Mary Arrives - Let's Hike - SLO walk - Bubble Gum Alley

 After the Stouts left I had a few days to myself so I did a couple beach walks, headed up North to the Harmony Headlands and decided to torture myself with a climb of Valencia Peak.

 

Looking North on Morro's 2 mile long beach.

 Harmony Headlands is just15 or so minutes north of Morro. It's a former ranch road so nothing challenging but a very beautiful walk to the ocean.

 

 Harmony Headlands from the end of the trail.

 

The next day I challenged my 75 year old legs with trip up Valencia Peak. It's the tallest peak in the Montana de Oro State Park. 8000 acres and 7 miles of shoreline.

Valencia is 1347 ft. in elevation and since you start at basically sea level, you do them all. A well maintained trail zigzags up the peak for 2.4 or so miles. With expansive views towards town and further south.

 

 The ridge trail heading towards the summit.

  

 

 

Looking down from the summit at the ridge and trail and Spooner's Cove.

 

 

 

A couple of views from the summit. First looking East towards San Luis Obispo and the second to the South.

 

It was a great hike, there's so much oxygen at sea level, but challenging for me. Just about a 3 hour round trip.

 

Mary arrived around 1 PM on Friday. After unpacking we headed down to the beach for a walk. She loves the ocean and also has been coming here off and on for years.

 

 

 Mary getting her toes into the sand.

 

After the walk we celebrated her arrival with a bottle of French Rose Champagne, Brie and a locally made Rosemary Gouda on the deck.

 

 

 

 The following day, Saturday, we headed north to Cayucos first to view a fishing boat the had become stranded on the rocks on the north end of town. The 79-foot commercial fishing boat that ran aground on July 28, 2017. It's propellers had been entangled in some line and when the crew shut the boat down to try and free it, it drifted up on the rocks. The fuel was pumped out but after a 100K estimate to free it and tow it back for repairs, the owner decided to leave it.

 

 

 

 

 We then headed up to Cambria to find a restaurant/bar that Mary had had a glass of wine at years before with a beautiful view of the ocean and said that she thought the place had been bought by Dauo Cellars. We eventually found the place, but it was abandoned now and didn't seem to be being repaired.

 

After that we went to Harmony (Pop. 18) where there's a tasting room, old post office, glass blowing business, food trucks and wedding venue.

 

 

 

 

 We had some time before the Saturday Morro Farmers Market so we took a wharf side walk to check out the sea otters that reside in the bay and decided to stop at Stax wine bar for a glass.

 

 

It was a rainy weekend and a brief but intense shower brought a quick end to shopping at the Farmers Market. 

 

 The next day after a morning walk on the beach we ventured back out to Montana de Oro to find a access point for the spit. Morro Bay has a 4 mile sand spit that runs from the harbor entrance to Montana de Oro where it connects to the mainland. I thought that we had found a quick entry point on a previous visit but hell if I can find it now. We pulled off on a couple of the parking areas along the road and found some access points in case we decide to do a hike there in the coming week.

 

 

 The sand spit stretching back towards Morro Rock and the Bay.

 

 

 On Monday we headed out once again to Montana de Oro to hike the Point Buchon trail. It's only open Friday thru Monday from April to October and crosses land that is both private ranch land as well as land belonging to PG&E where the Diablo Canyon Power Plant is. 

 

It's a great walk of 4 miles out with stunning seascapes. Sea stacks, caves, arches and big vistas are around every corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On Wednesday we decided to head south to Avila Beach and possibly do a hike there. We ended up on the bay at a nice restaurant called Mersea's on the dock for a beer and some lunch. Avila is really nice. Had a great vibe, not overrun by tourists. Cute little town. 

 

From there we drove thru Shell Beach, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach and Oceano. In Pismo we stumbled upon a park called Dinosaur Caves Park. Evidently in the 40's, a gentleman started building a large concrete dinosaur that was to be the entrance to sea caves, which have since collapsed. The dinosaur was never completed as local citizens thought it was an eye sore.

 

 

 

Grover Beach was okay, neither of us were crazy about Oceano, but it might have been due to the fact that it's the entry point to Pismo State Beach where they allow cars on the beach. Kinda ruined the vibe.

 

From there I wanted to take a back road to SLO just to check out the area. After a couple wrong turns we ended up on Orcutt Road headed in the right direction. It turned out to be fortuitous as we ended up at a winery that I researched prior to heading to the coast. 

 

The Baileyana, Tangent and True Myth tasting room is located in a small one room former schoolhouse for the children of the farms in the area. We had a very nice and very knowledgeable young woman who gave us a lot of information about the wines and the area since she had grown up in Pismo Beach.

 

The Baileyana Tasting Room. Highly Recommended.

 

 On Thursday we walked on the beach and then headed over to San Luis Obispo (SLO) for a hike and the evening market.

 

We decided upon trails in the Irish Hills section of town and had a nice 3 plus mile hike with great views of SLO.  We took the Froom Creek Connector to the King to the Mariposa.

Lots of live oaks and grasslands right in the city.

 

 

 

 Finally we went to the Thursday Night Market. Very crowded but 4 very long blocks of vendors with fresh fruit, vegetables, baked items and crafts. As we were leaving Mary remembered that we must visit Bubblegum Alley. Holy cow and a bit disgusting.

 

Heading for the Ocean - Big, Big, I mean really Big City - Back to the Rock

 Back in October of 25 I decided to make another trip to my favorite beach town, Morro Bay, California. I've been coming here since 2014 and love the vibe of the town as well as it's access to hiking, beach walks and wine country.

 I found a 3 bed, 2 bath house on VRBO and since it was six months out, got a great daily rate on the place for a months rental. So on the 25th of March I headed out from Silver Cliff and went West. 

 Since I left well before my April 1st check in date, I stopped in Durango for a night to visit my friend Mary. The next day I traveled through the Navajo Nation for a night in Flagstaff, then onto the LA region to spend a couple of days with my friends the Stouts. 

 Sally and Bill and I had spent a couple days in Morro last year as well as another trip back in 2022 and they had planned to join me for a weekend this time in Morro Bay as well. 

While in Rossmoor, the Stouts and I went down to San Diego (Pacific Beach to be specific). The UC Santa Barbara rowing team was at a regatta and had planned a 50th anniversary celebration. Bill had been the first women's coach back in the early 70's so they asked him and other original members to speak to the current team.

 

It took over two hours of Friday afternoon traffic to reach PB. On the way back after dinner at In and Out I took this picture of southbound traffic at around 7:30. Yikes, still backed up.

 I left them on Monday the 30th and spent two nights in the Buellton/Solvang area. Solvang bills itself as the "Danish Capitol of America". Cute little town but it was Spring Break while I was there so lots and lots of tourists.

 

 

 One of the many "Windmills" in Solvang

 

The entrance to Mission Santa Ines in Solvang

 

On the 2nd day I found a nice winery outside of town called Buttonwood. Very nice lady working the tasting room. Originally from NY she lived in LA as a stock broker for many years. She was very generous with the pours and I found a couple of wines, one of which I had never had before, a Grenache Blanc. Very tasty. 

 

The Buttonwood Winery outdoor tasting area.

 I also found a nice little Santa Barbara Park featuring the Nojoqui Falls. Not much of a hike in but very nice setting. 

 On the 1st I headed over to Morro Bay, taking back roads out of Buellton since I had a check in time of 3PM. Lots of wineries in the Los Olivos AVA. Zaca Mesa, Fess Parker to name a couple. I continued on to Santa Maria and got on the 101 heading North to Morro Bay.

 It was about 2 PM by the time I rolled into town so I cruised by the house to check it out. Several trash cans were in the driveway so I thought that maybe someone might be there so I checked out a park nearby and then went to the Foghorn Brewhouse for a beer and nachos. Both very good by the way.

Checked again a 2:40 or so and the cans had been moved so I got the key out of the lock box and made my self at home. Nice place with a nice deck. The house was a little musty smelling, I guess from little use. Looking at the guest book it didn't appear to be rented since December.

 

 

The house in Morro Bay.

 Had a couple days before The Stouts were to drive up from LA. Bought supplies, walked along the Embarcadaro out to the Rock and back to the harbor. Found a new wine tasting place called Central Coast Wines. And of course, beach walks.

 

 The Stouts arrived on Friday afternoon and we had a nice dinner at Dorn's. Very nice place, very crowded with the spring breakers.

 Bill and Sally both love going to antique stores, so they did a couple of those, we did the Saturday Morro Bay Farmers market and had a nice dinner on the deck on a beautiful evening before they headed back the next morning to prepare for their summer in Colorado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road Trip - Snow on the Organs - A Hermit's Cave and Seasonal Waterfall - A walk back in time to Petrogylph Canyon

 

My friend Mary and I had planned a road trip down to Las Cruces, New Mexico for some warmer weather hiking. After she had finished pet sitting for her "favorite" pet, Wiley, we headed south after a weekend storm had blown through dumping some snow in Southern Colorado and lots of rain in Southern New Mexico. So much for the "warmer" weather, though it was way warmer than here in the Wet Mountain Valley. 

We arrived late in the afternoon at a very nice rental home with good access to both US-70 and I-25. I was surprised to see that the Organ Mtns had lots of snow on them from the weekends storm. I've been coming to LC off and on since 1972 and it was probably only the 3rd or 4th sime that I'd seen snow up there. The high peaks reach up to nearly 9000 ft.

We did some shopping for coffee for Mary. Since the sun was just getting ready to set, we headed downtown to take a little walk around the central plaza and business district. We thought maybe we could possibly get a drink but the one pub that we came across seemed to be out of business.

The next morning we gassed up and headed to the Eastern side of the Organs to hike the Lone Pine trail. It's a 4.5 mile loop that starts in the Aguirre Springs Campground and rises 1,000 ft. to an elevation of 6900 ft.

 

Mary on the trail before the snow really started.

We continued up and were rewarded with great views to the east of White Sands Missile Range and beyond.

 

 

 

The snow was getting gradually deeper when we came upon this left a day or so earlier.

 

 

And it was an amazing view.

 

 On the way down.

It took us around 2 and a half hours to complete the loop. Slow going for me when the snow deepened, but it was a fun fun hike.

When we got down we headed over to White Sands National Park since Mary hadn't been there in many years. As we got nearer we could see that White Sands had not escaped the snow either. It's rare but not unheard of as the temperature does drop below freezing during the winter.

 

 A muddy drive end after the pavement ended but worth it. We got out and climbed one of the dunes.

 

 

 

 

The following day we decided to stay on the western side of the Organs. I had told Mary about the La Cueva (the cave) that was located near Dripping Springs and we doubled up on the hike to go to the seasonal waterfall in Filmore Canyon.

La Cueva was home to Giovani Maria de Agostini, "The Hermit Monk of New Mexico" for some time. He lit a fire every Friday evening to let his friends in Las Cruces know that he still lived. When the fire didn't appear one night his murdered body was found. Locals thought it was Apaches. Look him up, this was the end of an unbelievable life.

 

 

 Mary at the mouth of La Cueva. 

With all the snow up high, I figured that the falls in Filmore Canyon might be running so we headed back to the main trail and worked our way to the canyon. When we reached the falls we found just a trickle of water making it's way down the face.

 

  We got back to the truck and headed south on I-25 to the Mesquite exit where headed east on dirt roads in search of Pena Blanca, I had hiked in this area many times in the past. The road that we went in on is intersected by the Sierra Vista trail which runs North to South from just outside of Las Cruces to Anthony, Texas. 

 

 

Pena Blanca is a interesting formation with lots of different strata. It's mainly a bouldering area for local climbers.

On Thursday we headed for one of my favorite spots. Petrogylph Canyon. Located in the Tonuco Mountains about 20 miles north of Las Cruces and 10 miles or so south of Hatch.

On a windy and cooler day and we got off to a rough start when I parked the truck at where I thought I had previous parked on another trip there, but we just bushwhacked down a dry arroyo to Tonuco Draw and then headed north to the canyon opening.

 It's a little hit or miss finding the main drainage from the canyon, but we meandered about and got to the mouth of the canyon.Up we went to the first dry falls. Scrabbling up the side we eventually came to the first of many rocks covered with Petrogylphs. 

 

 After a snack and some water, we made our way back down the canyon into the draw and eventually back to the truck. Mary later told me it was her favorite hike of the trip.

 Our last day, Friday, was for visiting. Mary met her friend Rene who had moved to LC from Silver City. I drove over to Deming to visit my friend Peggy and her huge dog, Pacino. 

 Great fun. 

  

 

 

 

Rome - A pleasant drive back to Florence - Weekend Trains - You Wanted Heat, You Got It - So much history, So little time.

 We left fairly early from the Cinque Terre headed towards Florence to catch our train to Rome. The drive was fairly fast since we had opted not to stop at Pisa or Lucca. Beautiful coast country until you turn east to Florence. Mary napped part of the time so I just enjoyed the views.

 Arriving at the airport where we returned the call we had to wait for a shuttle that took us down to the train station. 10 or 15 other folks waited with us and Mary realized that she had left something in the car. I hustled back and got to the car just before they moved it to another location. Hustled back and got there just before the shuttle.

 I thought I was being smart when I booked a weekend train since it was 2 for 1 tickets and found the first class cabins were nearly as packed as second class. 

Arriving at  Roma Termini we headed out for the two bedroom apartment that we had rented. It was very nice though sparsely furnished. The building had a, again, sparsely furnished roof as well, but provided nice views of the eternal city.

 We walked down to the Coliseum, then on to Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, a walk along the River Tiber and finally a lunch on the west bank.

 

 Our second day, June 2nd, is Italy's Republic Day. The day before we had seen bleachers erected along the Via dei Fiori Imperiali in preparation for a huge parade on the 2nd. Loads of folks out enjoying the holiday.

 As we walked on this very warm day (in the 90's), we found a line of at least a hundred people standing at we found out to be a open house at the Quirinal Palace (President of Italy's home). Being a Sunday there were lots of elderly ladies dressed in black in line. 

We moved on to the Pantheon where the line was so long we passed and moved on to the Piazza Novona. It dates from the 1st century AD and has lots of restaurants, shops and some of the most impressive statues and fountains.

 The most impressive is  Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers from 1651 by Bernini. 

 

 In the background is the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone from the 17th Century. We had a glass of wine and a snack and then moved on towards the Trevi Fountain.

 There were so many people there that there was absolutely no way to work down to toss a coin in the fountain to guarantee a return trip. 

 We retraced our steps back to the  Quirinal Palace where there were now ambulances and several EMT's attending to folks that had fainted due to the long wait and heat of the day. Very scary for those folks.

On Monday the 3rd we headed towards the Vatican passing by the Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber. Mary didn't feel like going through the Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel but we did join a long, slow line to go into Saint Peter's. I got up to the metal screening machines and had to go through like three times before I got all of my metal out of my pockets. It was a bit embarrassing.

On the 4th, which was our last day in Italy, we visited the Capitoline Museum in a building designed by Michaelangelo. Many beautiful statues and the plaza overlooks the Roman Forum. Then took a tour of  the "wedding cake", better known as the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.

 The next morning we walked over to the train station and caught our train to the airport ending a great month touring Italy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinque Terre - FORBIDDEN - Back Roads - A seemingly deserted village

 On May 25th we headed out from San Vito di Caldore towards the Cinque Terre. Another overcast day and as we approached the Autostrada near Brixen, the rains came. Maybe a downpour would be more descriptive. Made for a fun drive south.

 Rain continued all the way south past Verona, finally clearing as we turned west in the direction on Milan. This part of Italy is more industrialize than the south. We passed Reggio Emilia and Parma before once again heading south. 

On the outskirts of La Spezia, our directions took us into the hill country where (we weren't using GPS but rather road by road directions that I had written down) we got a little lost. We hit one little town where we executed the old right turn, right turn, right turn manuever. Fortunately it didn't last long as we decided to pick a road and go for it. 

 Holiday House Il Sole di Valletona (yes, that's how it's listed) is situated on a hillside over looking the Mediterranean Sea a couple of kilometers from Corniglia a small (150 Pop.) town built on a bluff.

We arrived in the late afternoon, hauled our bags up the steep steps to the house and settled in. Nice place, but the upstairs bathroom had a shower that was a challenge for me with a wicked step up that was tough to navigate at night. 

We had a bottle of wine and snacks watching the sun set.

 The next day with still fair weather we walked about a quarter mile down the narrow road to a driveway that took us to the Sentiero Azzurro, the Blue Trail. 

It's 7.5 mile trail that connects the villages on the Cinque Terre from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. Portions are often closed due to landslides especially between Manarola to Riomaggiore, which happened during our stay. Steep in some sections with uneven stairs and (during our time) often muddy portions, the Blue Trail is why most tourists visit the Cinque Terre. 

 At the end of the driveway was a cluster of "apartments" that folks could stay at as well as a nifty little bar,  Bar Il Gabbiano. Heading south towards Corniglia was a pleasant downhill walk. The trail was muddy in places but not particularly crowded. 

  

 At Corniglia was a little kiosk that had a employee who sold and checked day passes on the trail. It was around noon when we got to town and the narrow little streets were packed with tourists. We had planned to have a glass and lunch but every thing was packed. Instead we opted for gelato. Mine was my usual Coconut and Mary had Basil, which was suprisingly good. On the way back we stopped at Bar Il Gabbiano snagged a little table by the window with a view of Corniglia.

 The next day, as we headed to La Spezia for groceries we saw a little hilltop town that was up the hill from where we were staying that led to San Bernardino. We pulled over and took a walk through the mostly deserted town with a view of hillside vineyards and the sea. We'd come back for that.

 On May 28th, we headed North on the Blue Trail destined to Vernazza. On this nice trail, though muddy again, we met a woman on the trail who stopped us, pointed at Mary's Chaco sandals and said in a big voice "FORBIDDEN". Guess she didn't like Mary's choice of footwear. I think Mary might have said something about hiking in Chaco's for years, but since she didn't flash a badge, we kept going.  

  

 Mary and her forbidden footwear.

 

 Vernazza has a small port that was crowded not only with fishing boats, one of which was painted like a Jack Daniels bottle. Lots of tourists again but we walked thru the small streets checking out the views before starting back.

 At the kiosk where a gentleman was checking passes, I skillfully avoided paying the fee since it's only about two miles or so to where we get off the trail and pointed uphill and said "San Bernadino casa". My way of saying we weren't going to Corniglia. He looked at us for a moment, then waved us on.

 On the 30th we walked down the trail to Corniglia and headed towards the train station to go to Manarola. Since Corniglia is on a hilltop bluff you have to go down a a steep 400 step staircase called the Scalinata Lardarina. We purchased our tickets and got on the crowded train.

 Manarola's population is only about 350 but when it's swollen with tourists it's very crowded, not only at the train station but also the cafes, bars and streets. Very picturesque.

 We noticed folks coming out of a shop with paper cones of fried fish, so we picked two of them up. It had some calamari, little fishes with heads on and a couple other varieties. Neither of us finished them.

 We headed uphill through the back streets and got away from the masses and found a great view of the town.

 

 On our last day in the Cinque Terre, we headed back up hill to San Bernadino to hike a trail that I had found on the internet. It headed North towards Vernazza but stayed in the valley. It crossed a couple farms where we weren't sure about trespassing but figured it was okay. 

 

 A pleasant hike that rewarded us with views down toward Vernazza and the sea.

     

 We got up early the next morning to leave and when passing San Bernadino, we came upon15 or 20 men with either rifles or shotguns. Don't think it was a posse but have no idea what they were hunting. I was glad we weren't walking on the trails around there. Off to Florence and Roma.