2023-03-27 Monday Pismo Beach Oceano Campground

Today the four of us headed for REI in SLO. Their sale ended today, and K & J wanted to take advantage of their coupon. We already did, but we can always find something at REI. Ken needed new tennis, and Jan wanted inserts for her hiking boots....getting ready for our Utah trip! All of us bought what we needed and more. LOL!

Next on the agenda was to go visit K & J's friend's (from the other night) new house they are still moving into. It's a new subdivision in SLO. Beautiful homes and a lot of building still happening. They were on the waiting list for this subdivision. Great dog, Finley. He is two years old and loves Barry. Great view from their upstairs balcony. They still had a lot to unpack, so we only stayed about an hour. 

By this time, of course, we were hungry. We decided to go to Central Coast Brewery. We passed it earlier today. Great looking brewery outside and inside. In the outdoor seating area was a vast carved-out redwood log made into a fire pit; see the photo below. Guess what we ordered? Of course, you got it, fries, onion rings, and this time we added a pizza. The weather today was perfect, and eating outside was a no-brainer. 

I would love one of these in my backyard.

Great Sign

Beautiful Bar

Since Jan could not get a cobbler yesterday, we headed back to The Barn. This time she had her pick, cherry, peach, olallieberry, and mixed berry. She ended up with a cherry. It did not matter what she chose; they all sounded tasty! We also bought bananas, avocados, and pickled eggs. I saw the pickled eggs yesterday and did not purchase them. I thought about those darn eggs all day. It has been years since I have had pickled eggs. 

                                                                                            

For my friend Renee

Ice Cream to go with the cobble

Two rams sparing over lettuce

                                                                   
                                                                                                

                   

I can't wait to bite into these!

        

We decided it was getting a bit late, and Jan was baking a lasagne tonight. It would likely take an hour or more to cook since it was in the fridge all day. Once the lasagne was in the oven, we just sat around conversing about different subjects.  Jan was telling us about her paternal grandfather from this area. She was not sure where he was buried. I told her I would check Find A Grave in the morning and see what I could find. I had to explain what Find A Grave is. Before we knew it, the lasagne was done. She made it extra cheesy, which made it gooey. It was piping hot and delicious. Better than any bought lasagne or restaurant version. 

After dinner, Barry and I returned to our RV so he could build a fire. Then, we wanted to eat our cobbler and ice cream by the fire. It was chilly outside but still great weather to sit by a fire. And eating cobbler with ice cream made it even better. Jan was such a happy camper she finally got her cobbler. She said she has been dreaming of one of these cobblers since we camped in the KOA across the street last year. That is one heck of a long wait!

Again, we ate and conversed for a few hours before the weather turned really chilly. At that point, we headed into our nice warm RVs and our warm beds. 

Copyright © 2023 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Jacqueline's Jaunts. All rights reserved.

September 03, 2022, Saturday, Boston, Massachusetts flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia

Boston, Massachusetts flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia

JTH Steps 9,517

Up real early, 4:45 am to get to Logan Airport. We were not sure how passing through immigration would be but it went smoothly. Found out passports are no longer stamped...total bummer. A slight mix up with renting the car, it was in downtown Halifax at the Westin Hotel, thirty minutes in the opposite direction we needed to be going. A $120 Uber ride later we had our car and were off. Oh well, another adventure. Next stop Point du Chêne, New Brunswick after a stop at Tim Horton's for lunch. We were so hungry and this was the first place we saw. I do have to say there cookies were great but not as great as my friend Renee's. Let's just say I will take McDonald's over Tim Horton. 

Good bye Boston, hope to see you again

Hello Nova Scotia

The drive from Nova Scotia to Point du Chêne, New Brunswick was about three and a half hours. Most of the drive was on the Trans-Canada highway NB-104. Not much to see but green pine trees along the highway. Maple trees were spotted between the pines and starting to turn red. Such a wonderful site to see green trees and green grass. I was beginning to think they only existed in my dreams.  

Made it to Pointe-du-Chêne and found our cottage. Pam the owner had told us we would get the keys from Derek, Barry's cousin, but she decided to wait for us because a former renter had a cat and they sprayed in one of the bedrooms. She managed to remove the smell but wanted to make sure we didn't smell any residue. We didn't and told her not to worry. If we did we would just open the windows. She also owns the house next door and would be there through tomorrow if we had any concerns. She said they renovated it a few years ago for her kids and grandkids but they don't come so she rents it out. A few instructions, keys in our hands and she went back to her house next door. We unpacked the car, decided on a bedroom, it has 3 and walked down to Derek and Hayley's cottage. 

                                   

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This is the first time Barry is going to meet most of his cousins in person, actually touch them instead of a zoom call. We received HUGE HUGS by Derek and Hayley. Derek is Barry's cousin and Hayley his wife. I have met most of his cousins on zoom and we are facebook friends but seeing and touching is so much better. They made us feel right at home. We got a tour of their cottage, they took us down to the beach and then went up to their upper deck to sit and enjoy a glass of wine. They call the upper deck the Fishbowl. Their was constant chatter the entire time. Questions asked and answered. 

The beach...amazing! The sand is white. The water is shallow and because of this there are sand bars that pop up. You can walk out about two or three hundred yards and the water is only waist deep. Weird to see how far out the sand bars go and people way out there playing on the beach. See pictures below. The water seems cool but not as cold as the water at Santa Cruz this time of year. 

There are seagulls but not as many as our California coastal beaches AND they walk close by you. They are not afraid of humans. It was entertaining watching the toddlers try to catch them. We observed Hermit Crabs in the shallow water. Kids were making sand castles with water moats and putting the sand crabs in them. It was great to see how they left the crabs alone and didn't do anything with them but put them in the castle moats. As we walked along the water I picked up a few to look at them more closely. Fascinating creatures. They can really tuck themselves far back into their shells. I picked up ones that were as small as the tip of my little finger to the size of a fifty cent piece. 

Susie, another cousin and Derek's sister, texted and said dinner was at 6:30 pm. Susie, her husband Glen, daughter Sara, Sara's partner David and their four month old daughter Emma are staying at the Henderson Cottage. Got that....LOL! We walked over to the Henderson Cottage and we were welcomed with open arms. HUGE HUGS again all around. Glenn BBQ'd salmon, and there was a green salad, couscous, and asparagus for dinner. We ate on the back deck and the weather was perfect. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal. Again, chatter never stopped as we all got to know each other more. Dessert was pie from a local bakery and delish. 

                    

After dessert we played a card game called Oh Hell. How to play was explained since we have never played the game or heard of it before. After about two hands we got the hang of the game. It's a fun game and even Barry enjoyed it. He says he doesn't like many card games but he had fun. I think just being we were with his family made it more enjoyable. We didn't get back to our cottage until midnight. A little tired because we were on a 4 hour time difference in New Brunswick and Boston is a 3 hour difference. Before we left, Susie gave us a bag of genealogy stuff to review. It was a lot of stuff so we will have to spend one day going through it and taking pictures. We walked back to our cottages with Derek and Hayley so we wouldn't get lost. 

Such an awesome day and it was so heartwarming to see Barry with his family. Other than his sons, he doesn't have any blood family in the states. 

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Jacqueline's Jaunets. All rights reserved.