Wandering the California Coast- beaches, sea life, and a castle

Point Mugu, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, and San Simeon California (on average 65 degrees, blue skies, occasional fog)

Pismo Beac

Smell the sea,

and feel the sky

Let your soul and spirit fly

Van Morrison

California is so beautiful. It's even more beautiful than I imagined.  We have been full timing for eight years now but have only seen a small part of it. This time we are driving up the coast and loving every minute of it.

Our first stop was a Navy military campground in Point Mugu. Our site looked right over the beach and as we walked out to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean we saw this little guy. We gave him lots of space but he sure was a great greeter. 

Sea Lion Pup

Surf Scoter

The next day we walked the beach and just relaxed. John found his 400th bird for his Life List. It was a really cool Surf Scoter. Later on we saw huge Harbor Seals across a bay. They were very loud. 

The campground had some issues with electricity and the sewer line and wyfi was broken. But, it really didn't matter because the beach was so lovely and private.

Harbor Seals

After a short stay here we headed to Pismo Beach and stayed at an Elks Lodge. It's a very friendly place and very social with evening meal service and happy hours. It's only a short walk to the beach and you can even drive your car on the beach if you dare. It was spring break and being a tourist town it was very busy. We ate out a couple of time and I ordered clams. It's the specialty around Pismo and so delicous 

John got up early each morning in search of a few new birds. He found this beauty across from us at the State Park. It's not new for him to see but isn't he spectacular.

White-tailed Kite

Our neighbor at the Elks Lodge recommended a drive out to Morro Bay to get away from the crowds a little. There is a small State Park there for camping and hiking and your first views of Morro Rock. 

Later on as we arrived in town it was surprising to see you could drive out to the rock. We hiked around most of it and were amused by some floating otters out sunning themselves. We watched surfers trying their luck with the waves. It was a really enjoyable day. 

You can barely see the castle in the distance

We really enjoyed getting to know our neighbors Jim and Debbie and decided to go the next day to Hearst Castle. They suggested taking two tours - Grand Tour and Upstairs Tour.  You park way below the castle and can only see it far away in the distance. A bus take you up a long, winding road for the remaining  five miles. The castle sits a top of 220,000 acres. Our guide met us there and for the next 90 minutes told us about what it was like to be invited to this magical place by William Hurst. It was one big party.

William Hurst began the building of the castle in 1919 and he frequently revised it ...sometimes dramatically. The architect he selected was a women by the name of Julia Morgan. What a splendid place they built. It is now managed by California State Parks.

Indoor swimming pool

Hurst owned the land as far as you could see in all direction

Decorations were elaborate

Many items came from European castles and homes

His "office" where he worked each day directing 29 newspapers

You can wander around the grounds for as long as you like afterwards. We really thought the upstairs tour was the most interesting. Both of our guides were excellent. They sure need to know an enormous amount of information.

Afterwards we drove another 20 minutes to the "end" of Hwy 1. It comes to an abrupt end due to a rock slide a couple of years ago and reconstruction of the road continues.  A huge fog bank came in as we drive along the coast. Our friends were disappointed we didn't see the coast line but the fog had it's own kind of magic. We also saw some huge elephant seals which had taken over a beach area.

Linda and Jim

We really enjoyed meeting Linda and Jim and appreciated all their advice on what to see in the area. We hope our paths meet up again soon. 

Elephant Seals

Our visit to Pismo Beach was lots of fun. We highly recommend the Elks Lodge if you are a member. It's a great location and there are  lots of beautiful places to see. Next stop ...wine country and a get together with Debbie and Evan from our Newmar Fulltiming Klub. Happy Easter to all!

Desert Wanderings

Phoenix and Joshua Tree (62 degrees, chilly, windy)

Barker Dam

"In the empty of the desert,

water is king

and shadow is queen"

Mehmet Murat ildan

Joshua Tree

We find ourselves in the desert, surrounded by Joshua Trees, cactus, fan palm trees, and endless sand. Joshua Tree National Park is immense and although we have visited twice it feels like we have only touched the surface. Some areas have HUGE boulders piled high upon each other. While other parts are very desolate. Occasionally the desert is interrupted with a fan palm oasis  It's beautiful and very interesting to explore and you could get very lost here. 

Cholia Cactus

Joshua Tree

We spent two days hiking. One hike, 49 Palms, was very challenging for me. My tracker said I'd gone up 49 flights of stairs. We did climb up and down a lot but it's probably not accurate. It ends at a pretty oasis of fan palms where wildlife find something to drink. 

Relaxing at the oasis

 There is a 500 foot elevation gain and the sweeping views of the park below was amazing.

Our favorite hike was the Barker Dam. It was very pretty and looped past this pretty lake.

On the third day we drove across the park. 

Beautiful Fan Palm Trees

Cooper's Hawk

We stopped for a short visit at the Patton Museum. This is where Patton trained his troops in the desert (200,000 at at time) during WWII.  It was an interesting stop. The museum is dated but has some interesting exhibits. 

Patton and Willy

This time we stayed at Joshua Tree Lake RV Park and Campground. The sites are water and electric and on sand.  Note to self - close windows when leaving. A brisk wind suddenly came up and we came home to lots of sand everywhere inside of the RV. Good grief!  Last time we stayed at one of the National Park Campgrounds, but it was difficult to find even a slightly level site. 

Pam, John, Me, and Kathy

Prior to coming to Joshua Tree we stopped at Lake Pleasant Regional Park outside of Phoenix. John's cousin Kathy and her friend Pam had rented a house in Sun Valley. We had a great reunion and shared lots of stories and laughs. The campground is very nice situated in the high desert. Our site was without hookups and had a lovely view of the lake. There are guided hikes and kayak trips offered by the park but we didn't have time to participate.  Our main complaint was the entrance was only staffed with one person.  So each time you came back to the park you had to wait in very long lines to enter. 

Lake Pleasant

Our lake view

What a cool Jeep

One day we attended an air show at Luke Air Force Base. The Blue Angles along with many others performed. It was awesome!  John loved going around and looking at all the planes and the air show was so much fun. 

F-15 Eagle

Blue Angles (F-18 Hornets)

We will now be traveling along the California coast. We have not explored California very much and are really looking forward to it. Stay tuned and happy trails!