Feb 2-3 Pismo Beach

Feb 2-3 Pismo Beach
   Mike was able to join us again at Pismo Beach, CA.  He had visited  a friend in San Diego then another friend in LA for a few days.  Pismo Beach is a small town on California’s Central Coast.  It is a wide open beach area where cars, RV’s and ATV’s, are all able to drive on the sand.  There are magnificent dunes behind the beach front that are partly closed to protect the snowy plovers.  Mark was nervous about driving on the sand in the RV but Mike convinced us that it would be fine.  Mark was convinced we would get stuck on the beach.  Sure enough, as we made the turn to park the van, we got stuck.  Mike who had been traveling from Wyoming, was prepared with a snow shovel.  Mike got us out of our rut and maneuvered the van for us.  Mike, of course, had no problem with his 4 wheel drive car. We had to listen to a lecture on positive thinking from Mike.  It went something like this: “Gee, Dad, if you think the worst, it will happen!”
     The snowy plovers are my new favorite bird.  They are tiny white and grey with the ability to zip back and forth chasing the waves in hopes some morsel of food comes in with a wave. With their backs toward the sea, they look like tiny snowflakes on the sand. Since this is their nesting season I am glad to know that they are protected.
   For a while we were alone on the beach, however, later in the day ATV’s filled the area.  This must be a local thrill because it seemed everyone in town comes to the beach and cruises through the open areas of the dunes.  The night lights on the ATV’s were colorful and bright.  Evidently driving on the dunes at night is dangerously dark so the more lights one has on their ATV, the better.  Although I would have preferred a more quiet time on the beach, it was fun to watch the locals enjoy themselves.
   Mike and Mark dug a pit in the sand and built a great fire for cooking our steak.  We spent the evening sitting around the fire and watching a colorful  sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
     A short walk from Pismo beach is the Monarch Butterly Grove.  Thousands of Monarchs were fluttering in the Eucalyptus Trees, called clustering. We were fortunate to see these monarchs as this is the season for vieweing them, October through February.  During this time the final generation of hibernating monarch butterflies comes out of hibernation to fine a mate.  The sight of so many orange and black wings at one time was beautiful.  They seemed to be enjoying themselves fluttering among the tree leaves as if to be playing by softly bumping into one another.
   We spent two days and nights at Pismo Beach enjoying the warmth, the sun and a very restful time with Mike.  When it was time to leave, Mark insisted that Mike drive our van out of the soft sand and onto the hard sand area where we could drive the van off the beach.  That worked out well!