Chowchilla to Pismo Beach
January 11-14, 2020
Escape the cold in sunny Pismo Beach
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| Pismo Beach is a winter getaway for visitors from the North. |
During the winter months, Pismo Beach, California, hosts visitors from the North who seek sunny days and warmer weather. Yes, I’m talking about the monarch butterflies.
Butterflies west of the Rockies migrate 2,500 miles to groves in Central and Southern California. Pismo’s monarch grove happens to be adjacent to North Campground, part of Pismo Beach State Park. While the butterflies live there from October through February, we visited from January 11th to the 14th.
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| An intimate butterfly moment |
During our visit to the monarch grove, we listened to a nature talk by one of the volunteers. She described the life cycle of the monarch, Danaus plexippus, how the caterpillars eat only milkweed (and other monarch eggs), and how western monarchs fly to California in winter, and eastern monarchs fly to mountains in Central Mexico. She described how monarchs mate. The male flies after the female. While flying, he captures her, and they fall to the ground in ecstasy. (I added the ecstasy part.) There, they do their business. When they are finished, they fly to the top of a tree to rest and maybe do it again.
As if on cue, a pair of butterflies landed in the center of the circle for all of us to see. The male flapping his wings up and down. One by one, members of the audience got up close to take pictures. Roger got a good one.
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| Sand dunes surround North Campground at Pismo Beach State Park. |
This is our second time visiting Pismo Beach. Last year we stayed at Pismo Coast Village RV Resort because the campground was closed because of flooding. Driving from Chowchilla to Pismo is one of my favorite rides. The land changes quite dramatically from flat in Central California to the rolling hills of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. I never tire looking out the window at grazing cattle, hillsides covered with grapevines, or if you’re lucky to be there in early spring, after winter rains, fields of gold — the yellow California poppies.
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| The road to Pismo Beach through Paso Robles. |
Luckily for us, our visit overlapped with the time friends from Juneau were also in Pismo. They rent a condo for five weeks every January. We enjoyed walking the beach, visiting the pier, going to dinner, and wine tasting. We ate at the Cool Cat Cafe. I ordered a salad and fried calamari. Roger got a fish burger. Another night we went to a Mexican restaurant called Los Amigos. I ordered chicken fajitas (my usual), and Roger ordered something we haven’t seen before. The ingredients were similar to fajitas, but it was served in a stone bowl called a Molcajete and had a layer of cheese at the bottom of the bowl.
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| A walk on the Pismo Pier at sunset |
We only played one round of golf at the Pismo Beach Golf Club. A rough, little, 3-par course that reminds me of the Mendenhall Golf Course in Juneau. A sign on the wall says, “It’s Pismo Beach, not Pebble Beach.” I prefer small golf courses like this one. We walked, but other people rented carts. The golf course is next to the campground, a 10-minute walk on the trail. We love our van, but sometimes it’s nice to walk or ride our bikes.
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| Friends, wine, and sunshine in the Edna Valley |
We went to Wolff Vineyards with our friends. Roger and I had been there before, and we enjoyed tasting wine and listening to grape growing and winemaking stories. Tastings cost $15, but the fee is waived when you buy a bottle of wine. Each couple bought two bottles, and our friends purchased a third and shared it with us on the patio overlooking the vineyard. I had packed a small picnic of bread, cheese, salami, fruit, and chocolate. What a memorable way to catch up with friends.
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| Vineyards surrounding Laetitia Vineyard & Winery |
We left Pismo on the 15th and stopped at another winery on our way to Malibu. Laetitia Vineyard & Winery specializes in sparkling wine. We shared a tasting. At this winery, the purchase of three bottles waives the wine tasting fee. Although Laetitia also makes red and white wines, we chose the sparkling wine tasting option. One of the wines is made with a specialized wine press called a coquard press. This winery has two such presses, the only two in North America. We bought four bottles of wine at this winery, three sparkling, and one pinot noir.
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| Shorebirds gather at water's edge. |
Leaving wine country behind us, we followed the coastal California route south to Malibu, where we would meet up with family and travel on to Palm Springs for a few nights of respite from the van, including a heated pool and hot tub.
"I been walkin' aroun' in the country. Ever'body's askin' that. What we comin' to? Seems to me we don't never come to nothin'. Always on the way. Always goin' and goin'. Why don't folks think about that? They's movement now. People moving. We know why, an' we know how. Movin' cause they got to. That's why folks always move. Movin' 'cause they want somepin better'n what they got. An' that's the on'y way they'll ever git it. Wantin' it an' needin' it, they'll go out an' git it. It's bein hurt that makes folks mad to fightin'. I been walkin' aroun' the country, an' hearin' folks talk like you." - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck#pismobeach #vanlife #me2ak #ontheroad
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