California or Bust!

San Dimas

    Our first stop in California was supposed to be at Lake Parris but God intervened and we received an invitation from Jim's former co-worker Randy, to come join them at Bonelli Bluffs in San Dimas. It was a beautiful campground and we met a lot of nice people. 

Jim and Randy

We had a nice relaxing time with nightly campfires, friendly games of 5 Crowns (thanks Sam and Mike for teaching us this game), and Corn Hole, watching the younger folks sliding down the hill on ice blocks, and just sitting around and visiting. The ladies also enjoyed a class on Rock Painting. I will need to check more into it when I get home.   Another new craft to explore. 

 

Steve, Donna, and Parker enjoying the view

Site of our nightly campfires.

Abby getting the wood ready for one of the campfires.

 And the award for the best fire starter of the weekend goes to Daniel!

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the  fires we had.

It's hard to see the people but that's the hill they were sliding down on the blocks of ice.

Here is the wonderful group of people we spent Memorial Day weekend with. 

Steve, Donna, and Parker made new friends too,

Pismo Beach

Our next stop was to the California Coast at Pismo Beach. The campground reminded us a bit of Indiana Dunes in that the park was on one side of the dunes and the beach was on the other.

 On our first walk to the beach we took the Beach Access path which was over the sand dunes. It was hard walking because the sand was really loose and the dunes were much bigger than we thought. We walked back on the street. Notice the sweat shirts and jeans? It never got out of the 60s and we didn't see the sun the entire time we were there. Another interesting fact about this beach is that they allow vehicles to drive on it and even allow people to bring their campers and stay on the beach. 

The park had a nice trail around the lagoon and we saw some interesting flowers and birds. We also saw a coyote but he was too quick for us to get a picture of him. I think he was going after some of the ducks in the lagoon. 

The bird in the tree, and there were lots of those around, are called Black Crowned Night Herons. They roost in the trees during the day and hunt at night. 

This ground cover was growing all over the place and this picture doesn't show how pretty it is. 

Another flower on the path

We ate out a couple of times. The first place was Pismo Fish and Chips but we didn't get any pictures of that one. We both enjoyed fish dinners. The other place we ate was at the Rock & Roll Diner. All home made food. Jim had a burger and I had meatloaf. I also had some kind of Mexican meatball vegetable soup which was really good. 

A real old fashioned juke box. Unfortunately it didn't work but we did enjoy all the old music that was being played in the restaurant. 

Rio Vista

Our next stop was in Rio Vista where we camped in Brannon Island State Park. We had to cross two bridges to get there. It is on the delta formed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The one bridge was the Antioch Bridge and it was so high that I had my eyes closed the entire time, therefore no pictures. The second one was a much lower and smaller draw bridge. 

Our campsite

 This is a boat slip on the 3 Mile Slough

There really wasn't much to do there so it was a nice time of just relaxing. We did take a couple walks and we were planning on taking our bikes out but it never cooled off enough to do so. 

The temperatures in CA are so different from place to place. Pismo Beach was cool and cloudy, Brannon Island was hot and sunny. Our next stop is hot during the day and quite chilly at night. 

Mt. Shasta

What a beautiful location and beautiful mountain/volcano. 

Mt. Shasta from the road.

This was the entrance to the campground. It was a tight fit for the truck and the camper between the red wood trees. 

Our campsite

We took a walk into Mt. Shasta City. It was only a mile from the campground.

Several  different views of Mt. Shasta from the town. Can you image living near this view? 

Took this picture for my buddy Parker back home in PA

Steve, Donna, and Parker enjoying their infinity pool.

Steve, Donna, and Parker sitting on their bench, 

There wasn't anything that we wanted to do other than enjoy the view, so while all the other campers and their families left for Shasta Lake we enjoyed a quiet day sitting at the campsite, reading, working on the blog and enjoying God's creation. 

A Steller's Jay, the only crested jay west of the Rockies. They are very fast even on the ground so it was hard to get a good picture of them. 

Good night from Mt. Shasta

Now it's time to say good-bye to California and hello to Oregon.