Friday, November 5, 2010

Perfect Pismo!

Deniserita and the Stud Spud were going down to Pismo Beach and asked my family to come along. Lil Mama couldn't go, but Mimi jumped at the chance. It is about a four hour drive from the SF Bay Area to Pismo, but the drive was beautiful.
I didn't have a chance to photo the Coastal Valley of California but it is one of the prettiest drives in the US as far as I'm concerned.
There are mountains on either side and crops of all types alongside Hwy 101. Grey green brussel sprouts, red cabbage,fragrant onions,butter lettuce,romaine lettuce and vast acres of sparkling yellow-green wine grapes.

Once we got to Pismo, we set up the RV, then ran down to the ocean. The day was glorious! Waves kept rolling up on the flat sandy beach, one on top of the other. There was a big storm in Alaska so it made the tide come up way farther than normal. In fact I heard it was a 6+ tide. That is big! But despite the wondrous waves there were no surfers out.
The reason?
A young man was killed by a Great White just a few weeks ago just 20 miles further south. And everyone knows the Great Whites like to roam- they don't know from 20 miles...
There are a lot of seals in these waters this time of year also, they come up on the rugged beaches a little north of Pismo to calve. I want to take a trip down there soon, but that will be a different story.
ANY way..
Pismo Beach is one of the only places in California where you can drive on the beach.

So we gave it a try. The Stud Spud and Deniserita were in front of us with The Best Neighbors in the World. But we tried to get out on the beach a little too soon with our two wheel drive dually. WE  got stuck! TBNITW came back and jerked us out of the sand, so we parked our truck and piled into theirs. Mimi sat in the back on top of the ATV and took this picture.That is TBNITW truck ahead of us. Ocean on the right. See all the tire tracks? There are a butt load of folks out there. They pay a big truck to haul RVs out there on the sand and they CAMP there! Amazing. I know if they left anything out on the ground it got wet or washed away because of the unusual high tide. They told me that people camp like this all of the time!

Here is my Hubby, Daddy Jesus and the Big Puppy in the back of the truck. One of them was enjoying the ride. Guess which one!

Stud Spud buckled Mimi into a helmet, gave her a lesson on breaking and off they went into the dunes.
These dunes are amazing. Right on the ocean, they change everyday. There are miles and miles of nothing but sand, just like the Gobi desert.
Even my Hubby gave it a try. Can we say ' Out of his comfort Zone'.
He had a great time!
I did not ride the ATV's. I figured if I can't ride my horse yet, then I shouldn't ride these things either.
The next day we went and saw the incredible Monarch butterfly sanctuary. For that story go to http://unpaidranchslave.blogspot.com/ 
 Deniserita took some good pictures and I didn't!  
The weather stayed clear and warm, ( Have I mentioned how much I love living in California?)until the day we left. Suppose to rain this weekend so we slid in under the wire so to speak.