Last Vacation of 2017

We headed up the coast and were lucky to have clear air. We could signs of the fire right on the edge of towns, but we had no smoke on our drive.

We had a little stop at Avila Beach just to touch the water and enjoy being out of the car.

We spent the evening in San Luis Obispo and met D.'s sister and boyfriend for dinner followed by a visit to Bubblegum Alley and Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab. All the best places in one night!

In the morning we headed to Santa Cruz and D. and A. rented fancy bicycles and had a fabulous ride. I ran along West Cliff Dr. and through Natural Bridges State Beach. Ahh.

I still had time so I looked for a charging station and was lucky to find a solar-installation company that would charge the car for free. That meant I needed to get around on foot, but it was a beautiful day.

I made it to Bookshop Santa Cruz and the public library, which had this display of books about criminals and other people on Santa's naughty list. I have been trying not to shop much, but books don't count.

My cousin lives in Half Moon Bay and my sister drove down from San Francisco and we all took a walk along the bluffs. I would love to live so close to the water.  My cousin took us to a great restaurant that was near an equally wonderful bookstore, which we were happy to support.

We left A. behind with my sister and took home D.'s bicycle, which had been in San Francisco last year. Seemed like a fair trade.

On our way home we took the scenic route. We had probably driven by the sign many time, but this time we took the exit for Pinnacles National Park. We didn't go for a long hike but were still happy to have stopped. Good think I had put that annual park pass in the car!

As usual, it was good to go and good to come home.