What I Did on my Summer Vacation . . .

I think it may take a few blog posts to tell you about our time at Pismo Beach and show you what we did while we were there.

You might recall that of the six ladies in our stitchery group, two weren't able to make the trip, so that left four of us. On Thursday morning, Hubby dropped me and my numerous bags and things off at Sandy's house at about 9 a.m. and we were off shortly afterward. We took a slightly longer route so we could stop for lunch in Gilroy and visit the quilt shop there. On my prior trip with two non-stitchery friends to Carmel, we "found" a small restaurant in Gilroy, The Garlic City Cafe, and I was more than happy to recommend that we stop there for lunch on this trip. The quilt shop is located across the street and slightly down the block, and there we found a few pieces of fabric, but what was even more interesting were all of the garlic-based food items the owner stocks in a corner of his shop. Sandy and I both purchased a few of these items as gifts and a few to share with our friends while we were at the beach.

We got back on the road and arrived at the rental house around 6 p.m., where we quickly unloaded the car and headed back to San Luis Obispo for Thursday Night Market.

The plan was that I'd cook the first group meal on Saturday night, so I shopped for a few of the things I'd need as well as additional foods Sandy and I thought the group might want during the week ahead.

Dinner that night was a pulled pork sandwich for Sandy and a tri-tip steak sandwich for me. Later that night, Sandy started feeling ill. She believes her illness was caused by something she ate that day, but there's been a stomach bug going around, and we wondered whether that might not have been the cause. In any event, during the next several days, Sandy was too sick to really enjoy herself, although she made a valiant effort.

Friday morning, Sandy and I headed to Avila Beach for morning coffee and a croissant--here's the view I had of the ocean from the window counter at Joe Mama's coffee shop.

As it turned out, Sandy found she couldn't even stomach the dry toast she bought; while I ate, she sat outside in the fresh air and enjoyed the same view, poor thing! You may well wonder why we even went out at all that morning, but we'd decided ahead of time not to bring food with us, so we didn't have a lot of the foodstuffs we'd need to fix breakfast. Besides grabbing something to eat, the plan that morning was to shop for the things we'd need during the week.

Our next stop was at the Avila Barn for more food--fresh fruits and veggies and packaged goodies. I have Elaine to thank for the recommendation. We enjoyed it so much, we returned several days later when Sandy had recovered enough to appreciate the visit.

Can you see the big pumpkins growing in the field at the Avila Barn?

I think seeing those pumpkins may have helped to get me in the mood for fall and Halloween. As you'll see, that mood was reflected in the projects I chose to work on during our vacation.

That's long enough for tonight--I'll continue the tale tomorrow. In the meantime, the winner of the Fig Tree mini Christmas stocking pattern is Deb, who said "Thanks for the opportunity to win the pattern, lucky you to be at the beach and on vacation!" Deb, email me your mailing address and I'll get the pattern in the mail to you next week.

To be continued . . . .