Hello everyone. Mike and I are doing great. We are in a beautiful place in mid-CA about 30 miles inland from the coast. The town is Paso Robles. It is just beautiful here. We got here on Wednesday the 23rd and really have not done much until today. We have made several trips into the city which is only a few miles from our RV park. We ate out at a Mexican restaurant one evening and did a little exploring around the area. On Friday, we ventured into town and did a little walking around. This is a neat town with lots of wine tasting rooms and little cafes. I found a nice quilt shop and spent about an hour in there just looking around. Friday evening we spent outside as the weather was just great. We were able to enjoy being outside and sampling some wine. Mike worked on waxing the RV on Saturday while I cut out a quilt from fabric I purchased when we were in Vicksburg, MS.
Today, we decided that we needed to get out and see more of the area. We took off around 11am on Hwy 46 toward Cambria. Our though was to go to the ocean and maybe visit the Hurst Castle. Just a few miles outside of Paso Robles we had another of the "OH MY GOSH!!!!" moments. We rounded a curve to find ourselves looking at some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen. We were high up on the coastal mountains and for miles and miles ahead on both sides of the road were beautiful mountains covered with green grass with clusters of trees in spots and large boulders sticking out of the ground here and there. I have pictures to post and I hope they can give you an idea of the great beauty. A few miles further along, we could see the Pacific Ocean in the far distance. It was just breathtakingly beautiful.
When we left Paso Robles, the temperature was 91. Hot, but the humidity here is low so it was not too bad. By the time we got to Cambria, it was only 65. It is amazing how quickly the temperature drops as you near the coastline.
The town of Cambria is a cute little tourist town. There are lots of little shops with beautiful art work. There are some very talented people. I fell in love with a wooden rocker/glider that has an accompanying footstool that is also a glider. I tried to get Mike to buy it for me, but he insists that we don't have room in the RV. Boy, does he know how to take the fun out of my shopping.
After walking around a while, we decided to drive to the beach. I spotted a sign saying "Beach Access". This road took us along a narrow, winding road through a residential area of Cambria. Many of the homes along our way have beautiful flowers in their yards. I assume that since growing grass is not really easy here, they use flowering shrubs and flowers to decorate their yards. I don't know if the flowers bloom throughout the summer months, but they are beautiful right now. I have never seen so many roses. It was in one of these yards that we got a surprise - three deer eating someone's shrubs. There was a very young one there eating. We got pictures and I will post them.
We did not drive all the way to the beach in Cambria. Instead we traveled back through the residential area and back out to the main road and then headed up the coast on Hwy 1. We soon came to San Simone and saw a park on the coast. We pulled in and found ourselves on a very beautiful spot along the coast where there are great rocks just off the shoreline. Some of the rocks came up close enough for us to walk on, as the tide was out while we were there. It was here that I came in contact with another friendly squirrel who allowed me to get some pictures. I also got some great shots close up of a sea gull. I guess the animals in CA are just real friendly. They pose for pictures!!
It was here at San Simone that we could see the Hurst Castle on a mountaintop overlooking the ocean. It was the home of William Hurst who made his money in the newspaper business. His daughter, Patty, was the gal who was tied to a radical group back in the 60's. She said she was kidnapped and brainwashed. Who knows, maybe she was. This home was the site of a lot of parties attended by the elite of Hollywood and politics. It is huge and elaborately decorated. We decided not to go up for a tour. From the brochures, it looks like it would be a lot like touring the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC and we have done that. I'm sure it is beautiful, but I did not want to leave the dogs in the truck way down near Hwy 1. They won't let you drive up to the castle. You have to get on a bus and go up there and it is quite a way away.
We had another little adventure on the way back to Paso Robles. We got to a road called Santa Rosa Creek Rd and Mike said he thought he saw this road while we were driving around Paso the past few days. So, he turned off and we took this road. It turned into a beautiful drive. The road was narrow and curvy and at times we were way up on the mountains and then we went way down into the valley. We were lucky that we did not have too may cars coming in the opposite direction. The road was not really wide enough for two cars. Near the end of the 14 miles, I commented on the drop in temperature. It had been up to 94 and suddenly it was 69. We'll..... no wonder. When we got to the main road, we realized with lots of laughs that were right back in Cambria. We had just made a 14 mile circle. But, we got to see the beautiful green mountains once again on our drive back to Paso Robles. Once again, our adventure turned out to be a blessing.
Tomorrow I want to set out by the pool here and read. It is suppose to be in the high 90's again tomorrow. Plus, many of the weekend people are gone so I'll probably have the pool all to myself. It is a hard life, but someone has to do it.
