Pismo beach - a short stop

Our road trip to round off 2015 had its first stop at Pismo beach. We had lunch at the pier and let the kids play in the beach and in the swing sets on the beach!

At first they were complaining about the "cold", but warmed up to the place. 

The beach was beautiful but the temperature at noon was a lot lower than what we were used to seeing along the coast for last week of December. 

The last time we stopped at Pismo beach was 10 years ago! 

after spending an hour there, we moved on towards Santa Barbara...

A ____ is worth a 1,xx,xxx,xxx _______

A picture is worth ~ 1000 words
A video is worth ~ 400 pictures (my typical 30 second clip that is!)

As a tribute to the lazy, I have compiled a video of the recent trip..

Warning : This Video must be worth approximately 75,000 words !

Things seen in video that were left out in photoblogs..

There is a store in downtown Solvang called Del Sol. All products in the store are made with a special compound that changes color under sunlight.. T-shirt logos, bangles, hairclips, caps, you name it !!

There is a wonderful Chocolate factory that sells home made ice cream .. must have when you go to Solvang!

The road to happiness (aka Route 1) with screaming kids + ARR hits + Ocean wind noise.. only the video captures it best..

We really enjoyed this trip. Hope you enjoy the video..

Better, hope you actually get to experience this someday!

The original posts can be found here:

Intro to trip
Sisters at play
Coastal highway
Solvang downtown
Lake Cachuma
The Santa Ynez (Saint Agnes) Mission
Morro Bay
Limekiln State Park

In other news, the Digital Rebel XTi has been VETO'ed !! Apparently, this video is so good!! inspite of being shot with the S30.. so it is "Dream on, camera boy!!" for Daddy Narayanan..

Scenic Route 1

This is part of a series of photoblogs on our recent trip along the California Coast..

The first part was Sisters at Play.

Route 1, is by far the most scenic highway I have driven on. The only thing that comes close is the Great Ocean Road Drive on the south Australian Coast (which we visited in 2004).

Just after Crossing Carmel, we came to Rocky Creek and Bixby Bridges.. They are truly spectacular. Would have got better shots of the bridge if we could make it down the mountainside.. but the wife was worried about safety, so we let that one pass..


The two bridges ..


The coast from Rocky creek..



The coast farther along in Big Sur..


The coast from a vista point along the Big Sur section..


It is always a pleasure to keep driving when the road keeps opening up and you dont see any car in sight.. just a windy highway that seems to lead straight into the ocean.. This photo was taken by San through the windshield..


Baby discovered what it means to jump into puddles at the Pfiffer Burns State park..


Watching the kids among the backdrop of the giant trees was a new experience. Somehow they seemed to brighten the hues from the colors of the falling leaves..


Jr. walking on a fallen log. She doesnt get to spend time in wooded areas as much as I did when I was growing up. We need to do these outdoor trips more often!


The amazing beauty of McWay falls where the creek goes straight into the ocean. Breathtaking!!


The view from the trailhead of McWay falls. The park bench was inviting, but there was a Poison Oak warning that scared me...


The sea gulls on the way to Pismo beach..


The view from "shitrock" as I call it.. the favorite vista point for the gulls..


Pismo beach! Next time, I am staying at the Best Western with the ocean view. You should see their lobby! They have a huge glass window overlooking the ocean.


The sunset, rather after the sunset.. Went to feed baby in the lobby for a minute and came out, only to find that the sun had just set! Well, better luck next time.


Next up will be Solvang in Pictures......