Celebrated Jim's Birthday!

 

So four years ago we celebrated a few things on this day...

Jim's 50th.

Scarah Palin not being elected to Vice President.

Not sure which was better, but we had a great time in San Jose del Cabo (we were living in La Paz at the time).

This year, we had better wine.

Birthday Camping Trip

At the end of October and the beginning of November, I have three, count them THREE big birthdays to celebrate!
Dave's.
Cherryl's.
And Jim's.
Fun for them.
Not so fun for me.

We have celebrated at Disneyland.
Zaca Lake.
Home.
Had parties.
Stuff I can't recall off the top of my head.

This year, camping at Wheeler's Gorge.
All good except the obnoxious, drunk, stoned, partying, loud lame music playing, rude, tacky twenty-nothings not far enough away...
Good food.
Wine.
Campfires.
Books.
Knitting.
Walks.
A stream with little waterfalls.
And Lexie sitting in Stan's Ural's sidecar...

Halloween!

Halloween was a big deal at my insurance job.
Not so much at the current yard job.
Maybe insurance needed some lightening up?
We seem to have enough fun just with three dogs and two parrots at the boat yard.
At the insurance brokerage we all dressed up and went out to lunch.
I spent days trying to figure out something original.
Something non store bought.
Something creative.
Once I figured out what my idea was, I spent days buying the parts, dying fabric, engineering, creating, sewing and embellishing.
A lot of fun, but a lot of time.

So when my ex-boss emailed me inviting me to the lunch, I responded with:
"You want me to think of an idea, buy, create, engineer and sew for a two hour lunch?
OK ~ I'M IN!"

Now, what to bee be...?
Hmmmmmmm....
Think, think, think.
Easy.
Don't want to spend too much money.
Or too much time.

Lexie already had her bee costume (yes, store bought because it made me laugh)...
What to bee be?

A bee keeper!

Easy ~ buy white clothes, a hat, some netting.
Glue the netting onto the hat.
Glue some random little bees all over.
Easy!

Last Stop ~ Refugio!

Hindsight.
Short delays can be a good thing.
In leaving San Simeon, thankfully the ranger asked us a second time "what space are you vacating?"
And thankfully that black sedan was coming down the road.
That extra 15 seconds it took for the ranger to ask us a question and for that black sedan to pass may have saved us some serious damage.
Or worse.

See, there was this suicidal deer that decided to do a "death by car" suicide.
She ran from our side of the road across to the oncoming traffic lane, dodging as she went.
Possibly having second thoughts?
She was hit by a ton and a half of metal going 65 miles an hour.
Which apparently wasn't enough metal or fast enough.
She flew sky high as the two of us screamed in horror.
Came back down with no use of her back legs.
And struggled...
and struggled... and struggled...
And we were heartbroken and close to tears.
And had no gun to put her down.
We both considered getting out a "Stan knife" and cutting her throat, but just didn't know if that was going to work.
Images of hooves and blood and eh... can't do that...
Other cars were slowing.
All with drivers in agony.
Hopefully one with a gun.

So, thanks to that ranger for not quite being able to hear us.
Thanks to that black sedan dawdling along.
Because it wasn't us to hit her.
It wasn't great to see.
It was quite painful.
More for her, I am sure.
But oh, SO very sad...

So on to Refugio for our last night!
Where we scored on campsite locale!
Front row!

And backed by the big boys!
Wine, cheese, crackers and dog cookies all around!
A beautiful view.
A beautiful place.
A beautiful beach.
And beautiful trees.

A beautiful evening.
A beautiful end to a great trip!

San Simeon

No, we didn't do the "Hearst Castle" thing, as much as we'd like to have done.

Remember, we had the ball and chain dog with us.

And as much as she would have loved to swim in that neato indoor pool with all the marble and naked statues around...

We went to a campground instead.

Picked a spot up on the hill.

No one around, except some tent campers a few spaces away.

Quiet and peaceful, right?

 

For the most part yes.
With a few interruptions.
One, being giant raccoons wandering about.
Two, being a brush fire on the hill back behind our campground one evening.
Who reported the fire?
Jim saw the red glow and the glowing smoke.
I ran to the ranger station.
Luckily the wind had died down.
And it was put out quickly.
Three, one noisy family.

We did a bit of walking.
A bit of nothing.
A little driving and geocaching.
More nothing.
And some more nothing.

Big Sur Heat!

Big Sur is cold, dreary and foggy, right?
Gray skies.
Damp breeze.
Wet droplets falling from the trees.
Or it's 95 degrees.
As was when we arrived...

So we spent the day in the river.

Sitting.
Walking.
Swimming (well the one with the short legs swam).
Playing with others.
And smelling like wet dog.

It was devine!

And once again, a great campsite!
With the river 50 feet from our door.

Easy beer and wine glass re-fill...

Alan and Susan caught up to us for a night, as they were on their way up to San Francisco to catch a little America's Cup racing.
Nooooooo, they did not sleep in our trailer with us, but stayed in one of Fernwood's tent cabins.
Which is basically a cabin frame with permanent canvas tent sides and roof.
And a whole bunch of beds inside.
One for Katie dog, one for Susan and two for Alan...

We walked a little.
Heard wild turkeys across the river.
Heard bobcats in the early mornings.
Enjoyed lunch one day at the restaurant.
BBQ'd.
Met a great couple from Germany.
Met several of the Fernwood Resort employees.
And Lexie met three new dog friends, Strider, Maggie and a new boyfriend, Poet.

Poet belongs to Virginia.
Virginia is a young free spirit who travels and lives very much on the minimalist side.
She once spent 4 months camping on beaches in Italy.
Not a bad life.
She is a writer.
Oh... "Poet"!
She must have named him that since she is a writer!
Noooooo....
Because when he was a puppy...
Pisses. On. Every. Thing.

And On To The Redwoods ~ Butano State Park!

Ok, this place was just great!
Look at our view from inside the trailer!

Butano is South of Half Moon Bay and North of Santa Cruz.
Just beautiful!

We had what we felt was the best campsite ~ all by itself.
A great view.
Giant!
Flat for the trailer.
Quiet.
Perfect.

I said giant, right?

And all by itself, right?

We did a little hiking.
A little.

A lot of sitting and relaxing.
A lot.

And since we were staying a few nights had cranmosas!