We Get to Meet Marilyn!! (and Montana de Oro - Islay Campground)

 

Aug 23, 2025 - We made it to the hospital at 7:30PM and got to meet Marilyn!  What a sweet sweet girl!  

First pics!

She's just barely awake

Next it's Kev's turn

Perfection

And Mom's doing great!

family photo

the little burrito

Aug 24, 2025 - It's someone's birthday today!  He got breakfast of choice and then he got second breakfast (as Erich likes to call it) from Wayward.  Then dinner at our favorite Osos Pizza spot, Nardonne's.  Seems like the day revolved around food!

eggs, sausage and bagel for b-day boy

clean up the house before we head for some camping at Montana de Oro

So nice to see the living room all done!  When we left here in March, it was still a construction zone.

An e-bike ride to the grocery store and Wayward Bakery.  The hills of Los Osos are do-able on the e-bikes!

Peanut butter and fruit croissant,  strawberry cheux puff, and chocolate something.

That's a happy, b-day boy

making some Mullagatawny Soup for the kids for when they get home from the hospital

always love the views of Morro Rock

Birthday Cheers from Nardonne's

Aug 25, 2025 - We ran errands today and got another hospital visit in!

Elaine and Ian made it to the hospital courtyard today!

Montana de Oro campsite 07

We stopped by the hospital for a visit and I gave Elaine...

the baby blanket I've been working on for the last 2 years.

gotta get a pic of me with Marilyn and the blanket

now all 3 of us

cutie pie

Next we'll get Kev with Marilyn and the blanket

Proud Mama

Cute fam

Do you think I got enough pics of Marilyn with her new blanket?

We made it back to Montana de Oro for the sunset over Spooner Beach

It's just a few minute walk from the campground

There it goes...

Aug 26, 2025 - Looks like they won't be home from the hospital until tomorrow, so we're going to do some exploring in Montana de Oro today.  

We rode our bikes down to the Point Buchon parking lot (the Point Buchon hike is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for some reason) and then rode the bluff trail back to the Spooner homestead parking lot. 

nice bench and pretty flowers

bluff trail

pretty cliffs

more bluffs

About a 6 mile round trip ride

beers and books

Aug 27, 2025 - They're coming home today!  

It's only a 15 min drive from Montana de Oro to Elaine and Ian's and today the morning drive was especially beautiful

A little foggy, but blue skies

and looking the other way it's fog covered mountains

We prepared a little welcome for them...they should be home later this afternoon

After our errands we went back to MDO and hiked the Reservoir Flats trail (after the first climb of the hike we could look down on the campground)

This trail is also for mountain bikers and horses

Another birdseye view of the campground.  Tiny's down there

Nice view from even higher.  The hike left from the campground and then circled around to enter the back of the campground, about a mile and a half.

Last photo in the hospital!

Sleepy Marilyn

Birthday cake for our August birthdays, Kev and Marilyn.  They shared an ice cream cake.

Sunset on Hollister Peak

and Morro Rock

and gorgeous views on our drive back to MDO

love the ombre

driving by Spooner Beach

And the moon above the mountain behind our campsite.  Good Night

Tablerock Lake and a Two Day Drive to California

 

                                                    

Aug 18, 2025 - Today we're headed to AG & UG's lake house at Tablerock Lake, near Branson, Missouri.  Before leaving Crabtree Cove we checked out the trail that we saw when we drove into the campground.  It was right outside and had a nice parking lot.  The trail was called the Crabtree Cove Trail and was 3.3 miles connecting the campground to the Stockton Dam.  There was a nice shoulder on the dam road, so we rode our bikes over the dam and visited the Senator Kit Bond Information Center, which told a bit about the area and the dam.

First we rode to the boat ramp in the park, which had a nice fishing dock.

We stopped by the quarry

Don't jump Kev!

We're headed over the dam

We rode by the old turbines used at the hydroelectric plant 

pretty hydrangeas

A quick stop at the information center

we're headed back

it was a quiet ride on the dam

Aug 19, 2025 - It was only an hour and 15 minutes to AG/UG's where we stayed overnight before heading to the lake on Tuesday morning.  We went for a boat ride and enjoyed the beautiful day.

We're headed out on the lake

Mirabelle's spot

The Branson Belle

Mirabelle's awake

The weather got a little iffy

the storm was chasing us

PFD's just in case

Aug 20, 2025 - We helped UG move some stones for a wall he is building in the morning.  Becky and Darrell came in the afternoon and we spent the afternoon on the boat and then had dinner on the deck.

Our view from Tiny of the sun on the lake

Kev hard at work?

don't let that wheelbarrow pull you into the lake

UG, Mirabelle and AG headed to the boat

Mirabelle's favorite spot for a swim

beers on the boat

lunch on the boat

perfect day for floating

Kev loves a beer and a float

Aug 21, 2025 - We got the news that Elaine's having the baby TODAY!  We hung out at the boat dock and floated while UG worked on the boat and then had dinner with UG and AG before going to bed early so we're ready to head to California first thing in the morning.

working? and floating

an excuse for fireball shots...our new granddaughter!

Aug 22, 2025 - We left at 6:15AM and drove until 8:30AM.  It was 12 hours of driving and 850 miles.  We made it to Edgewood, NM and stayed in a Walmart, which was very quiet and only a few blocks from the highway.

another beautiful day on the lake

We've got 1 day and 2 hours of driving to get to Los Osos.

This guy kept me company while I gassed up

Pretty drive in Missouri

More pretty Missouri

Dinner somewhere along the way...Honeybaked ham from AG, corn from Becky and tater tots from our freezer

Beautiful sunset in NM

Aug 23, 2025 - Another mambo drive today.  Kevin woke up and 3:00AM, and at 4:00AM asked if I was awake and was I ready to go...so we started driving.  We made it to SLO at 7:30PM after 14.5 hours of driving.

New Mexico sunrise and reflection from the dashboard

Such a pretty drive

I love to take pictures of the trains in the wide open of the West

We made it to California.  The California bear is greeting us.

love the mountains in the distance

we'll be there soon!!!