Lub-dub, lub-dub...whatever it takes.

Since our visit to Montana de Oro, we have refocused our goal to get our heart rates up and even though we stay pretty active and on the go around the area, driving to new places and wandering (shopping) doesn't get the blood pumping, so below is a roundup of what we've been up to, some of which definitely got our hearts a pounding.  First up is a visit to Morro Bay State Park, which is full of trails to hike, bike, and wander (no shopping).  For me and my hiking lust for the Rocky Mountains, I wasn't totally sold that this would fill that void, because these "hills" didn't look like they would get my blood flowing...WRONG!  We were after the top in the first photo below...Cerro Cabrillo.  This is one of the 9 "sisters," volcanic "plugs" or the remnants of volcanoes between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.

At the trail head, about a mile from where
we are staying, the trail begins with up!
Didn't take long for our lungs to get a little
behind.

After the initial incline, the trail leveled out and we paralleled this outcropping
where climbers were getting their climb on...and our legs began communicating
with us.

A glance backwards shows the back bay of Morro Bay, with the ocean in the
distance.  Not the same views as in the Rockies, but still just as breathtaking.

To get to the top, you gotta go up!  The trail
revealed the opportunity to go up and up we
went.  No signs to the top, but it doesn't take
Sir Edmund Hillary to figure it out.

Almost there and the rocks we saw at the top from below, became boulders.
A slight premature celebration before summiting the top, with a 900 foot
elevation gain!

Hopefully this perspective gives you the "up"
required to get up to the top of Cerro Cabrillo.
With the possibility of a rattler waiting to share
the sun with us around every rock, that alone kept
our adrenaline and blood flowing .

With a drop off of hundreds of feet surrounding Beth and her boulder,
with a little coercion, Beth poses for me to show off the valley floor below,
while she breathes and convinces her legs there is no more up!

No rattlers, but this little lizard was our welcome wagon to the top.

What a view!  Los Osos (where we are staying) to the left and Morro Bay
(where my sister lives), right of center with "the rock," off in the distance,
the first of the "9 sisters." 

The rock of Morro Bay as fog rolls in off the ocean.

We also wandered up the coast to Cambria and San Simeon, home to the Hearst Castle and sun seeking sea lions.

With an almost cult like following, the Red Moose Cookie Company seems
to be known by all locals of the central coast, even though they work out of
what has the appearance of storage units off the main drag in Cambria, they
sell globally.  With their tasty goodness coming from "love and butter," we
left with four (bags) kinds of cookies to try...there were a few left by the
time we got home!  My favorite..."Lemon Moose."

With all the efforts small towns make to bring in tourists in the form of "festivals," you know...Blues and Beer Fest, Brats and Beer Fest, Beers and Beers Fest...Cambria took the creativity to a new level with their "Scarecrow Festival."  From the highway running through town, it would appear as though you were seeing a lot of decorated manikins, which seemed pretty weak, but upon closer inspection, they are all individually made...some artistically and some not so much.  Anything to get a tourists' eye to draw them in.

Never did see what she did!  Any resemblance?

Another stop in Cambria lead us to one of Betty's friends
and their 3 giant muppet dogs.  Upon closer inspection we did
not find anyone mechanically animating them and "found"
them to be Newfoundlands.  Grandma, mom, and grand baby!

Up the coast from Cambria in San Simeon, where the sea lions bare all while
basking in the sun.

Sharing sand with a new bestest friend.

Another day, another plug to climb.  This time our sweat was left on Bishop's Peak, with an elevation gain of a little more than 1500 feet.  From the time we left the truck in the parking lot, it was virtually all up, with not much gradual-ness to it!

Still smiling at this point, the angle of attack
only got more severe.

Not a well maintained national park kind of
trail, but interesting nonetheless!

Steep?  Can I get a "Heck ya"?

Looking down on the city of San Luis Obispo, home to CalPoly Tech, we
snack up for the "free fall" hike down.

Pano from the top of Bishop's Peak, the tallest of the "sisters."

A few of the switchbacks as we head down.  It took about 90 minutes to get up

and way less than that to slide down.

How bout a movie to celebrate stillness and screaming thighs?  No climbing for a bit, gotta let our lungs and heart rest while our pain level moderates.  Morro Bay has a quaint little old refurbished theater that shows one title at a time and there is the "big city" theater in SLO.

When we came to The Bay, we were the youngest
in the audience...welcome to Morro Bay!

I've fallen in love with going to the movies
again...can you guess why?  Thank you SLO
Downtown Centre Cinemas!

Spend 30 years in one place and I guess you get attached and want the best for where you live.  That is how long my sister has lived among the "plugs."  This leads to another cardio workout.  We have been helping my sister Betty pound the pavement, as she presses the flesh and passes out flyers for her mayoral bid for Morro Bay.  She gets occasional help, but primarily she walks every street in the city that houses over 10,000 folks.  We got a taste of the town and what she is up against, while walking and seeing her pit against her opponents in a local debate.  

Adding to the celebrity of running for mayor, Betty is invited to tape a TV
segment to aire on the website of a local TV  operativesstation.

Without putting myself in the position of getting bit by fenced in dogs or
cornered by radical opposition operatives, Beth and I slip political info
under doormats to help get Betty's word out.  I had no idea most people have
doormats...shocker!

At the one and only debate between mayoral candidates and those
running for city council, Betty does very well holding her own.

When not being political, sweating, shopping, or being tourists, there are a few moments of hanging out near the water.  When in the Rockies you look up.  When on the coast, you look out.

Near dusk, with fog rolling about, surfers cannot be denied their surf.
To me, the attraction seems to be like hanging out at a coffee shop, except
you are surrounded by water and you do't have any coffee and you are wet.

The rock protecting the entrance to the bay where boats are safely moored

Who doesn't love lots of masts, gangways, and salty air?

Of all the "farmer's markets," the one held in downtown SLO on Thursday nights is more festival than market.  They block off 4-5 blocks of the main drag and vendors set up their tent/awnings to peddle their food, crafts, produce, politics, and religion.  For us it was about pomegranates, lettuce, and cinnamon rolls.  Seeing as it is a "farmer's market," the majority of the booths are not manned by farmers, but restaurants, breweries, and small businesses.  The good news is that it attracts the kids from CalPoly and gives them an outlet to do whatever college kids do...I seem to have forgotten!

The local fire departments have a strong
presence here and this huge flag is suspended
from one of their ladder trucks.

So what have we learned today?  Well, for me, I have learned that you can get your heart rate up doing quite a variety of activities.  Looking out for rattlers being one of them.  Neither the Rockies or the coast have cornered the market on picturesque.  And I continue to count myself lucky to be where I am, wherever it its.

My Zen from the Road:  There is beauty in what was and what is

Was...

...is