Central to Southern California

When we left Big Sur (headed to Pismo Beach) we were in some significant fog that we thought would make that long slow coastal drive even slower. Luckily after a short bit it began to break up mostly and we got to enjoy some incredible views one more time.

Pismo Beach - We checked into our campsite at Pismo Beach state park and immediately began to explore the area....we were a short walk to the beach.  We were finally in a beach area with sand (versus rocky cliffs) so it is a much more populated area. When Kathy and I came into the area we missed a turn and ended up in a traffic jam of vehicles (campers, four wheelers, dune buggy's, etc....) waiting to get onto the beach so our curiosity was up about that. We all decided to take a walk and it was pretty cool - hundreds of people flocking to the beach for the week-end (it is Friday night) and looking like an amazing party brewing.

Party brewing on the beach

Breaking News - we spotted a republican in California!

Paso Robles - a popular wine producing region is only about 40 miles away so our plans for the day are to visit that area - wineries, wine tasting & music. We first stopped into the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor's center on the square in Paso Robles where we met a nice young lady named Cally from California. She loved her job and it showed, and we benefitted from her advice. She shared maps, ideas, etc... and we left with a plan. She was disappointed that we only had a day and we quickly learned that she was right - we'd only scratch the surface.

Wine producing country

We identified four wineries to visit in our limited time. First up was Sculptera - a beautiful environment with nice wine and live music. The grounds there, in addition to nice gardens, are decorated with some pretty interesting sculptures. We enjoyed the live music there so much that we hung around there a good bit longer than scheduled......at least we had a plan ;-) Next we stopped at Cass wineries for lunch and a sampling - best hamburger we've ever had :-)

Sculptera Vineyards

Most of the wineries charge for the samples but we'd met a guy in Flagstaff who recommended one called Tobin James that offered free wine tasting, a great old bar, and just a good/fun environment so we had to check that one out. Our bartender there was Char who was very good and we had her take a couple photos for us. BTW - free wine sampling increases sales!!

Pour us another one!

Char dealing with a tough customer 😎

Last stop scheduled was J. Lohr wineries since that is actually one we buy and drink back home we wanted to visit there - bad news is they were closed by the time we made it there.....we'd had a busy and fun afternoon but that part of it was now over. Took a photo in front of the J Lohr sign and back to town for dinner.

Paso Robles is a cool town with a nice town square with many shops and restaurants in that vicinity - although still a pretty small town feel. They had a very small farmers market there that we enjoyed when we arrived in the morning and we returned to a recommended restaurant "The Catch" for a nice dinner that evening to end the day.

As we left Pismo Beach we headed further south on a route that includes a drive (with trailers) through the city of Los Angeles to San Clemente State beach for our next stop. The dreaded drive through LA, although heavy traffic, was not as bad as we had anticipated. I expected something like Atlanta where you may spend hours at a standstill but it moved pretty good....although slow at times.

San Clemente State beach is a very popular campground for families and children so it was a very busy place but also very nice. The campground sits atop a cliff area on the coast with a couple of steep walkways down to the water. Interesting is the fact that there is a train track near the coast and in several different locations (including this park) they have pedestrian tunnels under the tracks to allow beach access.

Metro Link commuter train passing San Clemente Beach

First night camping there while we were eating & just sitting around the camp visiting in the evening,  Kathy noticed something moving  - we thought it was a cat but as it got closer (actually too close) we realized it was a skunk! We all froze hoping to not startle him like he did us.😬 The nice family camping next door said there were several in the campground - as it turns out they wander around the campground in the evening scavenging for food...pretty amazing but everyone just gives them space. Can't we just all get along!

Pepe Le Pew

Weather - since leaving Big Sur we've been anticipating better weather as we head farther south but it is still cool days (low 60's) with clouds and cooler nights. I spoke with a local guy that said this is normal for June - in fact they call it "June Gloom." He said that the weather in August and September is beautiful but we should expect more of this unless we move farther inland. (maybe at our next stop). There is hope though - we were able to actually see a sun set while there and it was the first one visible since arriving on the coast.

San Clemente beach Sun set

With one day of resting and enjoying the local area - (lunch on their nice pier and walking the downtown shopping district) and another for touring we decided against Catalina Island in favor of a full day narrated bus tour of Los Angeles. This included a one hour drive north to Anaheim where the tour began. Our bus driver, Albert, was an amazing source of knowledge about the different locations, places where movie scenes were filmed, where celebrity folks had died or been arrested, etc.... In all we visited (drive by) a lot of places but only got out and walked four or five spots.

A popular star to find in Hollywood

Santa Monica pier and the end of Route 66

Venice Beach

We saw many celebrity homes (from the road and through the window) and were entertained quite nicely as we rode around. All in all it was a great day but very long and a bit bumpy. This tour was a good way to get the highlights of the area and help determine where you'd like to spend more time (maybe) on a subsequent visit.

San Diego (Ramona) - We had the luxury of a few hours to rest the next morning (much needed) before moving on to the next destination....Dos Pico County park in San Diego County near the town of Ramona. The campground is about 30 miles northeast of San Diego and nestled in a little valley with beautiful rock covered hills (think big rocks) surrounding it....but the best part, according the girls, who have been looking for the sun for weeks is the weather. We rolled in to 80 degrees and sunny which felt pretty nice. For the next several days we get upper 70's to lower 80's in the daytime with nights in the cool mid-50's PERFECT!

Plans here are to see all we can in San Diego and the Coronado Island along with a possible day trip into Tijuana, Mexico. We had purchased tickets (a few days back) to a San Diego Padres baseball game (vs St Louis). The game time was 7:10 so we decided to go into town mid-afternoon to see a bit of the town before the game since it would be a late evening. We parked and did the waterfront walk near downtown - USS Midway (but didn't go aboard) and eventually made our way into the Gaslamp district for some, as we learned at the game, cheap beer and dinner.

USS Midway on the San Diego waterfront

The game was great entertainment and the Padres who are in next to last place actually won the game. Beers in the ball park were from $12 to $16 dollars.....that will make you sip one slowly!

Petco Park

We spent the entire next day doing a "hop on" - "hop off" tour of the town (first time ever) and that was a great way to see the town and spend the day. Since we'd already done some of the things on their tour we decided to just enjoy the "very well done" narrated ride for the most part and we only explored two areas - Coronado Island and Old Town.

Coronado Bridge

Downtown San Diego from the Coronado Bridge

On Coronado Island we visited a museum, had lunch at an Irish Pub and then walked to the Hotel Del Coronado and had a look around at that old (1870's) facility and the beach area around it. Then we caught a bus to the Naval amphibious base where there is a small Viet Nam memorial with some river boats (like our father was on in Viet Nam) on display there. Nice memorial park!

Hotel Del Coronado

Viet Nam era River Boat

Viet Nam Memorial dedicated to the Navy and Coast Guardsmen that lost their lives in the conflict

Our last day in this area was set aside for half day visit to Tijuana, Mexico and the other half doing chores (laundry/shopping) and preparing for our early departure....the Tijuana portion got cancelled - some locals camping nearby said it was not safe to go there....they said there are large tent cities of hopeful migrants on the other side and it is just a mess right now. In addition to that, the waitress in Old Town also said emphatically "Don't Go". That left more time for doing chores and relaxing.

But.....before we got out of Old Town we ended up in jail 😡

This wraps up the southern end of the West Coast for us. From here we head north on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains to an area called Mammoth Lakes.....stay tuned!