Our Thanksgiving Trip

We spent Thanksgiving in Grover Beach with Jim and Rex. We avoided the crowded highways by driving down on Tuesday. Smooth sailing all the way!
We had a wonderful dinner, that we prepared on Thursday, and enjoyed on Friday, along with Fred, Jim's 94 year old neighbor. I have to say, it was the most relaxing holiday meal ever, since all of the work was done the day before. Clean up was even a snap! And everything was delicious, so it was a success!

After we finished with the food prep on Thursday we took a walk to the beach, and walked along the boardwalk, all the way in to Pismo Beach. As you can see, it was a beautiful, warm day - didn't even need a jacket.

Sunday night we went to the Melodrama - that's become a Thanksgiving tradition! It was great fun - they do a great job on Dickens Christmas Carol, as well as a spoof on Little Red Riding Hood, and a Holiday Revue that is hysterical. A great way to get into the holiday spirit.

We had really enjoyed visiting with Jim, and he enjoyed his long weekend, as well.

We left Jim's on Monday, and drove about an hour to Cambria, which is north on Highway 1, just south of Hearst Castle. It was my first visit to Cambria that we had spent any time. Again, the weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed exploring the villages of Cambria, east and west. We had a room at the Pelican Cove Inn, which is located right on the ocean, on Moonstone Beach. I had never heard of moonstones before, but a very nice shop keeper showed us what they looked at in their natural state, as well as when they are polished and made into jewelery.

When we checked into the hotel, they were right in the middle of their wine and cheese reception, so, of course, we joined them! There were lots of people there and all were enjoying the afternoon. We had dinner reservations in Cambria, but made sure that we were back for the Dessert Buffet that ended at 9:00 pm! On Tuesday, after a fabulous breakfast, we headed to the beach!

Armed with the knowledge of what moonstones look like, we began the search. The beach there is fabulous, lots and lots of little round stones! So different than this area - it was almost as though they had all been tumbled and shaped! And we did find moonstones! As well as a good amount of sea glass. After beach combing, we went for a long walk along the boardwalk that runs the entire length of moonstone beach. It was fabulous!

We went back through Cambria, and followed the signs that we had seen the day before for the Red Moose Cookie Company - very intriguing! The shop is tucked away in an industrial area, and we talked to each other about how we MAY buy ONE package (4) of cookies. But probably not.

We met Caren, the owner, CEO and chief baker of amazing original cookie recipes! She brought out a tray of samples and we began tasting. OMG!! Those were the most amazing cookies that we had ever eaten!! Caren's motto is that anything is possible with love and butter! I looked up at Lee and he had FOUR packages of cookies in his arms, so I added two more! Now, I have no idea what we are going to do with all of these cookies, as we aren't eating them! I suspect that they'll end up in the freezer, and come out for very special occasions. Come over for coffee and cookies!

Armed with cookies at about 1:30, we decided that we'd better head home as we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. So, we headed down Hwy 46, which is the central coast equivalent of Napa, with lots of wineries! We only stopped at 3, and now have 3 amazing bottles of wine for special occasions. At the 3rd winery, we had a snack on the patio, then got serious about going home.

Straight from there to Santa Cruz, where we stopped at Costco to provision for the following week, and got home, got the car unloaded and groceries put away about 8:00. Dinner at 9:00. It was a great week!

Tomorrow we are attending the Northwest Flight Attendant luncheon in San Francisco, then on Saturday night we are going to the theater in HMB, for their Holiday show.

Our beautiful weather is coming to an end - rain is due on Sunday, and it's certainly turned cold. I guess that winter is on it's way!

Jim and Rex at the beach in Grover Beach

The boardwalk in Cambria

Pebbles on the beach!

Sea weed on the beach, with feather.

I usually carry zip loc bags with us, just in case we find sea glass. However, this time I didn't. But, the shower cap from the hotel worked just fine. We found lots of treasures!

This part of the beach was home to a huge flock of seagulls. They put on a good show for Lee.

Seagulls!
There were also lots of sand pipers with very long beaks!

Rocks on the beach - there were lots of different colors of stones.

Success! A smooth, almost polished moonstone!

Gaily decorated tree outside of one of the many hotels/motels/cabins along Moonstone Drive.