Saratoga To Skyline Hike

 Wednesday: (11/25) Lou made a mushroom omelet for breakfast. I headed off to Saratoga to Quarry park for a hike. They recently opened a new trail that goes from the park in Saratoga up to Skyline Road. My hike wasn’t all to way up. I stopped at Sanborn Road about 5.2 miles up. I’ve already hiked the trails in Sanborn Park to go the rest of the way up and since it is an out and back hike turning around here made a nice 103 mile hike and I wouldn’t be out after dark. Nice views and trail. A nice ham and cheese sandwich with orange juice before I returned. Leftover stew and toast for dinner. 

An old Indian grinding stone (left). Some old quarry equipment parts (right).

Selfie photo on road mirror (left). Grand view from trail (right).

Nice trail (left). A rock bench by the trail (right).

Dentist Fun

 Tuesday: (11/24) Granola and banana for breakfast. I had another dentist appointment to get a deep cleaning. That pretty much set the way the day. Back home I worked in the office much of the rest of the day. I did fix a leak by our hot water heater and probed under the temporary tent to try to determine how much bad dirt I’ll need to get rid of. Tomato soup for lunch. Dawn’s Caribbean stew for dinner.

Cannery Row, Monterey

 Monday: (11/23) Lou’s birthday. I picked up breakfast from A Good Morning Cafe. We decided to take a drive to Monterey. We stopped in Moss Landing at Phil’s restaurant for a clam chowder lunch. On to Monterey for a walk around Cannery Row and a drive through Pacific Grove. Then we headed home. I picked up dinner from Super Taqueria in Sunnyvale. The day started out overcast and drizzling but cleared up later in the morning. It was never warm though. 

Not many photos taken on this drive. Some flower on left. Entering Phil Sea Food Restaurant on right.

New Dream RV

 Sunday: (11/22) Granola and banana for breakfast. Watched the usual Sunday morning TV shows. Lou and I went out for a little grocery shopping. We actually only needed whole milk and ciabatta buns but of course got a few more things. Back home I got to work pruning the arbor. That took the rest of the day to fill our two dumpsters to accomplish about half of the pruning. I had a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup for lunch. Leftover tortilla casserole for dinner. I did some research for a hike tomorrow. I also happened upon what I would love to be our next RV, the Winnebago EKKO. Ya gotta have a dream.

Early Thanksgiving

Saturday: (11/21) ) Granola and banana for breakfast. I worked in the backyard clearing things from around the arbor in preparation to install the edge concrete and the brick pavers. For us, today was Thanksgiving day. We often have our holiday meals when it’s convenient. We’ve made it simple the past couple of years and gotten some things from the deli. We also eat chicken instead of turkey. Nice green pea salad, broccoli salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, ambrosia, dressing, and deviled eggs. Nice to have a nice meal with almost no leftovers. In the evening Dawn participated as a storyteller on a Telebration Storytelling Zoom event. Ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Our cleaned up arbor and my early Thanksgiving dinner.

We Returned For This?

Tuesday: (11/17) Lou and I went shopping at Smart and Final. Back home ! had granola and banana for breakfast. I also started some sauerkraut potatoes and pork chops for our dinner in the slow cooker. A nice ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. It started to rain shortly after we got home and it rained all day. I hung out in my man cave the rest of the day. Our dinner was that treat from the InstaPot.

Wednesday: (11/18) I prepared fried potatoes with sauerkraut, pork chops and fried eggs for breakfast. Yum. I attended my usual Wednesday webinar. Chili beans for lunch. I had a dental appointment in the afternoon. Had to have my implant looked at. I did some grocery shopping afterwards. Lou made split pea soup for dinner. Unfortunately no time to easily put some things out for our annual garbage cleanup day. Pity.

Thursday: (11/19) Granola and banana for breakfast. I had an early appointment with the Implant center for some deep cleaning around my implant. I called and made a video appointment with Kaiser to talk about some skin spots that have joined me. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. They set up an in person visit for tomorrow. Lou made a nice tortilla casserole for dinner.

Friday: (11/20) Headed off to Kaiser to get my skin looked at. I had a few spots frozen off by my doctor and had to make a dermatology appointment to have one looked at. On the way home I picked up a breakfast burrito from A Good Morning Cafe. Lou Dawn and I went to the market to pick up a few things for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. I set up my mini computer in the living room for dawn to use for online classes. We never try to keep the normal schedules. Nibbled for lunch. Leftover sauerkraut potatoes and pork chops.

Oceana (Pismo Beach) Relaxation

Saturday: (11/07) I made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for breakfast. A product of having too much pepper jack cheese in the fridge. I watched a 90 minute webinar on pruning this morning. Also received welcome news of the Biden Presidential win. Lou picked up lunch from Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City. Lou and I worked in the RV packing and cleanup for our trip. I made sure the RV started and also exercised the Generator. Leftovers for dinner. 

Sunday: (11/08) Granola and banana for breakfast. We did some cleanup and organizing of the RV today. I moved my man cave monitor back into the house. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. A little rain this morning. Very windy all day. Dinner from Panera Bread restaurant. 

Monday: (11/09) Granola and banana for breakfast. We got to see a little of the demolition of the buildings at the corner of our street where a four story apartment building is replacing a couple of small shops. We did the final preparations to leave and Hooked up the Jeep. We got away sometime just before noon. We stopped for gas in Gilroy at the Costco, which should be cheaper gas. It wasn’t. Our one cheap station in Los Altos was 18 cents cheaper. When you’re adding over 50 gallons to the tank that can add up. I need to make a habit of checking my GasBuddy app for the cheapest accessible station. Lunch at the market in Greenfield. A nice chili relleno for me and fajitas for Lou and Dawn. I took a little nap before as the restaurant prepared our lunch and again further down the road at a rest stop. We arrived in Oceana and were setup in our site by 1810. The office was closed so we’ll check in tomorrow.. Lou made chili covered baked potatoes for dinner. 

 

Tuesday: (11/10) Dawn’s birthday. Lou pan toasted some of dawn’s date bread and added some bacon for breakfast. Lou and Dawn visited a couple of thrift stores. Dawn explored Nan’s recycled books and Lou and I explored the Minor’s Hardware Store. We went to The Country Kitchen for lunch. The day was actually quite nice. The cold that we had yesterday subsided. For Dawn’s birthday dinner we picked up some fish and chips from Pismo Fish and Chips. 

Wednesday: (11/11) A relaxing morning. Late granola breakfast after showers. Lou and Dawn headed out to do grocery and thrift store shopping. I had my usual Alpha Anywhere Wednesday webinar. In the morning and another webinar on growing succulents after lunch.. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou and Dawn drove up to the North Beach campground and hiked the boardwalk to Grand Ave through the dunes. When I finished my afternoon webinar I walked over to the beach on Pier Ave and walked the beach up to Grand Avenue then walked the boardwalk to the North Beach CG. I looked for butterflies at the butterfly exhibit Not to be seen. I looked around ant some RV’s at the nearby RV dealer. Then I checked at the Campground check-in booth to see if they sold Senior passes, they don’t. Then I walked out to the beach and walked back to Grand Avenue. I then caught a trail through the dunes back to Oceana State Park CG. I chatted with a woman there that had a RoadTrek motorhome. It was built on the Ram Promaster chassis and I wondered if she ever gets stuck. No. She got her van a few months ago. It was six years old and had 3800 miles. So just like new. Such a deal. It was just getting dark as I arrived back at our RV. a nice six mile walk. Smoked pork chops for dinner. 

 

 

 

 

Thursday: (11/12) Granola for breakfast. We relaxed inside all day. Lou and Dawn had a class online in the morning. Lou made a nice breakfast of ham, eggs and hash browned potatoes for our lunch. I worked on updating my blog for the past couple of months and adding photos. Lou made pasta with artichokes and smoked pork chops.

Friday: (11/13) Granola and banana for breakfast. We all headed off to Montana De Oro State Park, just North of Morro Bay. Lou and Dawn dropped me off at the Coon Creek Trailhead at the end of the road where it is closed due to the nuclear power plant about 1030. I planned to hike up to Valentia Peak and along the bluffs. It was supposed to be 7.1 miles but I clocked 8.6 miles. All of the trail was exposed, no shade to be found, The views were great. Just a slight wind and mid 60’s temps. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple along the way. Lou and Dawn picked me up back at the trailhead at 1500. We stopped for ice cream at Rite Aide and they checked out a thrift store. While I was hiking they came down to SLO and checked out the thrift stores and had lunch at a Mediterranean pita joint. Back home I enjoyed my shower. We had leftovers for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a huge cave under that tower in the center of the left photo above.

Saturday: (11/14) Granola and banana for breakfast. We went up to SLO for the day. Lou and Dawn explored the closing Joann’s Fabric store. Evidently all of them are going out of business. While they looked, I walked. I looked around town walking South on Higuera Street. I looked around two tiny home parks on the walk. We had lunch at Louisa's Cafe. More looking around at a couple of farm shops, TSC and Farm Supply Company. For dinner we had some chili sizes.

Sunday: (11/15) Granola and banana for breakfast. After watching the Sunday morning news and political shows we headed off. Lou and Dawn dropped me off at the beginning of the San Luis Bay Road so I could walk the Bob Jones trail to Avila. I grabbed a burrito for lunch in Avila. I returned to Pismo Beach via the bluff trail past Pirates Cove. Shell Beach, the Northern part of the city of Pismo Beach, Has a lot of strip parks the provide a trail at the top of the bluffs. It isn’t totally continuous so you have to walk out to Shell Beach Road a few times then back out to the bluffs. All in all I hiked 11.5 miles stopping in Downtown Pismo Beach for Lou to pick me up. There were three more miles to make it all the way to camp and I was tired enough. We picked up dinner from Old Juan’s Cantina a couple of blocks from camp. My dinner was a great tortilla soup. Lou and Dawn had caramelized avocados. 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday: (11/16) Granola and banana for breakfast. We prepared to roll and leave our camp to go home. We were off around 1000. A stop in Greenfield for some flan from the market and a nap for the driver. Another stop in Gilroy for gas and a thrift store look by Lou and Dawn. Back home nice and early. I got the RV settled into its spot and re-established my man cave decor. A ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.