TOURING WITH AN ANGEL

After visiting the elephant seals my cousins took us to other interesting places near San Luis Obispo.

 We called into the visitor centre for "Hearst Castle" but we didn't go on a tour of the castle as we had done that years ago and we had other places to go which we hadn't seen before.

 We called into an exclusive village called Cambria but there was one not so exclusive house named "Nitwit Ridge". It was made out of recycled rubbish it may have been something special in its heyday but it is condemned now.

 Then we drove on to a pretty beach town at Morro Bay. Morro Rock out in the bay is one of nine extinct volcanos in the area. It is a bird sanctuary for nesting Peregrine Falcons. 

 Near the wharf there was a fish shop with a giant clam shell outside, where one can sit an pretend to be an angel. My cousin's wife Lois is an angel. She is committed to her religion, a good artist, a super host and a loving, caring mom and grandmother of a big family. 

 At Morro Bay we visited a fabulous shell shop that had the biggest collection of shells that I had ever seen.

Lois also showed me around a beautiful garden shop that was big, diverse and specialised in succulents.

That evening our hosts took us to a theatre restaurant at Oceano to see 'The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville." It was a highly entertaining evening and a big day.

ELEPHANTS ON THE BEACH

Sorry I tricked you. When we were in San Luis Obispo my cousins took us to  Piedras Blancas where there is an elephant seal rookery.

These tan and brown, females and juveniles come here for their catastrophic moult. They lose an entire layer of skin and hair as they rest on the beach for 4 to 6 weeks. (What a life!) The males return from feeding in Alaska in November.

Only the males have the long nose like an elephant.

The seals that are near the end of their moult have silvery new coats. They move by using their flippers to push up and forward and flopping on their belly. It looks awkward and hard work.

They flip sand over themselves to keep cool.

They are plump and bulked up for their moulting fast. 

The sub adult males come in June ( these guys must be early) and they are more fun to watch as they like to spar and play, challenging each other with their changing voices, banging their chests together and nipping each other's neck in mock fights.

It was very windy and cold on the beach and difficult to get good photos. 

ST LUIS THE BISHOP

San Luis Obispo is a small city located halfway between LA and San Francisco. The name is Spanish for St Luis the Bishop. It is one of California's oldest communities and it is the home of the California Polytechnic State University.

We arrived there in the evening and my cousins, Chuck and Lois, met us at the station and immediately took us on a tour of the town. It is a lovely country, university town. We were taken to dinner at the famous Madonna Inn.  It has 110 rooms all themed differently and a waterfall in the mens restroom. For some great shots of this quirky Inn visit Pat's blog here and Bill's Blog for the men's bathroom.

Chuck and Lois have a lovely home and they are the best hosts. The next day they took us sightseeing to many different places.

 Firstly, Chuck took us for a morning walk through the local park, which was very pretty.

 Then we drove to this cute little town called Harmony with a population of 18. It is an artsy town with potters, glass blowers and other artists. As you can see there were some renovations going on too.

 There were pretty gardens and I loved these Californian poppies. This poppy is the state flower emblem.

 There was the cutest chapel.

Big enough for the whole population of the town.

After this Chuck and Lois took us to see elephants on the beach. (next post)

TRAIN TRIP TO SLO

A side view of Union Station LA

After our grandparent duties in LA, we had booked a tour of San Francisco, Sonoma and the Napa Valley. Anyone following my blog will know how we love train trips, so naturally we decided to take the train from LA to SF and stop in SLO (San Luis Obispo) on the way to visit my cousins.

We sadly said goodbye to our family and headed for another adventure before dementia.

The Amtrak train leaves from Union Station in LA. It is a  beautiful building.

The front of Union Station LA

Looking towards the ticket office and trains.

Walking towards the exit

Inside the train

 The view from the train was very pretty following the coastline. Sometimes we were right on the beach. (Tinted windows and a moving train are not the best for good photographs)

 California is a beautiful state.

Our train snakes itself towards SLO (San Luis Obispo). It should have taken 5 hours but we were delayed en route and we arrived an hour late. 

OFF TO SAN FRANCISCO

 We had been at Sonya and Bernie's apartment in West Hollywood for three weeks helping look after Fox while mummy was busy with the newborn. However, it was time for us to leave and take a short vacation before returning home. Our other daughter, Carol had arrived to take over from us. So we spent a day showing her the routine.









First you push him in the buggy to the park and play with him for an hour or so then.......

 after the park you continue on to "The Grove" open air shopping mall where there are many upmarket shops, restaurants, "yo-yo" (yoghurt) shop for Fox and a......

 coffee shop for  you.

 Fox likes watching the fountain for a while and........

 he loves waving to the driver of the old trolley bus as it trundles by ringing its bell.

You can say hello to the shoe shine boy....

and watch the filming of a morning show with well known celebrities.....

before returning home to make his lunch and put him down for an afternoon nap. Fix lunch, wash the dishes, fold the washing and grab a rest or nurse the baby before Fox wakes up. Change his nappy and take him downstairs to play in the back yard.

Bye bye we're off to San Francisco!

PARTY TIME

The rehearsals were over and now it was time for the real thing. Last month Fox celebrated his 2nd birthday in the back yard of his apartment in West Hollywood. He celebrated with his parents' friends and their children, his grandparents and aunty from Australia.

 Everyone and Fox sang "Happy Birthday"

 All those rehearsals paid off and he blew them out like a champion. (He had a plastic knife at the ready) 

Enjoying the cake with a friend.

 Father and daughter share a joke.

A fire engine cake for Fox.

BIRTHDAY TIME

On May 12 our eldest daughter, Carol, flew from Sydney to join us in West Hollywood, LA. She came to celebrate Fox's birthday on the next day and also to help her sister with the babies when we left

 a few days later.

 As I write this today, June 1, it is Carol's birthday. So Happy Birthday Carol. She is in Las Vegas at the moment celebrating with her husband.

Early the  next morning Fox was happy to jump onto Aunty Carol's bed and give her lots of hugs. 

Then he discovered his birthday presents.

 "O dis Carol?" means "Help me open this Aunty Carol?"

Ooooh buttons to press, but what is it? Mummy and Papa put it together and hey presto.....

 Its a lawn mower. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"(It became one of his favourite toys)

" O dis Carol?"

 Mummy helped with this one. (Poor Mummy was very tired from feeding Banjo through the night.)

Papa helped with this one. (He already has the scooter)