Montana de Oro State Park and Morro Bay

 

                                

Feb 20, 2025 -  This morning we decided to go for a walk, and what better place to go, than a bakery.  Carlock's Bakery is 1.4 miles from the house so we headed there.  After lunch we tried out the pickleball group at the Los Osos Community Park.  They play every day, and supposedly the morning sessions are better attended.  There were 7 of us there this afternoon, so we only had one court going, but it was a fun, friendly group.  

raspberry/cheese danish

10th St was a nice street to walk on (we're still trying to figure out where we're going in town)

 

dinner was a rotisserie chicken from Ralph's (Thursday special is only $6, can't beat that)

Feb 21, 2025 - Today we thought we'd head to Montana de Oro State Park, for some hiking. This State Park is only 15 minutes from Elaine & Ian's new house and it is going to be a great spot to explore.  It's one of the largest state parks in California, with lots of great hiking trails and a nice campground with about 50 campsites.

We decided to hike the most popular hike, which is the Bluff Trail.  It's 2 miles to the end and then 2 miles back and it is a beautiful hike.  It's a wide trail that allows for hikers and bikers.  This is a view of Spooner Beach.

lots of lots of shear cliffs

of course we have Morro Bay Rock (and the 3 smokestacks) in the distance

and the poppies are out!  We were told that Montana de Oro translates to the golden mountain, and it's called that because in the spring the mountain is covered with California poppies (which is the state flower)

we stopped here to eat our lunch and watched a lone surfer who was wearing a wet suit and a helmet.

pretty epic views everywhere

that tree looks lonely

more poppies

we rode our bikes downtown for a beer at Merrimakers (which is the bar featured as a "dive bar" in Wikipedia)

Feb 22, 2025 - This morning we walked downtown to Caliwala Bakery (which is only open Sat, Sun and Monday).  We then walked around downtown, and found a wonderful beach just a few blocks from downtown.  We packed a lunch, and took our bikes to Morro Bay for the afternoon.

there are A LOT of free libraries around town, this one is especially cute

really good cinnamon roll and everything croissant

cute little garden

Caliwala Bakery

beautiful day for a walk 

great spot for a coffee

Baywood Park (bench with a view)

Baywood Park Beach

kayakers out in the bay

a great egret

It's only a 15 minute drive to downtown Morro Bay.  We parked downtown and rode our bikes out to the rock for lunch

Next we rode 3 miles out to Morro Bay Strand SP, where we have camped a few times

It's a parking lot, but is right on the beach and not far from town, so it's a great camping spot

we're headed back to the car

After our bike ride we walked around downtown Morro Bay.  We had a beer at the Siren, which had an afternoon band and then we walked around the Morro Bay Farmers Market.   Perfect day!

Laguna & Los Osos

 

                                              

Feb 13, 2025 - We made it to Laguna today, and stayed overnight before our drive to Los Osos for the long weekend.  We're excited to finally visit Los Osos and see the house that Elaine & Ian bought.  We're meeting up with Ian and his parents to do some demolition on the house before Elaine & Ian move in, in a few weeks.  

We needed a quick arm workout before a walk down the street for dinner at Wine Gallery for happy hour.

half price pizza, meatballs and fries

then a quick game of Qwinto before bed.

Feb 14, 2025 - Kevin got up at 5:00AM and drove the RV to Los Osos.  It's a 4.5 hour drive when there isn't any traffic and it's pretty hard to find a time when there isn't any traffic since you have to drive through LA to get there.  Elaine is working a half day, so I'm hanging at Starbucks, while she works and then we'll head north at around noon.  Since we're not getting there until 5ish, we'll meet everyone at the vineyard in Paso Robles. 

A pretty rainbow at a rest stop on our way to Paso Robles

It looked like we could walk over to the end of the rainbow and find the pot of gold

Pretty drive when we're getting close to the vineyard.

and then not so pretty

We made it to the vineyard and the new house looks great!

Last time we were here (at Elaine & Ian's wedding, Sept 2021) this room didn't have finished walls, floors, or windows.

 

Feb 15, 2025 - We're all headed to the new house in Los Osos this morning.  It's about a 45 minute drive from the vineyard.

pretty sunrise from the new deck

Happy Valentine's Day

We made it!  Love that mountain in the distance.  I think it's Hollister Peak which is one of the 9 Morros or 9 sisters.  It's a 1404 ft peak that is part of a chain of volcanic plugs, that run from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo.  Morro Bay Rock is one of the sisters.  A volcanic plug is a volcanic object which is created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano.  Hollister peak can't be hiked because it's on private land, but a lot of the peaks in the area can.

They've made a lot of progress.  There are 2 stairways in the new house, and they thought it would be good to get rid of one of the stairways so the living room is more open and the space on the first floor will be added to the master bedroom.

There's Morro Bay Rock in the distance

and Hollister Peak

a walk around the block with Elaine

we stopped at the Honey market down the street.  How cute!

and we're back home

Next Elaine and I drove downtown (which is only a mile away) to pick up sandwiches for the crew.  We did a quick walk through town while we were there.  Love this boardwalk next to the bay

lots of kayaks

it's like a lake out there today

doesn't this look like a pineapple?

more kayak pics

downtown Los Osos is a pretty laid back spot...love it!

downtown is only about 2 blocks long, we're looking down to the bay

we picked up sandwiches at High St Deli, which has a wonderful outdoor garden (as do most restaurants in downtown Los Osos).  I of course love the bench inside the old VW van.

and another cute bench

Todd and Laurie in the dumpster (which is getting quite full)

Kev's on break

that's a big hole

all this space gets added to the master

view from the kitchen

the remaining stairs

We're back at the vineyard and having a beer at the horse shoe pit

Kevin and Ian are playing horse shoes

Anderson Hill (one of our favorite places to camp)

the new road to the new vineyard house

sunset though Tiny

it's a little chilly and that fire is taking the edge off.

Feb 16, 2025 - Another day at the Osos house.

sunrise at the vineyard

nice bench in downtown Osos

coffee from the Nautical Bean

the town pier

half bear/half cow paddle boarding?

nice stump table and chairs

Elaine, Laurie & I walked down Elaine's street for a walk around the 1 mile boardwalk loop in the Elfin Forest (there's Morro Rock in the background)

Hollister peak in the distance

Morro Bay estuary

they're closing up the hole

looks great!

Feb 17, 2025 - Todd, Laurie and Ian all headed back to Laguna, but Elaine has Tuesday off, so she's hanging out with us for another day, yay!

On our way to Osos, we stopped at SloDoCo, in Atascadero for a pillow donut, which was so good

a walk at the vineyard

Feb 18, 2025 - Elaine's headed back to Laguna today, and Kev and I are going to hang around Los Osos for awhile.

a foggy morning at the vineyard

I think there's a sunset in there

Feb 19, 2025 - Today we rode our bikes downtown and went for a walk in the Elfin forest

after riding downtown, we had lunch at the picnic table at the pier

a walk through the forest

there are a lot of bear sculptures in Los Osos, (Osos is bears in Spanish).  When the area was discovered by the Spanish in 1769, it was called the valley of the bears, since there were so many bears here.

Sunset with Morro Rock in the distance