Yesterday morning we woke up after a pretty short night in Pismo Beach California. We had to contend with someone that I now referred to as "The Cackler" and all her cronies. The Cackler is someone who likes to tell stories (so funny! So funny!) late (LATE!) into the night right next to your tent. Around 1:15 a.m., Michael went over to their group and said, "we can hear everything you're saying and cannot go to sleep." Ugh!!! Thankfully they were cordial and quit talking and cackling after that.
We started the drive up Highway one again. We got to the point that you typically think of with highway one where you have all the hairpin turns and you are right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. If I can be perfectly honest, that drive wore me out. By the end of the day I felt like I had been beat to death by highway one! The first few hours of it were majestic.... Then I just got grumpy about it all. It wasn't my finest moment....
We ended up in Monterey and the 17 mile Drive where Pebble Beach golf course is. It was beautiful but so cold! I cannot even believe this is what July feels like in CA. It was a very windy 60 degrees on the ocean.
The last place we went that night with the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. When Michael was in college, he worked there one summer as the operator of the Cave Train. It was a funny experience for him to go back over 20 years later with our kids.
We left the boardwalk around 9:00 PM. We stopped at Marianne's to get some ice cream (which was amazing!) and then drove to our new campsite and arrived at 10:00 PM. I do not recommend arriving at your campsite when it is pitch black and you have to set your tent up in the dark.... I'm sure our neighbors were not very excited about that either. Too bad it wasn't "The Cackler" because then I would not have felt bad about it! :)
On a positive note however our campsite at Coastanoa is really, really beautiful. The bathrooms are as nice and clean and updated as a nice hotel! The fact that we had not showered in over 48 hours (true story!) probably made the bathrooms feel just that much more special.....
Today was San Francisco. Tomorrow we head to Yosemite and then we start the drive home....
Hi Michael, Ellen, and kids! When you pulled up next to our site at 10pm and everyone piled out to set up the tent, my first thought was, "Dude, really?" (Because we say that in California) My second thought was, "Who does this?". My third thought was, "That's gotta suck". And my final thought was.....I'm not sure since I fell asleep. Your camp set-up didn't keep any of us awake and left me to marvel at how you pulled it off in the dark. However, the car horn/alarm going off at 5am for at least 7 minutes was totally uncalled for. Just kidding! Maybe it was closer to 7am and only for a few seconds. I actually got a pretty good chuckle out of it and was secretly hoping it would wake my teenage boys up since I was already awake long before it happened. I'm glad we had a chance to chat in the morning before you headed off to SF. It was great hearing about your adventures and we pray you have a safe drive the rest of your journey. What awesome memories you're building with your kids! They will never forget it and I'm sure mom and dad will treasure that family time forever...well, except for the occasional meltdowns. Brace yourself for Yosemite! What God has created there can never fully be portrayed in a picture! Oh, and thanks for the Moon Pies! Haven't had one of those since we lived in NC. Safe travels and God bless! Your Costanoa neighbors, Will, Kathy, Austin, and Tanner Call
ReplyDeleteWill! Thanks SO much for posting this! I am thrilled that you took the time to tell "the rest of the story" from the camping neighbor point of view! (So sorry about the car horn--I had no idea! I think I must've been talking with Kathy at the bathhouse!) Glad you got a chuckle out of it!
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