Morro Bay, CA

 

Morro Bay with otters

We both really liked Morro Bay, a working fishing village with gorgeous scenery and just the right mix of tourist shops and restaurants. From childhood memory, Dorian had high expectations and was nevertheless still pleasantly surprised. The town is too small for us to consider living there, but much larger San Luis Obispo is nearby. A friend of ours claims that the San Luis Obispo landmass warms the cold ocean air to more reasonable temperatures, resulting in a year-round pleasant climate.  

We camped in the Morro Creek City Park, which is just a parking lot but is beachside and a short walk to the famous Morro Rock. Pictured was the view from our campsite... and we nevertheless had the place mostly to ourselves!

Right on the coast, the cold never ceased to surprise us. We'd headed to the west coast in search of relief from the Arizona heat but had no idea just how successful we'd be. As we followed the coast up from Morro Bay, the daytime high never exceeded the low seventies.

While visiting them in Los Angeles, Ramona's cousins Kathy and Rick steered us to the very beautiful El Moro Elfin Forest in nearby Los Osos, pictured below. 

Rick steered us away from the kitschy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, but our friend Art, a lover of bizarre Americana, had encouraged us to check it out. We had a nice lunch, delicious cake, and ... YES .... we made the requisite tour of the famously odd bathrooms. You just have to go and see this place for yourself!

In our short visit here, we just scratched the surface of all the beautiful and fun things to do in this area. 

View from Lampton Cliffs County Park in nearby Cambria

Tapo Canyon/Los Angeles area CA

We stayed in Tapo Canyon State Park, which is right above Simi Valley. Once mostly agricultural, Simi Valley has become a city in its own right now. 

We climbed a fairly steep and dusty trail to get this picture looking down at the Tapo Canyon area.

Along the road to the state park, there was evidence of movie-making either in progress or planned. It seemed to be a popular place for that.

We have a trail camera which we place outside our trailer at night anytime there's any likelihood of catching something interesting. Here, we got our first picture ever of a bobcat.

Not a great picture, but bobcats are wily. He probably knew we were trying to steal his soul so he hurried by. Incidentally, the camera was mounted on the rear bumper of the trailer, so he was quite close.

Check out the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in downtown LA for an interesting, if sad, view of LA many, many years ago. Ramona learned that Dire Wolves are (were) really a thing - not just made up for Game of Thrones. 

This tableau shows 404 skulls of the more than 1600 Dire Wolf remains found in the tar pits. It's thought that the wolves themselves became mired while attempting to feed on animals trapped in the asphalt. Harsh all around.