California 2010 Day 4

I won't even show how fogged in we were the first few hours of awakening.

The place we're staying has an outdoor hot tub. It's been a wonderful part of our experience on this little yearly getaway for the last 5 yrs (or more?). The last few years we've found that the tub wants to cook us, it's temperature climbing higher and higher no matter what the setting. So, we would turn it off to keep the temp down. This was doable, but nonetheless we knew there had to be a way to fix it.

Enter Luke.

Finally, the local expert showed up before our arrival this year but couldn't get it to overheat. Without doing a thing (his words, this morning to me) it mysteriously has repaired itself. Sorta. Now, it heats up about 2.78 degrees per day. We flipped the switch 4 days ago and we're up to 89. It just ain't heating up as fast as we'd like. I no longer worry about the temp getting too high. Now, I'm thinking it won't ever get to the temp to enjoy the tub before we leave.

We had a second issue. We were dying to use it, so, last night, even tho' it said 87 degrees, we got in. The amount of bromine in the tub was so high we found ourselves choking. We got out.

Today I emptied more than half the water to remove the excess chemicals. Being very brilliant, I decided to use water directly from the hot water tank to fill the beast. This method, sound in it's design, proved to be another small disaster as fine particles of rust shot out of the hose turning the water sorta reddish. Ugh. I'm on it tho' - we're determined to enjoy it tomorrow night before we head to the bone-searing warmth of the San Joaquin Valley on Thursday.

We took off around noon and went into downtown Arroyo Grande, picking up some olive oil from Verena's (http://www.verenagogourmet.com/). She always has the best stuff to taste. I visited my most favorite guitar store (http://lightningjoes.com/). Believe it or not, they remembered me. Wow. I found a case for my Mandolin, which in it's many decades of life, I don't think it's ever had.

Wandering northward, we dropped down to the Pier at Pismo Beach to watch the surfers, fisherpeople and wildlife.

Having our fill of Pelicans, Smelt & Herring, we loaded back in the car and drove to Morro Bay where we visited with some friends from decades past. After winning the bet as to who pays for dinner, we drove out to Morro rock (oops, camera was in the wrong car) then through the golf course where wild Turkeys were keeping bugs off the fairways. Warning: They will multiply and not be so cute anymore!









Returning home, we were treated to a pretty cool sunset. The fog was still out over the ocean, and these cloud formations were above the fog. Tomorrow: Wine country.

PS: We've been encouraged by the Honey Bees we've seen. Whether harvesting pollen from flowers or making hives in the wrong places (inside the walls of a cafe in Santa Barbara!), we've seen the little guys busy at work each day we've been here.