The Most Beautiful Spot Ever!

I don't think we will ever be able to top this location. We are parked atop a 90 foot cliff looking out with an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean! You can see what it looks like out our bus window. The waves below are crashing against the hill and we can hear the loud wave action. It is just lovely.

Hilly San Francisco...but what a reward!

I knew San Francisco was hilly, but you don't know hills until you are 60 feet long, going down a 17% grade with cars parked on both sides of the street and oncoming traffic trying to get past you! This picture does not do justice what we came through to get to this campground! I think if poor Ted heard me say "slow down" and "watch out" one more time, he would have pulled over and put me behind the wheel! Oh, but once we arrived the campground is well worth it! You can't see it because it is too dark, but over Evan's shoulder is a 90 ft cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. We got parked at sunset and it was so beautiful! Tomorrow, we go to Alcatraz.

Connor and Pepe Enjoying a Meal!

This is pretty hilarious! Connor put Pepe's food at the table so they could enjoy breakfast together! Pepe really likes this life on the road!

Forgotten Child

This was one of those days that, as a parent, I would just assume forget! We had an unusual morning because we had to drop a few of the bikes off at the bike shop down the street to have some repairs done on Saturday. Ted and Lacy went to get the bikes, but they weren't ready. It was now close to the noon check-out time. We let the kids go to the arcade together while we got the bus ready for departure. Ted called them and they all came back promptly. Ted pulled out, and Pepe and I followed in the car. The plan was to meet up at the bike shop about a mile away and hook up the car there. We got parked and Ted took the car across the street to load the bikes. Connor and Lacy were doing their work and I thought Evan was in the bathroom (which he does a lot when he wants to postpone doing his schoolwork!). After a period of time, I checked and to my horror, Evan was nowhere to be found. The kids assumed he rode with me. I called Ted across the street and said "I am trying not to panic, but we have driven off without Evan!" Ted was on his way without explanation to the bike shop owner. As it turns out, the kids did load up and for some reason Evan decided to have one more go on the playground. He walked off the bus and we left! When Ted got there, Evan never even knew we had left. Believe me; we have implemented some new departure protocol after today!

Early bird gets...Dad.

Last night, Ted told the kids that whoever gets up early, gets to go on a beach walk with Dad. Here comes Evan, fully dressed, at 6:00 a.m! He and Ted went on an early morning walk on the beach where he found hundreds of fish eggs. The ranger they spoke to said she had never seen that before.

Laundry does not go on vacation!

I am very fortunate to have a nice washer and dryer on the bus. Most campers spend many hours in the campground Laundromat. But I do have to wash at least one load of clothes, usually more, every single day or I get behind. Once a week I wash sheets. The great thing though is that we have so few clothes and the bus is so compact that there is much more gratification in washing here than at home! Tomorrow we only have about a four-hour drive to San Francisco and this bus will need some serious cleaning. There is sand from one end of the bus to the other!

Back at the Bus...

Here, I am eating my lemon ice-cream (I made a triple batch!) while watching the cookies bake, and Connor and Lacy are eating them!

Whale Sightings!

After our whale watching adventure yesterday, we all know how to look for the whales that are migrating through these waters right now. On our way up the coast, we spotted four whales all together. On our way back, as you see here, we spotted two more. It was very exciting to see their spouts blowing high and their massive bodies surfacing on the water! Although what we saw yesterday were Hump Back Whales, these today should be the Gray Whales that are susposed to be here now.

Nepenthe Restaurant

This is an incredible, hippie-run restaurant that Ted and I discovered about 15 years ago (before kids). We sat there, then, overlooking the sea dreaming that someday we would bring our children here to see it. Well, here we are! The Nepenthe has been serving for well over 50 years and the 3rd generation of the same family is running it today. The building was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and is a work of art in and of itself. The tiered architecture overlooks the Pacific Ocean and has a beautiful view of the winding roads leading to Big Sur.

A Hike to the Ocean

We found this neat little State Park along the road where we pulled off. Lacy immediately climbed a tree and Connor stayed below to spot her. Evan wanted to take a trail he saw so I followed him. You need to understand that we started out on our way to church this morning. Just as we were leaving, a new spot opened up in the park that we had to take because we were on a 30 amp spot and our rig needed 50 amps. Bottom line is we missed church because we had to move the bus. I packed other shoes but at the moment we were headed to lunch so I did not change. Before I knew it, Evan had led me down a steep hill that goes all the way down to the ocean...in my heels! You also see in this picture Ted carving our names in a fence with Lacy. That seems to be a tradition for this particular fence and maybe our kids will bring our grand children to see it someday!

Elephant Seals

Our next stop today was a visit to an amazing location along the beach where Elephant Seals began making their home a few years ago. There were hundreds of them right there within reach; even beside the road. Those black things that look like rocks behind us are actually huge seals! It is too bad this is not a 3-D Blog, because you just can't see the smell in this picture. The tide washes the dead ones to the back which happens to be right where we were standing. The naturalists who were there answering questions said that there have been an unusual number of deaths of the seals this year. We can attest to that from the number of STINKING carcasses before us! They suspect a crazy bull seal has gone mad and started a killing spree or the recent storm drowned them(yes,the pups can't swim at first). What was very disturbing to the kids was a mother seal that was dead lying next to its little baby that was alive and cuddled up next to it. That made a profound impact on them.

Hearst Castle

Today, we are driving up the PCH Hwy 1 to Big Sir. This is about a two hour drive, each way, up the Pacific Coast. It is a beautiful drive of switchbacks and hairpin turns all while cliffs with tumbling rocks are on one side and sheer drops on the other. This is a drive that would be impossible to do in the bus. Our first stop was the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. You can see it atop the hill over our shoulders. We watched a video about the castle before we came so the kids were all caught up on the history. It really is an amazing place with breathtaking views of the ocean.

Pismo Beach RV Resort

We have really enjoyed being here at Pismo Beach. You can see over our shoulders the main recreation area for this park. It has a store that sells local produce, an arcade the kids love, putt putt golf, a heated pool and a lookout station that you can sit in out of the wind to watch the surf. We would definitely come here again.

My Boys

When we take these trips, the kids have an opportunity to get closer to each other. It is neat to see how they interact. Connor and Evan already share a room at home, so they have a lot of togtherness; but here on the bus, Connor is very much the teacher and Evan is the student. Evan is also the entertainer along with Connor.

Sunset on the Pacific

We drove here on Hwy 101 which is the first highway in California. It was built by Spanish missionaries to connect the 12 missions along the coast. One of the missions is San Luis Obispo where we ate dinner tonight. This area is rich in history and we are enjoying every minute of it. Tomorrow we will travel (in the car) along the Pacific Coast Highway. We can't wait to show the kids.

Pismo Beach, California

We arrived today in Pismo Beach where we are steps away from our RV in this picture. The RV park is right on the beach with the mountains behind us. I think this is Pepe's first time on a beach! (Connors paper airplane he made[top in hand]!!)

Lost Kids Found

Click the arrow to see this video. This morning, Ted, Lacy and Evan went for a hike up part of the El Capitan Canyon. Something happened and Ted went up one path and the kids went up another. As Ted looked for them, his already high anxiety level soared when he saw that the path they took led them up an advanced trail to and entirely different mountain! He could see them, but could not get to them nor communicate with them. This is video of when he first got to them at the bottom of the mountains.. It was a good moment for Ted. I think there are parts of this story that they still have not told me! Their angels were working overtime today!

Panic on the Bus!

When we got in tonight, one of our two bathrooms *smelled really bad*! This is the worst nightmare of an RV'er because toilet trouble is just gross and usually very bad. As Ted searched though the owners' manual and I scoured the internet, we were moments away from calling the emergency help number for Monaco when Connor said "Evan, where did you put the clam you found on the beach yesterday?". Each of the kids have a large cubby in the main room and a small cubby in the bathroom that is just for them. You guessed it, Evan put his clam in his cubby in the bathroom! We were too happy that our toilets are not broken to be mad!

Where's Evan?

It was bedtime and we could not find Evan anywhere! Pepe was curiously sitting on the bed away from us and low-and-behold there he was; buried under the pillows of the made-up bed, fast asleep. Pepe was protectively sitting on top of him just in case he needed emergency help [we watch a lot of Animal Planet!].

Evan in front of The Channal Islands

Close to the California mainland, yet worlds apart, Channel Islands National Park encompasses five remarkable islands (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara) and their ocean environment. Isolation over thousands of years has created unique animals, plants, and archeological resources found nowhere else on Earth. They can be seen from the coastline but have been so well preserved that they are called "the Galapagos Islands of the US". We really enjoyed seeing them.