Blogs from San Luis Obispo, California, United States, North America - page 5

Friday 17th May - Saturday 18th May We left LAX in our rental car. it’s a Pontiac G6 Convertible and it’s very nice to drive. We headed up Highway 1 past Santa Monica and Venice and then on to the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. At Malibu we cut across to Interstate 101. Driving on the right has been a challenge but I’m getting the hang of it, no mishaps so that’s good . There has been quite a bit of traffic on some of the roads (especially on the I-101 just out of LA) but the roads are well maintained. At about 7 we stopped at a town called San Luis Obispo (population 40000). This was a pretty, small town that looked quite charming. We’ll here we paid a visit to the local hospital for ... read more

We are coming to the end of a 5-day stay at a state park in Morro Bay, a part of the Central Coast of California that seems to have everything a reasonable person could want. First, the scenery is drop-dead beautiful. The entrance to the bay is marked by Morro Rock, a 23 million-year-old volcanic plug, the first of some nine that are arranged in a line between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Morro estuary is considered to be the least disturbed and most important saltwater marsh in the state and provides critical habitat for thousands of ducks, geese, and shorebirds. So, the birding is great. We have been kayaking every day in the bay and estuary, accompanied closely by several species of loons and grebes, all kinds of sea ducks, and sea otter and ... read more

Getting Ready This evening and yesterday and Sunday have been all about getting ready to go. Well, OK.. there was a little time for WOW in there, but who's counting anyway. Anne and I both worked today, and Anne works Wednesday too, half day. It was wierd closing down all of my projects and not having an avalanche of other work bearing down on me. Chris came in tonight, and Michelle was so very excited. Chris got asked to do several non-Uncle things (bathroom at Chile's, bath, etc)... but we let him off the hook, of course. ... read more

Thursday morning, reluctant to leave my newfound community in Santa Barbara, I loaded my noble red two wheeled steed for a long journey. Soon enough I was heading west on interstate 101, hauling myself, my possessions, and my by-now unfamiliar home of nylon fabric and tent poles to an unknown destiny far away from that blessed oasis which had sustained me so kindly for so long. I made what arrangements I could for final meetings, passing by Fairview Gardens on the way out for Clif bars and Kale and a warm farewell with Casey. Farewell Santa Barbara, farewell Arden House, Ashley, Alex, Morgan, Vince, Casey, Roberto, Jasper, Nick, Matt, Rachel, Betsy, Mischa! Long live you all!! Quixotic, I felt, lone and seeking after some unknown but nonetheless surely beloved fate in some unknown but surely beloved ... read more

Hey everyone! Just two days until we leave for Europe! We'll meet up in Zurich and from there we'll take a train to Interlaken, which everyone says is the most fun place in Switzerland. after a couple of nights in our hostel (ummm it's called the Funny Farm......) we'll head out to Venice for a couple of days. From there we take the train to Florence, where we'll meet up with Amanda, Natalie's sister who'll come with us for the rest of the trip!!! After a couple of nights in Florence we leave for the French Riviera, which I am personally the most excited for, I've been brushing up on my French. After a couple of nights in Nice, we fly to Geneva to catch our last flight to Barcelona, our final destination and new home ... read more