The second P

As the daughter of a guy who has spent all his post college years working for utility companies, it's only natural that I remember places for things power-related. And what do you know? In my research prior to my trip I found out about the Pecho Coast trail. Most of this trail crosses land owned by PG&E and the trail starts at the gate to Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. One of the first things that one passes on the trail are radiation detectors. The trip is 7.5 miles round trip and includes a 440 foot change in elevation. It's not necessarily for the feint of heart.





There was lots of native foliage to be seen along the way.






And fantastic views of San Luis Bay.


The trail ended at this lighthouse that is being restored to what it was in 1890.

And then it was back to the trail. And I totally kept up. In fact at times the pace could have been faster for me. Not sure if I'll do this hike again in the future. Perhaps I'll give the Point Buchon trail a try next time -- especially since you can actually see the plant from this one.

My landmarks

After communing with the butterflies, I hit the road north to San Simeon to tour Hearst Castle. So now I can cross another place off my list.

On the drive back to the hotel, it crossed my mind that my landmarks when driving start with the letter P. This thought crossed my mind when I passed a place called the California Men's Colony. Such a sweet sounding name for a place that looks a lot like a prison. Today on my trip back home, I'll be passing through Atascadero and Soledad -- two other places with prisons. If I'm not mistaken Atascadero is the place where they send the sex offenders.

Completely unrelated -- I also passed through a place called Harmony. It has a population of 18. I think that if I were to start a commune, Harmony would be the perfect place for it.

I have been fascinated by Monarch butterflies since I was a kid. I tried for many years to convince my mom that we needed to plant a bunch of milkweed in the yard to attract them.

The Monarchs are like me; we both don't like cold weather. So when things start getting a little chilly in Canada, the Monarchs head for California. And there is a grove in Pismo Beach to which they return annually. I'm talking thousands of butterflies.

Unfortunately for me it was in the mid-60s yesterday. (I know. Really rough.) That meant that the butterflies were constantly in flight for the most part. There were the occasional pairs in the middle of mating which is done on the ground. That would be what I captured in the photo.

Since I wasn't able to get tons of butterfly photos, I'll leave you with some photos of the scenery at Pismo State Beach -- which is where the grove is located.

A good start

As I warned you earlier in the week, I have hit the road once more. This time I'm in Pismo Beach. I had originally planned on staying in nearby Avila Beach but by the time I got around to making reservations, everything there was pretty much booked up. I know. Who would expect that to happen on a holiday weekend? I could have had a oceanfront room for last night but then I would have had to move to another room. Just didn't seem worth it. Perhaps next time. I was able to get this view from my balcony this morning though. Yes, there is a balcony -- with a private hot tub.


But this was the real selling point for me as many of the hotels in this area are on/near the beach. I often skip the "free" breakfast at hotels because they require you to exit your room to claim this meal. These folks instead leave a card so that you can order the previous night and deliver in the time window that you have designated. I know at least one person who would love this.

I can hardly wait to start the rest of my day as I have a few adventures planned.

Open road

My mom had a tradition when I was growing up that I could pick one thing that I really wanted when she received her income tax return. The idea is that one's tax return should not be a part of one's regular budget. Therefore, some of the money is stashed away into savings while the rest is spent on something that you really want but just could not bring yourself to buy at any other time.

For years I have been wanting a bag from Timbuk2. This year seemed like the right time to take the plunge. I am hoping to do some traveling throughout this year -- and I'd like to be able to take my laptop with me. I needed a bag that would accommodate the laptop and other stuff. The coolest thing is that Timbuk2 also lets you custom design a bag, and of course I went with my usual pink.

Fortunately I will be hitting the road later this week and will be able to give the bag a test then. And that other photo? The packaging in which the bag arrived -- a waterproof map of San Francisco.

Kid in a candy store

I realized last weekend that part of the reason why it has taken me so long to take a cooking class at Piedmont adult is that many of the classes require you to bring your own knife. And my knives? Craptastic. The tamales class didn't require one to bring anything. And I had a lot of fun there. I decided that I no longer wanted to be limited in the classes I could take.

That's why this morning I headed over to East Bay Restaurant Supply. So many shiny pretty things there. But today was only about knives. And I think they're so pretty but I'm afraid to use them. After years of using that dull crap will I accidentally slice myself? Because I am the one who as a kid managed to grate her fingertips on the box grater. I just had to grate that last little nub of cheese.

Oh, and don't worry. I'll be returning to the store. Probably around the end of March. Because the salesperson said that they'll be having a sale then with tons of vendor demonstrations. Hmmm. Might even be worth taking a day off from work.

On track

I am not a big sandwich person. About the only exceptions to this are Reubens, Carolina bbq pork and burgers. With the weight loss thing, I haven't had any really. Because bread is evil. No, it is. Really.

But today the stars aligned and declared that I absolutely had to have a burger. So I headed on over the fairly newish Boulevard Burger on MacArthur. Because look. They have sweet potato fries too. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. They have now replaced Rocky's as my favorite burger joint in San Leandro.

Oh yeah. Totally forgot to mention that this was kind of a celebration. My current weight? Haven't seen this number in at least a year. I still have more weight that I'd like to lose. But today I treated myself to a burger (There will be salad for dinner.) as a reminder that it's OK to eat like this every now and again. Just not every day.