized we had a another shredded trailer tire, we were about at the middle of the bay bridge no less. sunday after christmas downtown san fran with a bum tire on the camper is no place to be. after making many calls to tire stores, rv repair places and finally hotels. we decided to find a cheap hotel and hunker down until there were businesses open to repair our problem.
we had to order some new tires which took 24 hours so we went out and explored the city in the mean time.
we had the pleasure to spend the christmas week with our good friend weston. a week of debauchery touring santa cruz, the redwood forest, napa valley and sonoma county.
Wow! I finally got out and got to watch dad surf in santa cruz... it must be safe here as they allow us dogs to walk around and I got to see the surfing museum in the lighthouse, dude. I am having a good time with my uncle wes. Although I was not sure about him at first ever since that party when I was just a young girl and he gave me the embarrassing gas-causing pepperoni. I think throughout the years I am finally over it. Let bygones be bygones as I always say. And he plays my favorite game with me although the camper is so tight he has to let me out, then back in, then out again... I love it! I am sharing my king sized bed with him and no matter what they put between us I am convinced that the grass is greener on the other side and I have to lay on his pillows.
I think we are going to his house soon to celebrate something?
No dogs allowed? No dogs allowed! I am surrounded by the biggest trees I have ever seen in my entire life and I am not allowed near them. As if these trees have been around for 1,000 - 2,000 years and suddenly my presence will make them feel small and they will die? I don't think so.
Who taught these californians to drive? They must hand out drivers licenses for free at the "medical" marijuana dispenseries. Three people have swerved into our lane without even noticing. This one time? Dad had to slam on the breaks and I fell off the seat. There are some really crazy curvy mountain roads too and mom takes them really slow while other people fly by. We got a flat tire on the camper on one of these roads, but I wasn't worried. Mom has been carrying a spare around her for the past few weeks just in case we needed it. So we were on our way in no time (although oddly enough she still has the spare?).
i have said it before about other california breaks, but i have to say it again. surfing in santa cruz is like disneyland. i checked pleasure point and steamer lane and steamer looked to good not to paddling out. nw ground swell just throwing head high peelers off the cliffs. i have a good session, could have been better. a lot of people in the water and the kelp is everywhere and overwhelming. i think for today's session i am going to switch out the big single fin for a snubbed 3 fin set. maybe i can get over on the kelp better.
we made the long drive up the left coast from newport beach to santa cruz to do some camping with my good buddy weston. the drive was absolutely amazing. driving through malabu and then north of santa barbara with the view of channel island national park was simply unreal. in order to get a full week of weston-time before christmas we did sacrifice a lot of california, but we will be doing a u turn in san francisco and catching what we missed on the way back down.
Bunnies... big bunnies! There were bunnies everywhere in new mexico and they were all named "jack". I have been chasing them in my sleep. We got to stay in a house and I got to visit with my grandmom and she played my favorite game with me - I stood by the door and she let me outside, then I stood at the door and she let me back inside, then back outside... we played this for hours. But we had to leave and ended up in a place called "sunny southern california" where it rained. People kept telling mom "it never rains here" and "we went 165 days without rain" but I don't believe them. And it expensive to live here - it was $20 for me to stay in the hotel room and $3 a day for me to stay at the campground. As if I take up that much space!
we decided to have an extended stay in newport beach, centrally located in orange county to all the world class surf breaks.
sunday i peeped the newport beach and balboa piers and the monster they call the wedge. too bad it was blown out.
monday kristen and i drove down to san onofre state beach and hiked up to trestles. i surfed san onofre, church and lower trestles. church and lowers were the stand out sessions... i was blessed to surf some of the longest cleanest chest high waves. no exaggeration, i linked a couple sections that may have been a 1/2 mile long.
while in the san diego area we stayed at campland on the bay. located on mission bay in pacific beach it was centrally located to various points of interest and approximately 5 minutes to a surf break. here is a review of our experience...
the sweet: "campland" was literally a camp town: it had the largest video game room i have seen anywhere in quite some time, it also had a skate park with a concrete pool feature, a off-leash dog park, a great store, restaurant, beach, etc... and there were ample sites so we had the run of the place and a bath house to ourselves.
the sour: this does not necessarily reflect on campland because the weather was "unusual", but it rained 2 of our 3 days and the sites were lacking grass and muddy.
i heard... "it hardly ever rains in san diego", but it rained for the last 2 of 3 days. rain did not stop our trip to the san diego zoo. in hindsight the rain may have improved the zoo experience, since we virtually had all the aminals to ourselves.
i have to admit, pulling into san diego i was a bit nervous thinking about the idea of surfing the forecasted "overhead to double overhead." but being dry for a couple weeks... i got over the nerves quickly, picked a mellow beach break and paddled out. it turns out i am enough of a surfer to mack on the head high pacific ground swell. i had a couple really good sessions at pacific beach, some of the best surfing i have ever experienced.
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