Life On The Central Coast

From 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Thursday nights, the bell rings and the open air Farmer's Market in San Luis Obispo goes into full swing. The local farmer's can begin selling their fruit, vegetables, plants, honey, eggs and other local tasty food. It's a great place to just grab a couple of BBQ ribs or a roasted ear of corn and sit down on the curb and listen to music. You can't beat the freshness of the local produce and it's just plain FUN!! The side streets host various local talent venues such as bands, choirs, gymnastics, belly dancers, even face painting and a bounce house for the kids to enjoy. This week was especially busy because of the nice weather and a local car show in Arroyo Grande this weekend. Can you believe the size of that crowd?? Farmer's Market San Luis Obispo, CA

Instead of going to see Pirates of the Carribean we decided to go to downtown Pismo this evening and take pictures. The day had been mostly foggy and as it progressed, it even looked like it could rain. But wouldn't you know...one of the prettiest sunsets you could ever want to see. The clouds parted, like they do on so many evenings, and we were graced by a gorgeous golden sunset.

On Friday, July 20, 2007, we decided to go see the Blues play a home game in San Luis Obispo . The Blues were playing against the Santa Barbara Foresters. The Blues have been having a very good season and the bleachers were full of supporters! It was an exciting game right to the end but our local team didn't come out victorious this time. Final score? 4 to 3. Wes and I had Hot Dogs, Beckie, a Cheeseburger and Matt tried the Tri -Tip sandwich...all very good! Even little Scotty had Gerber hot dogs! We also ate some peanuts and sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". After the sun set it started getting kind of chilly and we had Chai Tea and Hot Cocoa to keep us warm. It wouldn't be summer without baseball! http://www.bluesbaseball.com/

We made a quick visit to Morro Bay today in hopes of getting some pictures before the fog rolled it. It was a beautiful 80 degree day in San Luis Obispo but quite different by the time we got to Morro Bay. The fog had already started to come in and we were lucky enough to take a few shots before the fog had totally enveloped The Rock. Morro Rock is stunning no matter what the conditions are.

Temperatures in the low 80's combined with the beauty of the Central Coast draw visitors from the nearby sweltering San Joaquin Valley during the summer months. Here they can cool off while enjoying the sun and fun at the local beaches. Oceano Beach is one of the only places in California that allows you to drive on and either use the beach for the day or for overnight camping. Everything from riding ATV's, Surfing,and Paragliding to renting horses at a local stable or a Bi-Plane to fly over the beach is available. You can even cruise the beach from the seats of a Hummer. Campsites are limited and making reservations is advised. Also, 4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended and paying careful attention to the tide charts can prevent you from the risk of getting stuck in the sand. During the rainy months a creek forms that can be quite treacherous. http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1207 http://stevesatv.com/ http://www.pacificdunesridingstables.com/ http://www.bannerairways....

I am SO excited to share with all of you that Scotty is crawling! He had been doing the "soldier crawl" for about a week and a half and now it has progressed to the real thing! He's also standing and walking around furniture and letting go briefly, but I'll take pictures of that next week. Here it is...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjxmVhYanSs

I woke up early this morning feeling inspired. I've been wanting to make this bracelet for at least a month but couldn't really decide how I wanted to "order" the beads. Finally, I decided to just put all the beads into a bag and draw them out one by one and string them...no real order... and I loved the way it turned out! One of my favorite stones is turquoise and the red jasper and carnelian combined with the Hill Tribe silver really makes it pop. Jewelry making is one of my favorite and most relaxing pastimes. You can really get lost in the process of just sliding bead after bead onto wire. I N S P I R E D !

Evening is a magical time here on the Central Coast. It is the perfect time to find just the right lighting for photos. So experimenting with my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi, I found myself near Edna Valley Vineyard. As the sun was setting I snapped a few pictures of the field with Islay Hill in the background. Islay Hill is the southernmost of the nine major "morros" known as the Nine Sisters. This chain of extinct volcanic peaks stretches from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo. M ore information about Morro Rock and the nine sisters can be found at : http://www.morrobay.com/rock.htm

The July/August 2007 Country Home magazine features an article titled "The Antiquing Highway" that outlines a 3 day visit to the Central Coast. The cities of Los Alamos, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Cayucos and Paso Robles are all destinations visited along with specific stores, restaurants and motels. This is a really great time of year to make the trip here. In addition to the stores featured, we have the local flavors of Farmer's Markets in nearly every town, numerous Wineries and events such as Art in the Park in Shell Beach the first Sunday afternoon of the month during the summer. Avila Beach is home to both Sycamore and Avila Hot Springs resort and has a great Farmer's Market/Fish Market on Friday evenings during the summer. Have I mentioned being able to drive on the local beach? Oceano State Beach offers both day use and camping facilities for those of you with off road vehicles. Check out the links I've provided. Links to the Central Coas...

My husband and I visited Ocean Beach Park just west of Lompoc, CA over the weekend. The tide was in and we had to scale a hill and go over a set of railroad tracks to get to this part of the park. It was well worth the effort...just look at that view! There are so many beautiful places to visit in our area. http://www.visitusa.com/california/beaches/san-luis-obispo/oceanbeach-countypark.htm