Tuesday, January 20, 2015

New Year. New Trip. New Tacos.

 

Thirteen months in a thirteen foot trailer.

Nineteen States.

Close to 20,000 miles.

It was a grand adventure!

I spent the holidays in Southern California visiting Brother Mike and his family, and Sister Lesley. Unfortunately my Dad couldn’t make it.

Mike, along with Danny and Dave made sure I was well provisioned for 2015.

Salsa

And since I picked it up in person, I will get to taste ALL the flavors, unlike my birthday gift last year.

Birthday Salsa

While there I had work done on my car and got some new shoes for my trailer.

Old Shoes.

Old Wheels

New Shoes.

New Wheels

These have radial tires that make a huge difference on the road.

Plus they look snazzy.

Scamp

Notice anything else different?

That black stripe was not there before.

Growler 1

About fifty cents worth of black electrical tape. It’s been on for six months already (one long piece) with no signs of wear.

I also added an LED light to the patio fixture.

Led

Old Light.

Lights

New Light.

New Light

It’s about 10 times as bright and uses 95% less juice.

Very nice.

Anyway, I headed north to camp in the Santa Ynez Valley, just over the hill from Santa Barbara..

Santa Ynez Valley View

The plan for this year is to visit all the state parks in California, Oregon, and Washington that I have not been to yet. Plus other Forest Service campgrounds, county parks, etc.

In fact, if you have any suggestions of campgrounds you would like to see just give us a holler at campsitephotos.com. I will do my best to visit them.

The first order of business after setting up camp was to make a fresh batch of tacos.

Making Tacos 1

Making Tacos 2

Which I tasted for dinner.

Taco Dinner

I also had some for breakfast, accompanied by the sound of…pouring rain.

Rain

Yep.

You can see the flooding of my site between the cooler and the chair.

After waiting out several days of rain, I journeyed to the beach to check out two campgrounds.

El Capitan Sign

El Capitan is about 10 miles north of Santa Barbara on US 101.

There are 133 sites here on a small bluff overlooking the Pacific.

El Capitan Beach 1

El Capitan Beach 2

There is even a little beach store.

El Capitan Store

Very quaint.

A few of my favorite sites were 32, 82, and 84.

El Capitan_032

El Capitan_082

El Capitan_084

Just a few miles up the road is Refugio.

Refugio Sign

This is a smaller spot with only 66 sites, along with it’s own quaint store.

Refugio Store

Refugio Beach

The difference here is that there is no bluff.

Sites 24 and 25 face the ocean, just a hundred feet away across a grass field.

Refugio_024

Refugio_025

Sites 34, 35, and 60 are parallel to the beach and closer.

Refugio_034

Refugio_035

Refugio_060

But you have to pay for that view.

At both parks the winter rate is $35, going to $45 the rest of the year. At Refugio, the ocean front sites are $45 in the winter and jump to $55.

10 years ago they were all $12.

Ouch.

Let’s look at some sunsets and sunrises from last year to get our mind off that figure.

Florida.

Rocky Bayou Sunrise 2

Georgia.

Baker Creek Sunset

South Carolina.

Hamilton Branch Sunset 2

North Carolina.

Last Sunset

Pennsylvania.

Lake Greenwood Sunrise

A pair from Maine.

Lamoine Sunrise 3

Cobscook Sunrise 1

New Hampshire.

Sunset 3

Three from Adirondack Park.

Golden Beach Sunset

Limekiln Lake Sunrise

Fish Creek Sunrise 1

Arkansas.

Maumelle Sunrise

New Mexico.

City 3

Arizona.

Lake Pleasant Sunrise 2

Feel better? Almost?

OK, let’s finish it off with some of the critters I encountered last year.

Birds.

Blue Heron

Big Bird 3

Curious Geese

Stubborn Duck

Woodpecker 2 (2)

Ducks 5

Hummingbird 1

Reptiles.

Snake 2

Wilmington Notch Snake

Turtles

Lizard

Tortoise 2

Mammals.

Rudolph

Rocky 5

Squirrel Driver

Gifford Pinchot Gardener

Tree Rat 2

Mean Tacos 1

Insects.

Stick Bug 2

Skeeter

And a fish.

Fish 1

Then there is the “Unclassified Mutant” category.

Moss Man.

Moss Man

Texas Rabbit.

Garner Rabbit 2

Wacky Virginians.

Virginians 3

Pennsylvania Cow.

Cow 2

And a Georgia Feathered Bass.

Duck 4

But while all of these critters were relatively harmless and polite, one was downright rude.

The Maine Mocking Moose.

Moose Tongue

Right back at you, big boy.

Regards,

Greg