Family Time

Friday, July 3, 2015
Ken and I drove down to Arroyo Grande this morning to visit my cousin Laurie and her mom, my 94 year old Aunt Margie - my mother's sister.

We had a delightful day swapping family stories.  Laurie was a junior bridesmaid in my wedding almost 52 years ago following a family tradition in my family - a 12 year old sister or cousin being in the wedding party.  Margie made the gingham dress she wore as well as several other of my cousins.

Laurie's creative talents were evident all over the house and yard so we had fun checking them all out as well as talking about things she has done to her family's home that sits on a hill overlooking Lake Erie in Ohio.  It is now a rental place for summer fun for many different families including their own who just had a gathering there.  

Laurie has created cute little garden whimsies like this for each of her grandchildren.  Unfortunately the lack of rain has affected many of the flowers around the yard and weeds took over when she was away for two months working on the family home in Ohio so they don't show off like they should

There was an old metal shed in the yard so she planted a trumpet vine on one side and put up some trellis.  Then trellis had to be put on the roof but it adds beauty an old out building and keeps it cool inside

And look what an old mounted mirror and small section of picket fence does to this corner of the yard.  You can see the flowers reflected in the mirror and fence piece adds interest.  She has been enjoying trying mosaics so to the left is a piece she did just for color 

We took the two of them out for lunch at an old train dining car called the Rock and Roll Diner

Afterwards Laurie showed us a variety of the spots she and Margie like to go for a walk or just a sit - several different beaches in the area including Oceana Beach, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach and Avila Beach. It wasn't the ideal time to see them since this is July 4 and the holiday crowds were huge. But it was amazing how few there seemed to be on beaches because of the size - extremely long and deep.

The dunes in the Oceana area would have been pretty to see if it hadn't been for the enormous number of dune cars driving all over them so we just turned around and left.  But at Grover we could get out and walk on board walks to spots away from the crowds.  Vegetation has taken over the surface on much of the sand.

The sea fog makes it impossible to even see the beach in these pictures.  It was pretty heavy in that area.  We got to an overlook in an area before Avila beach where it was lifting some so we could see the beautiful rocky coast a bit better.  This section was part of Dinosaur Caves Park apparently so named because of the huge caves along the shore.

She said lots of sea mammals like seals like to come to this area so it is a fun place just to stand and watch. There were plenty of pelicans for us to enjoy in the water and on all the rocks

We arrived at this spot just as this man was adjusting his harnesses and then snapping open his parasail to go for a ride.  It was fun watching him run down the bank and take off.

Here enough of the fog was gone that we could see some blue sky to the north.  That of course meant blue water too.  But look at the fog in the distance.

From the same spot looking south this is what it looked like.  Clear blue sky does make a difference!!!

At Port San Luis there was all kinds of activity.  Many people live in their boats anchored out in the bay.  And seals can be seen lounging on this barge 

 Many people like to fish off the long pier (here they are cleaning their catch)

and the seals have this adopted this lower pier as a spot to hang out.

 There is a huge fish market at the end of the pier as well as a restaurant and lots of places for RVers to spend several days along the water and up the hill.

Our ride back to the campground took us through the "golden hills" of this area again