Another day in Morro Bay

We had a slow start this morning. Got all tore down and ready to start down the road. Hooked up the tow car and the last thing we did was check the lights--normal routine--except this morning the turn signals did not work. What!!! Will worked and worked trying to trouble shoot and figure out what was going on. Finally had to find a local RV repair as we could not drive without working signal lights. Turned out to be "just" a fuse so was an inexpensive fix but did cost about 2 hours of frustration. It was foggy early on also but that cleared up about the same time as RV was fixed. We headed back to Morro Bay because we had enjoyed it so much and wanted to see more. It was a great birding destination and we had a good time checking out the estuary and tidal flats looking for shore birds, ducks, and song birds. This is such a charming coastal area. Put this on the top of my list of places to come back and spend extended time. It was also warmer here this time.

Parting ways in San Francisco

San Francisco

Short jaunt this morning to San Jose area south of San Francisco. That's where Doug and Tammy and Mack left us to spend the rest of holiday with friends and family here. Hated to see them go, was so fun to have them with us for the trip. We'll be talking about this for a long time.

So. . .soon as the kids parted--we decided to make the best of the rest of the day and headed for downtown San Francisco. Found the BART station, parked the car and took the train all the way to the Embarcadaro. Then hopped on a historic street car that took us to the Wharf. Spent the afternoon just walking and enjoying the activity on Fishermans Wharf, Cannary Row and Ghiradeli Square--all the typical tourist attractions. Was a nice taste of San Fran. We have fun memories of other times spent here so was nice to see that its still a great place to be. We'll start our trek back towards Arizona tomorrow.

We made the kids get up much earlier than anybody wanted to this morning but we needed to get on down the road because we had tickets for the 8am tour at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. It was interesting. Two hour tour and we only saw a small part of the mansion complex. I'd like to go back for another tour some time see more.

The rest of the day was the slow drive up hiway 1 to through Big Sur to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Stopped for a gazzilion photos of the rugged coast and the sparking blue ocean. Colorful sunset at Carmel Bay. Our last dinner together at local Baja Cantina before we drop Doug and Tammy off tomorrow to spend their New Year in San Francisco.

Hearst Castle main house and Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle

Road Trip

We're taking a Road Trip!

We loaded the RV and left the day after Christmas--all the family piled in and off we went. Headed first to Los Angeles where we dropped Stephanie, the rest of us continued on up the coast of California on Hiway 1 for a scenic ride to San Francisco.

First night was in Northridge where we all enjoyed a yummy Korean BBQ restaurant for one last celebratory meal together before Stephanie left us to spend New Years with friends.

Next day we cruised up hiway 1 enjoying the coastal scenery to Morro Bay, a seaside resort community.

Christmas Day

T'was a perfect Christmas day, all the kiddos were there PLUS Wayne and Judy Massey. Doesn't get any better than that.

Third and best window

Third and best of Will's stained glass windows. Just in time.

Mack and Christmas in Arizona

Christmas has officially begun at our house. Doug and Tammy arrived very late last night. They came in from opposite directions and managed to arrive in Phoenix around the same time. Only because Tammy's flight was 3 hours delayed because of weather in Newark. So everyone slept in this morning enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before going to the late service at church.

Tammy brought "Mack" and though it was obvious Doug was happy to see his wife, he was delighted to see his best buddie again, too.

Now we get to repeat the airport run tonight to get Stephanie. Another late pick up. She sent a text message that she made the first leg and we're watching her progress on the internet. Cell phone lots are the greatest invention.

Somewhere they are having some nasty winter weather--can't imagine. Storms in Iowa and snow in the northwest. We're warm and smiling here.

Sunset

This is a shot from our back patio. It is another amazing Arizona sunset. They have been like this all week--dust in the air, new weather fronts coming in--who knows why. Its just for us to enjoy. God's Christmas lights, I say.

We did a little Christmas shopping together this morning and then headed down to the university neighborhood for the winter 4th Avenue Street Fair. Lots of looking, and lots of walking. Street musicians, tons of people, food vendors and my favorite, kettle corn. Fun day.

New kitchen tile

I've been working on making tiles for my kitchen for months--in between other projects--and I finally got them installed on the wall. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out and it certainly jazzed up my kitchen. My handmade clay tiles are 2" (sorta) square and I interspersed them with purchased 2" glass tiles in colors of white, honey and dark honey. Gives me a shock every time I walk into the kitchen--eye opener.

Christmas lights are up

We put the Christmas lights up outside and the Christmas tree is up and decorated. Just have to stand back and admire it. I'm counting the days until the kids all get here.

Day Out Birding

Burrowing Owls

Say's Phoebe on a sorghum plant

and a long, leisurely look at a wonderful Merlin!

Will and I spent the day birding with a small group from Tucson Audubon. We hadn't been out in quite a while on an official birding trip so this was pretty fun. We did the Santa Cruz Flats which is basically a large area of desert scrub and farm land north and west of Tucson that no one pays much attention to. Not a particularly scenic area and a lot of driving on dusty farm roads but we did good.