From France to California... and Back

 

Looking across the Elfin Forest and the Back Bay to Morro Rock in the far distance.

Yes, we are now back in France. Perhaps we will be seeing these blogs more regularly! 

Our visit to California was full and rewarding. We got some stuff done, we saw family and friends. We reconnected to this place where we’ve lived for so many years. 

And I was struck, all over again, by the physical beauty of the Central Coast—the open space; the view across the Back Bay; the rocky peaks, both close and far. And the “golden” (which is to say, brown) hills, empty of human-made structures, rolling off into the distance, fronted by the vast expanse of the Pacific, with its rocky shores and extensive beaches. 

Montana de Oro State Park

And all this just a short walk from our house! 

While in Los Osos—the small town where we’ve lived for a dozen years—we stay in the apartment on the ground floor. In the past we’ve had this apartment rented out, but now with the house on a long-term lease we keep it for family and friends. And for us. It gives us flexibility in our comings and goings.

We wanted to keep a low profile for our first few days back—COVID, for one. Jet lag, for another. And, to get some things done around the house. One task was to reduce our extensive collection of old photos. We filled the trash with old prints and negatives, and endless slides (remember those, a bit of 35mm film in a cardboard frame?). And I thought, However good a photographer I am now, I was much worse then… what are all these pictures, anyway??. 

Shortly after we arrived, though, was the annual Great Salmon Sale. A local fish market brought in tons of salmon from Monterey Bay and sold it in the parking lot on Sunday morning, $10 a pound, cut as you liked it. We waited, in a line stretching around the block, for almost an hour.

 

Waiting in line gave us  a chance to reconnect with this part of Morro Bay, with its small commercial fishing fleet tied along the dock, the sailboats moored out in the middle, and the massive, iconic Morro Rock in the near distance, mostly obscured, as it often is, by the fog lying lightly on the bay.

 

And it tasted as good as it looks...

Indeed, this fog—or, rather, the cool weather which brings it—was a prime reason we’d come back in July and August. Montpellier tends to be hot, with the so-called canicule (heat wave) driving the temps into the 90s for days at a time, with little cooling at night.

But in Los Osos we didn’t have that problem! Normal highs were 68° (20°C), and cooler at night. Humid, but cool. For sun we needed only to drive a few miles inland. In fact, after a few hours in the “big city” of San Luis Obispo, we were glad to head back to the coast, and always celebrated as we drove into the fog bank (technically, the “marine layer”), leaving the heat behind.

Mostly, we stayed home, working on the tasks we’d set for ourselves, and catching up with friends. Paula’s brother Mark stayed with us for a week, and we drove up the coast to Big Sur… but not very far, as the road is closed, again. (It washes out every couple of years, in spite of all the major improvements constantly being done by the State). 

We stopped at Ragged Point Inn for lunch, where our meal was accompanied by a band playing outdoors. It was wonderful, being the first live music we’d heard for, what, two years? And we reveled in the beauty of the rolling California coastal hills, fronted by the gorgeous rugged coastline.

Mark  and Paula enjoying the music at Ragged Point Inn

 

The start of the rugged Big Sur coast.

A few weeks later we had another visit from some long-time friends and travel companions, Sue and Alan. We headed to the south part of the county, to the Oceano Dunes, with its sand dunes stretching for miles. I think to get the real impact it’s necessary to arrive in the morning and spend all day. But we were there for only an hour or two, climbing and sliding, enjoying the sun on the warm sand. To the north we could see civilization: the encroaching suburbs; to the south it was empty to the horizon.

The Oceano Dunes stretching to the Pacific Ocean

Paula with friends Sue and Alan in the dunes; like a day at the beach but without the water!

We slowly make our way home...

We spent a few days in the city of San Luis Obispo, and I began to see it as another place to explore and appreciate, like so many other cities we’d visited on our travels. I was glad to see many restaurants had added outdoor seating. One of the joys of meeting and eating in Europe is the outdoor lifestyle. Of course, COVID has moved a lot of things outdoors, but perhaps this is one trend that will continue on after the pandemic.

 

Where it all began: Mission San Luis Obispo, established1772; one of the many missions in the chain started by Father Junípero Serra.

Much of downtown SLO retains the charm of its 19th century origins.

Now this is new: outdoor dining! A traffic lane has been given over to restaurant customers. I hope this idea carries on past the pandemic!

Then there was the family reunion. We hadn’t seen my many brothers and sisters for… well, a couple of years, at least. We’d agreed to meet in Phoenix, never my first choice of where to be in August. But our brother who lives there just couldn’t get away, so Phoenix it was. 

Yeah, it was hot, but not as overwhelming as we’d imagined. A few minutes outside was actually a relief from the over-refrigerated restaurants. Then we got in the air conditioned car and went back to the air conditioned hotel, to float around in the pool and chat!

 We survived, and were glad to leave the massive hubbub of Phoenix's Sky Harbor for the quiet tranquility of San Luis' own tiny airport, where we were off the plane and out to street in a minute and a half!

Social Distancing at the San Luis airport, explained in terms folks from the Central Coast can understand: the size of a wine barrel, the length of a surfboard...

And yes, we’re back in France now, and mostly recovered from our long flight. But more on that later….