Invalid Adventures

The Central Coast is not a place for armchair travelers! There's no excuse for staying home and reading about far-off lands. There are just too many fabulous adventures waiting for us right outside.

But, what if you caught the nasty bug that's been floating around lately, and hardly have the energy to get up and fix your own cheerios? Is it exceptable to stay at home in that case?

Not if you're married to me!

Because, a couple years ago I single-handedly, solo-mindedly designed and built a very clever collapsible bed platform for our old VW van. (Can you tell I'm real proud of it?)

And, because we went camping in Pinnacles National Monument last weekend (more on that later), and didn't get around to breaking it down during the work week, we still had it set up!



Isn't it cute? Isn't it adorable? Isn't is great how we can slide our cooler and other stuff under the bed like drawers? I just love any excuse to use it, and K having a bad cold looked like a good one to me.

So, grab your Puffs Plus, Honey! Just because you're bed-ridden doesn't mean your house-bound!

We spent the morning parked at the 24th St. Exit lot, reading books, watching Brown Pelicans,


gazing out at Morro Rock in the distance,


and thrilling to the dramatic leaps and jumps of our local kite surfers.

It seems like such a peak-experience sport, but I can't imagine I'll ever learn to do it. It just seems so demanding and complicated. Look, this guy isn't even on his board or in the water...he's just standing on the beach with his big kite in the air, and it still seems challenging.


I'll probably stick to more mundane activities, like playing fetch with the dog.


After a few hours of strenuous activity (can you read the irony in that?), we had developed quite an appetite. So, we drove into downtown Cayucos and picked up sandwiches at Duckies. (yum!)

Then we drove a little further north on the 1, and parked our rolling picnic where we could look out over a slightly different, but equally beautiful, stretch of California coastline.



We enjoyed wonderful views to the back,



to the front,

and even inside!

She is "Pretty in Plaid," isn't she? At least, she's pretty up against it.

All in all, we had a lovely day filled with fun and food, nature and culture, sloth and lethargy. And none of it could have happened if I hadn't built that bed in the van!

(Not even the last photos...because "poodle" isn't allowed up on the bed at home!)