Friday, April 12, 2013

Dunes, Avila Beach and San Luis Obispo, Thursday, April 11, 2013

This morning we met Alice's son, John, for a drive on the coast along the dunes.  There were RV's camped on the beach and most had ATV's of some description to be used for riding over the dunes.  Some commercial operations had ATV's for rent.  There were many birds along the shoreline and at one point it seemed there was a blanket of birds which were the snowy plovers. 

A little before noon Alice, Tom and I drove to Avila Beach for lunch at the Fat Cat Restaurant.  We sat outside enjoying our food and the beautiful Pacific Ocean views.  We stopped at a shopping area and did a little shopping.  Then we drove to San Luis Obispo and walked about the tree-lined streets.   Located across a small stream from the shopping area is the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, the 5th of the Franciscan missions in California.  Briefly we walked about this mission and took some pictures.

Returning back to Oceano and the Swope house we had dinner prepared while we were out by  John-  beef Tri-tips, a cut of beef well-known in this area, and a Portugese sausage, grilled and commonly served together, along with fresh asparagus and fruit salad.  Nice dinner but then it was time to say good-by as we are going to move on tomorrow.