Camping: Morro Bay Day 1 & 2

May 25th

This afternoon we took off for a camping adventure near Morro Bay in Cerro Alto.

The handy-dandy birds of Cerro Alto tells me this is a Stellar Jay.  

He hopped around our campsite quite a bit.

This is a Wrentit. Tee-hee!

Campsite!

It was up on a ledge. That's the top of our car and Dan.

Fire!

Our friend Cassey came down later to camp with us. Much later. She was going to leave after the Penguins played their semi-final game, but they went into double overtime.  She arrived much later than anticipated.

This concludes our adventures for today.

May 26th

This morning we piled into a car and drove to the town of Morro Bay.

Morro Bay is mostly known for Morro Rock, this giant random rock just off the shore.

We were there!

Apparently Morro Rock is a volcanic plug, which sounds unpleasant.

Something was snoring over here.

Hello sea lion!

Ah, there's also this guy.

I'm not sure if those spots are natural or if it has something.

Ta was mildly interested.

Flowers!

We had a really nice day for walking around the waterfront.

These are Kangaroo Paw.  

Morro Rock is a peregrine falcon reserve.  

I think this is a black-crowned night heron.  He is not out at night.

Hello spider!

Cassey was really excited about her chocolate cake.

We found a submarine...thing.

And then we found a geocache.  Dan's very strong.

A little more of the Morro Bay area. 
We went back to our campsite after window shopping and wandering around.

I tried to save a bee I found.  I think it's doing yoga.

I don't think it made it.  Sorry bee.  I tried. 

Campsite!  Cassey taught me to play cribbage.

Rounding out the day is a photo of Ta.  She's the best.  

We had a great time hanging out around the fire.

This concludes our adventures for today.

Nick & Stephanie Visit Day 3

May 14th

 What's the point of visitors if you can't take them to  do things you've meant to do but haven't?  Case in point, today we're going to Asilomar State Park, because I wanted to.

 Iceplant!

 Sandy coastal trail.

 Artsy photo of a fence post.

Woooosh!

Enhance!

Mass of kelp.  The little air bladders go crunch if you step on them. 

 We also did 17-Mile Drive and saw the Lone Cypress, symbol of Pebble Beach.

We got snacks down at Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf.  It's a little smaller than SF's. 

We ended our adventuring with the Inn at Spanish Bay bagpiper.  

Because nothing says Spanish like bagpipes.

We went back home and continued to drink and play Goldeneye.

Nick & Stephanie left the following morning. 

This concludes our adventures for today.

Nick & Stephanie Visit Day 2

May 13th

We stayed at the Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel.  It had an amazing breakfast buffet. 

Also this view from the bar/restaurant.

We drove across the bridge! 

We were there!

As we now know, the Golden Gate Bridge is named for the strait over which it spans and not its color.

Hi Nick!

The plaza around the Lone Sailor.

The Lone Sailor represents a sailor's last view of the West Coast before shipping out. 

Oh, this is hard to read.  It says:

"This is a memorial to everyone who ever sailed out the Golden Gate in the service of their country - in the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine.

A ship heading for sea passes directly by this spot at the northern end of the Golden Gate.  Here the sailor feels the first long roll of the sea, the beginning of the endless horizon that leads to the far Pacific.

There is one last chance to look back at the city of San Francisco, shining on its hills, one last chance to look back at home.

Thousands and thousands of American seafarers have sailed past this place, in peace and war, to defend this country and its sea frontiers.  Many of them never returned.  This monument is dedicated to the ordinary sailors and marines who sailed from this place and did their duty."

Another photo of the SkiFree monster attacking the city.

There was a little dot in the water.  I think it's a guy in a single scull boat...or something.

We also did an escape room, in which we successfully escaped.  Woo!

Then we drove down to Monterey where drinking and Goldeneye occurred.

This concludes our adventures for today.

Nick & Stephanie Visit Day 1

May 12th

 We didn't take a ton of photos while Nick and Stephanie were visiting.  I'd asked Nick what he wanted to do while in the area for the weekend and he said drink and play Goldeneye.  So that's mostly what we did.   Anyway, here are the photos we took.

 Awkward selfie.  Is it still a selfie if there's a group of you?  Is it a groupie?

 Someone offered to take our photo.

 Artsy photo!

Photo of Dan taking the aforementioned artsy photo.

 Giant brick of a ship.

 We were down at Chrissy field and it was ridiculously windy.

 Hey, there's Alcatraz!

 It wasn't the best day to be walking around down here, again SUPER windy, but it was a good day for these folks.

 The brick might be bigger than Alcatraz.  Or perspective or something.

 We wandered around here a bit until we got tire of being beaten up by the wind.

Oh good, the SkiFree monster is still attacking the city.  He shows up at 2000m. 

 We went down to Fisherman's Wharf and had a great time playing games at the Musée Méchanique, which is basically a bunch of old arcade games and mechanical machines.  Most games take a quarter.  This submarine is docked outside the arcade.

This is neither here nor there, but I thought this acanthus looked like the purple tentacle from Day of the Tentacle. 

This concludes our adventures for today.