We're backkkkkkkkkkkkk!
An uneventful flight from the East coast to home and we are back in the saddle. Closing the cabin for the season is always brutal, with having to pull boats and water toys out, shrink wrap and winterize them. Then the real work starts with draining all the water out of our plumbing system to prevent pipes bursting in our unheated home during brutal Canadian winters.
Pontoon boat put to bed for the winter
Still, before we left, we had a chance to drive through the Adirondacks to Lake Placid, to take in the fall leaves.
We also came across a little wagon we thought our grandson would like as it brought memories of my childhood. His mom said it would be great, but we would have to ship it...to Germany.
Stopping by our local watering hole, you have to understand that they are real proud of being off the grid and out in the middle of nowhere.
Arriving home, there is always a plethora of little fix it's, minor paint touch up's, broken widgets to address, doors that don't close properly and general maintenance that after an absence of 8 months is necessary.
Fall in LOVE with SLO
I always thought they called San Luis Obispo S-L-O because the full name takes so long to say.*** Little did I know at the time that the acronym serves as a spot-on accurate description that serves up every iconic California experience. Life really is easier here. Being halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles saved it from urban sprawl. It is just too pretty to pave over. Its vast and open landscape retains an old California attitude. God, I love it here.
One of our local beaches
More than a dozen towns stretch from the ocean to the Santa Lucia mountains. You can dig for clams in Pismo Beach (The Clam Capital of the world) or bicycle through the rolling vineyards of Paso Robles (site of a healing mineral spring) where folks came by stagecoach. There are art galleries galore in Cambria, fishing boats in Morro Bay or you can wander up highway 1 to Hearst Castle on your way to see the Elephant seals.
Hearst Castle
Oceano sand dunes where
"The Ten Commandments" was filmed.
One of 280 wineries in SLO county.
Morro Bay
Fast facts:
-CNN has named SLO one of Americas best towns to visit.
-When students first arrive at the local university, they are told they will love it here but at the end of their 4 years they will probably have to leave as they will never be able to afford to live here.
- San Luis Obispo was the first municipality in the world to ban smoking in bars and restaurants and has the lowest rate of smokers in the United States.
- In an evaluation of 430 metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, SLO was ranked as the 3rd best place to live.
-Oprah Winfrey called SLO "The Happiest City in America"
-There are 1,100 nonprofit organizations in the county of 260,000 residents. There are 64,000 volunteers.
- Drive through restaurants are banned.
- The world's first motel was in SLO.
*** Much like tourists who like to say "Cali", no self- respecting Californian would ever abbreviate the name. Worst offenders call San Francisco "Frisco" like they are trapped in the 70's. UGH!! Natives don't use either term, merely saying they are going to "The City" as if it is the only one worthy of the name. More recent political leadership has stained the reputation but there is hope yet.
Check on your friends, ladies. Some are still
learning to drive with a stick.
