I Gotta Get Out Of This House

O.K. It's been four days since my last post and it's time to bring people up to date. Christmas is finally over. I have felt cooped up in the house despite a trip to the Outlet Mall on Tuesday. We opted for another Mission mission and set our sights on San Miguel Archangel. We rung up the "J" to see if she wanted to go with us (she said Sure!) and we made plans to drive up on Thursday.

We picked "J" up at 9:00 and headed north to the Paso Robles area. It's a three hour drive which went fairly fast despite the traffic near San Luis Obispo. The day was perfect for Mission gazing. A Clear blue sky, crisp December air, and warm sunshine to keep the chill away. The San Miguel Mission was damaged by the San Simeon earthquake of December 2003 and you can not enter the church. The damage to the church was quite obvious with one of the church walls propped in place with wooden braces. The gift shop and a small museum are open though. The wife purchased a beautiful statue of Mary, its form reminiscent of the Peruvian Mary. The priest, as rundown as the church, blessed the statue before it was boxed up. We then walked around the grounds and took some pictures.

We then headed back to Highway 46 and drove west to the Ocean. We stopped at a scenic overlook that was breathtaking this morning. Usually the haze restricts the view but the winds we have been having the pass few days blew away all the haze letting us see all the way to Morro Bay. The panorama below doesn't do it justice since the sun is washing out a lot of the picture but it gives you some idea.


We made our way to Cambria, had lunch and shopped around. We came across a sign for Nitt Witt Ridge. That sounded like our kind of place. We drove up but discovered that tours required reservations. Next time perhaps.

We then headed north to see the Elephant Seals. They were out in all their splendor. We have been here before but there were a lot more pups this time then before. I saw one of these suckers move - I never expected something this large haul-ass like a freight train down the beach. Very impressive ... and disgusting ... at the same time.

We returned to Cambria to visit a few more stores and headed home. Mission numero ocho is off the list. We are thinking about doing another about an hour north of San Miguel tomorrow. It's a longer drive but I don't want to just hang around the house. If we go, this will be the last we can do in a single day-trip. All the rest will probably be done with overnight stays.