Wednesday and Thursday

Whew--I'm just going to run over what all went on during the last two days:

Mike picked me up, we drove back to Ellen's, then he, Violet, and I left for Morro Bay (Ellen decided not to go). It's about a five-hour (four-hour, six-hour) and we took the scenic route--gorgeous, of course, but hair-raising, especially over the San Marcos Pass. Got to the fabulous Madonna Inn and had an early lunch:

                                         

We were a bit early, so walked around the charming town of Morro Bay, then check into The Inn. This is a pleasant, but fairly ordinary motel, right on the water and with lovely views. (The cost, I might add, wasn't so lovely from a consumer's point of view, but Mike was payin', so--😁.) We went to the area around the big rock, of course--the area's claim to fame--and the veritable garden of cairns. to which Violet contributed:

Here she is again with the smokestacks that seem to balance out the rock:

She and Dad also fed the squirrels that live on the rocky beach. For some strange reasons, they also thought the ugly, slimy sea otters that infest the harbor were cute, too--ugh!

I'm not sure why, but after Mike traced on the sand, some lines from Shelley's poem, Ozymandias, came to mind: 

My name is Ozymandias, King of kings,/Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!/Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/Of that colossal Wreck,/boundless and bare/The lone and level sands stretch far away...HA! 

The next day, we explored a bit of the beautiful natural area:

On the way home, we stopped in nearby Los Osos ("the bear") for brunch at a Japanese restaurant Mike had remembered from when he was there years ago:

 We then explored a bit; Mike bought this shirt--I wish they had had one in my size:

Stopped in Santa Barbara on the way home to chat with Carolyn and Claire, then continued on the Ellen's. The four of us walked to The Farmer And The Cook for dinner (Greg was working), then played a fast game of Blokus before the Access Van picked me up. 

Mike is taking Violet to meet a friend in Universal City in L.A. and I'm going to devote today to catching up with ordinary life, aside from skipping T.O.P.S. Happily, I slept well and didn't get up until 6:15, have stripped the bed and done two loads of wash, now will get back to normal, at least for a time.