Carrizo Plain National Monument

Thursday March 26, 2009

This trip was to be an over night camping trip to Carrizo Plain to check out a new tent. But high winds and the lack of an Adventure pass ended the trip with out an over night stay.

There were high winds in the National Monument. I check out both camping spots but it was too windy so I decided to check out some campgrounds in the Los Padres National Forest. The Valle Vista campground was perfect. It has a great view and it was empty. I just had to drive 15 miles into Pine Mountain Club to get an Adventure Pass. It was getting late but it was only 15 miles. Unfortunately the store in Pine Mountain Club was out of the passes.

So it was off to Lake of the Woods, another 20 miles down the road. By the time I had my Adventure Pass it was almost dark. It would be very dark by the time I back tracked the 35 miles. Lake of the Woods is only 2 hours to Camarillo. The dogs and I arrived home at 9 pm. Maybe next week.

Lunch in Ventucopa at The Place.

This is the south entrance to the National Monument.

Max and Zoe

Morro Bay, Claifornia
February 27 – March 1, 2009

Morro Rock

The weekend destination was Morro Bay, California. This was a motel weekend. No camping just roughing it at the Pleasant Inn Motel. The motel was just two blocks from the water front with a view of Morro Rock.

Deb & Zoe

Pleasant Inn Motel

For this trip we took our VW Beetle convertible. This was one of the trips Debby was taking with the dogs and I. We had a nice drive up the coast with the top down. We got into Morro Bay in the afternoon.

On Saturday, we drove up Highway 1 to Plaskett Creek. On the way up we stopped and took a short hike up to a redwood grove and found a water fall. Max and Zoe had a ball playing in the creek.

Deb & Zoe at the waterfall

On the drive back down Highway 1 we found an unmarked trail leading down to our private beach. We had a one hour hike down to the beach and along a cove. The dogs sleep very well on the way back to the motel.

Max & Zoe walking along the beach

That evening we met up with Justin and Kelly for dinner at the Great American Fish Company. After dinner we all took a walk along the waterfront. Deb found a gnome in a shop the we needed for our back yard.


On Sunday we took our time leaving town. We a walk along the water front and stopped in at a garden shop. Found several water fountains that we could use in our side yard. But that would have to wait for another trip.