Thanksgiving at the Beach

I know that anyone who's been communicating with me outside of the blog knows that I've had a bit of trouble adjusting to our new life in California. The school situation is definitely less than ideal, the rental house could use some updates, the traffic is a force to reckon with, and I miss my friends.

However, lest you think it's all bad, let me show you the view from where we spent Thanksgiving:

Going . . .

. . . going . . .

. . . gone.

While some of our past Thanksgivings in White Salmon were spent in the pouring rain or even with snow on the ground, this year we were in balmy sunshine at the beach.  These views are from the balcony of Damon's parent's new house. It's a beautiful home on the coast just a bit south of San Luis Obispo. We can be there in about 3 1/2 hours. We saw Damon's parents and brother Justin, my brothers Pete and Jed, and Jed's family for Thanksgiving weekend. That's the other great part of living here in California: we've got family nearby. (Pete is still living in Utah, but came to CA for the holidays, and he's the one to thank for these photos since we didn't take a camera with us, so, sorry, no photos of the house or of any people or any Thanksgiving feast.)

The house, which was barely inhabitable Thanksgiving weekend (no hot water and no gas for the stove; we did have a working dishwasher, ovens, and ELEVATOR!), is about 5 houses up from the stairs down to the beach. There's a nice path walking along the cliff above it; at low tide, these rocks are visible as well as some critters in the tide pools.

We arrived at the house on Wednesday around dinnertime and celebrated Justin's birthday. The next morning we all got up and headed to the pier and beach a few miles away to participate in a Turkey Trot. I did the mile run. I ran the whole way. That is a big deal for me. Damon and Justin did the 10K. No biggie after their 50K last March and Justin's hundred miler (that's right) that fall. Pete and Joanna (Damon's mom) kept an eye on our kids while Damon and I were running. Jed & Joette forgot to pack shoes for their girls (oops!) and had to detour to Walmart before joining us on the beach.

The mile run started just to the left of this photo and went under the pier for about half a mile before turning around:

The rest of Thanksgiving day was spent taking cold showers (a few of us brave ones, at least), preparing an entire feast without a stove (I had prepped the stuffing at home before leaving, but otherwise we didn't miss it), watching the cousins play & then some of them fall asleep in the sunny upstairs, eating our delicious meal, and just generally hanging out. The two young couples (that's Jed & Joette and Damon & me) each took advantage of other adults being in the house with our sleeping children and took moonlit walks along the path above the beach.  It was a great day.

Peter, Jed, Joette, and kids all left late in the morning on Friday. We stayed around until Saturday afternoon, enjoying more time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Justin. We went on an outing to Morro Bay where we had lunch on the waterfront and then walked over to Morro Rock where we saw otters swimming around the inlet. 

I guess living in California isn't so bad after all. : )