 Seaside Camping
Next to Pacific Ocean
Lynn's First RV Trip — Half Moon Bay, CA —  Page 3
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| Exploring the Area
Shortly after getting set up in our campsite, I wanted to show Lynn around the area, so we headed south for awhile until I found a familiar road that took us past farms with freshly plowed fields, to the little town of Pescadero. We had an early dinner at one of our favorite places to eat — Duarte's Tavern. This establishment has been here in Pescadero for more than 100 years in one form or another.
Inside Duarte's you will find that it is what we used to call "Funky" with none of the furniture matching. The tables are re-purposed home dining room tables of various styles. Also, if the place is busy and there are empty chairs at your table you can expect to be introduced to people for the first time as they are seated at your table. I've met some interesting people this way.
One sweet little, elderly lady, who seemed to be from the area, informed me of what was the most healthful items on the menu. She told me, with a voice of authority, that the soup I was eating — Duarte's famous cream-of-artichoke soup — contained too much salt. I told her that I would keep that in mind for the next time I came to Duarte's. The little lady, old enough to be my grandmother, seemed to be pleased that she had helped me to a healthier way of eating.
From Pescadero I found a back road that would take us through some beautiful coastal farm country. The road was winding around hills and climbed to high points where we could see the ocean. I stopped on one of those high-points to look down in a small valley to see a bucolic scene below. There was what looked like two farms across the road from each other. One farm house was clearly in view while the other was hidden by trees with its red barn visible.
A few farm animals could be seen in a bright green pasture. It was fun to see new baby animals in some of the fields. I stopped when we saw a little lamb with its mother. The mother was white while her lamb was brown. At one point the lamb decided that it was meal time.
From our drive through the country I headed for home. It was nice to see our motorhome in its coast-side setting. The sun was getting low behind a low overcast that had hung over the area all day. Even with the layer of clouds we were presented with a pretty sunset that caused the clouds to light up as the sun settled out of sight behind those clouds.
On the second day we decided to take a ride up the coast to see what there was to see north of our camp area. We looked for a couple of B&B's that Lynn knew about. We found both, one of which was located in a beautiful setting among a grove of trees close to beach. The sound of the surf crashing on the beach could easily be heard. This is a sound that I find soothing, especially at night while sleeping near the beach. We found our way to the historic Miramar Beach Restaurant where we discovered a new favorite dish in the form of seafood chowder. We ate indoors where we could see the ocean waves rolling toward the shore. The restaurant has an outside dining area with round tables that have gas fire-pits in the center. There also are propane heaters to keep patrons comfortable when the weather is cool. It was interesting to see dogs in the outside dining area where they are allowed to be with their owners. After lunch, our drive took us north to a place where I could park on the
edge of a bluff in the parking lot of a restaurant that wasn't open yet. Looking
out at the ocean I saw what appeared to be a man-made object over which waves
were breaking. The object turned out to have been used during World War 2 as a
support for a target flag. The U. S. Navy used it for shipboard gunnery Back on the road we drove north again until we found our way down to a place next to Pacific State Beach. There we could see surfers waiting for a wave to ride. In a stream flowing out to the beach, seagulls were using the fresh water source as a really big birdbath. To the south were what appeared to be beach cabins with private docks. Larger homes can be seen clinging to the side of a hill. This was a peaceful place to just sit and watch the birds, surfers and waves. Because we had a small rain shower on our first day, I needed to get new wipers for my car. It took a while until I finally found a car-parts store that had the replacement blades I needed. I replaced the wipers before breaking camp to head for home a day early.
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