Birthday!

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Hiking to Point Sal

Hiking to Point Sal

My birthday morning was nicely rainy. Harley and I took our morning walk and saw that our campsite was considerably less flooded than some of the others. We hit the road and headed north aiming for Point Sal on Vandenberg AFB by way of Buellton, Los Alamos and Santa Maria. We parked and bundled up since it was WINDY. Even Harley had on two layers (plus his natural layer). It was a road/trail that was alternately paved and unpaved, muddy and even flowing with water. After hiking many switchbacks and passing through an unlocked AFB gate, we crested the ridge of the mountain. We hiked down the ocean-facing side of the mountain for a ways before stopping for a snack.
Not a bad way to turn 33

Not a bad way to turn 33

Sitting on the side of the mountain and looking south at coastline neither of us had seen before, we celebrated my 33rd birthday. Deciding to turn back instead of complete the hike to the beach far below us we made our way back to the van for a grand total of about six miles and three hours and no other souls except for a few deer.

On the road again we headed north through Guadalupe and into SLO intending to camp near Morro Bay but the exit for Avila Hot Springs called to me. We grabbed one of the many open campsites there and I soaked in the hot mineral pool for quite a while before taking my first shower of the trip. Clarke set up the Westy kitchen for me since I wanted to try a new recipe for my birthday dinner (bowtie pasta with sausage cream tomato sauce). We ate sitting in the front seats (turned sideways) with the Westy’s table between us and a bottle of light Portuguese wine.

Visiting with Aunt Kay

Visiting with Aunt Kay

The following morning we headed south again back to a hopefully drier Refugio. When we arrived we found our previous campsite available so we pulled in. Taking Harley for a walk around, we discovered that one of the beach-front sites was empty. We quickly moved Hale Pua to the new site and settled in. After lunch (slop, sloppy joes) we went into Santa Barbara to visit Aunt Kay for a few hours before returning to relax at camp with the beautiful ocean view.

Here are more pictures from our vacation.

The fourth and final installment of our winter vacation…Happy New Year!

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