It has been 5 months since we went out in King Tut – since we left Southern Cali beaches to head back to home base waiting for Gabe to make his appearance. We’ve been helping out with him about 5 days a week; at first we were caring for him together, but now we split our time supporting Matt and Jenny. We enjoy spending our time with the little man especially now that he is so interactive! He is a “talkative” kid!
We love camping in Half Moon Bay- there are so many things to walk to from the campground. Usually we end up driving so much while camping, but really the only place we drove to this week was Pillar Point Harbor. We started our first day off walking to Moonside Bakery for a raspberry cream pastry and some Coastside sourdough bread. That is some of the best sourdough I’ve ever tasted! It makes for great cheese and bread for afternoon snack!
One of the best things about Francis Beach is the trail to a nearby bird preserve. It is part of the California Coastal Trail so decently maintained. Some of it paved but all of it hard surfaced and mostly flat. Very important these days when my knee is being difficult. I can walk four miles – as long as it is flat and NO loose soil/leaves/sand etc. And at a slow pace.☺️ Even going to the bakery we meander along that trail to cut through the neighborhood to the southern edge of Main Street. It is also along the bluff so we can keep an eye for whales or dolphins, as well as cool birds.
The second day we went to the Pillar Point Harbor and walked the trail to Maverick Beach. No herons this year and the nesting trees are very beat up from the crazy storms we have had this winter. We also went up the hill around the tiny Pillar Point Air Force Base (and observation tower) and towards Pillar Point Bluffs. It pushed my knee a bit, especially going downhill, but we did about 75% of the Route we usually do. Both of us are a bit beat up physically so it felt good to get back to our “simple” slow walks!
Then we headed to San Leandro to help watch Gabe while Jenny went in to the SF office. It was fun to have both of us and it seemed like Matt got a lot of work done too. It is only about 50 minutes over the CRAZY Hayward Bridge. So steep, so high, so much better in a car vs the rig! And since I lost dumb rummy by 48 points (a multiple of 12- a dozen!) the night before, we got to stop for donuts on our way in! I like this new dumb rummy rule. Funny how the score is so rarely a multiple of 12!
Then rain and poor weather- otherwise known as a board game day! So many games of Wingspan! I think we drew about even in the win loss category and ended the night with a tie! Perfect!
Then we had to go back to the bakery for more bread so off to the meandering Coastal Trail again. This time we went farther into the preserve. We have learned, THE HARD WAY(!), not to try cutting across that to get into town. So much mud long past the rains. So we retraced some of our steps and then went to Main Street. This time, after Moonside, we stopped at Half Moon Bay bakery and got a donut because – you guessed it, Dave lost a game of rummy by 12 points!
And finally, since it is a Friday during Lent, we “had to” walk to Sam’s Chowder House for clam chowder and fish and chips. It’s is a little too far from Francis Beach so we started from Dunes Beach. Made for a little over 5 mile walk with lunch in the middle. Not bad since it is flat and even most of the way.
While we were camping, Dave was able to get us a site for October in Santa Cruz followed by Half Moon Bay. That will be a great week!