Central California

3/6

After we got out of the city, we drove  Pittsburg, CA to connect with one of Mom’s old friends, Eve Troung. We did some errands  And arrived at Eve’s. We were introduced to Charlie, ( Eve’s husband) Celeste, (Eve’s daughter, 8) and Lee ( Eve’s son,12).  We had dinner, played a game and went to bed around 9:00. 
3/7
The next morning we got up and had waffles for breakfast and then went to the marina in their town.  




We got to see Celeste play her basketball game at. After the game we went shopping.  Charlie is Vietnamese and so he told us that we could make fresh spring rolls and special chicken. To make old time recipe spring rolls, you need chives, white noodles, bean sprouts, mint, pork, shrimp, and rice paper.  They were fun to make and even better to eat! 




We ate our spring rolls and them went out to Lee’s basketball game. After that game, we headed back to the house to have an, “actual meal” as Charlie called it. We made chicken and rice with a really good spicy sauce and  after a movie, we hit the hay again; glad to be in real beds. 

3/8
We had a great time at Eve’s, but we were ready to get back to Rosie. We said our goodbyes and got back to Rosie and headed to The Lazy Dog Restaurant, where met Mark and Chris; family we hadn’t seen in a long time. We caught up with them both for an hour or so and then showed them the camper. They loved it! 

Next, we drove to Fairfield, California, a small town with a very large attraction; The Jelly Belly Factory! We took the tour when we got there and learned that there is a whole lot more to making a jelly beans than you would think!  A single bean has to go through 7 different steps until it looks like what you know a jelly belly to be. A really cool part of the tour was the Jelly Belly Art Gallery were people make mosaic pictures with Jelly Bellies.




We drove until we got to Monterey and found a campground to spent the night at. It was nestled in a forest that opened up to an amazing view of the valley. 

3/9
The next morning we leisurely got moving and went into town to find some lunch. We walked around Cannery Row for a little while and found another Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. This has turned out to be one of my favorites. It had an amazing view of the bay and we even saw dolphins swim by as we had lunch. 




After lunch we were ready to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We picked this particular aquarium because it is voted by some as the best in CA, possibly even the world. It definitely met my standards! They had and amazing 3 story kelp forest, a tank full of shiny sardines, and a glow room with jellyfish, sea urchins, and alive sand dollars that you could spent days in and never get tired of. They also had a penguin feeding while we were there and a cool exhibit about the sea otters. Totally worth going to if you’re ever in the area. 




We were done with Monterey so we got back on Hwy 1 with no destination in mind and stopped driving once it was almost dark.  We landed in Big Sur, at a campground in a Redwood forest.  It was really funny because when we were checking in, this 8 year old girl pulled me over to the basketball court where we played basketball, softball, hula hoops and frisbee. 
3/10
The next morning we got up and left Big Sur. We drove for the entire day. It was cloudy but we did see some elephant seals and sea lions at a beach stop. 


We found a campground in Pismo Beach to stay for the night. 
3/11
I woke up the next morning to the movements and sounds of a moving camper van and quickly realized that’s where I was! Mom had woken up early that morning and been unable to go back to sleep so she just drove!  We watched the sun come up at a cute little cafe where we had breakfast. We were eager to get to San Diego and see Drew and Dad and so that day turned out to be another day of driving. We reached San Diego around 4:00 and headed over to a campground my uncle mentioned.  We were both excited about picking Drew and Dad up at the airport for a Spring-Fling trip together! 
 

4 thoughts on “Central California”

  1. wow- i am sooooo jealous- you are seeing such amazing things- the jelly bean mosaics & jelly fish stand out in my mind! I saw your Dad & Drew & Mindy & a friend of Drew’s at Dave’sBBQ last night- sounds like a fun time in San Diego!! When you go up Southeast to see Nancy & Ted its cool to stop in Savannah & sit on the bench where Bubba Gump sat with his box of chocolates 🙂 big hugs!!!

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