Wednesday Morning Chrishanne, Zander, Elizabeth, and I left for the
Santa Barbara Zoo http://www.santabarbarazoo.org.  It's a really
nice zoo and makes a good stopping point about halfway to Pismo. 
The Zoo is not very big but is very nicely done and has train, and a
good variety of animals including elephants, giraffes, lemurs (kind
of like monkeys), gibbons (apes), otters, lions, tigers, and
strangely no bears.  Admission is $9 for adults and $7 for
children.  In January we bought a family membership so we can go as
often as we want (the Santa Ana Zoo is also included in this
membership).  Since we didn't have a campsite in Pismo that night
when we left the zoo we stopped in Buellton at the Flying Flags RV
Resort and Campground http://www.flyingflags.com.  This worked
out well as the drive between Santa Barbara and Buellton was just
enough to give the kids a nap and get is into camp in time to make
dinner.

Thursday afternoon we arrived at Pismo Coast Village RV Resort. 
After setting up camp we went out to the beach.  The weather was
cool and overcast with a slight breeze.  We went cruising in the
dunes for a while then found a place on the beach to let Zander play
in the sand.

Friday, we played at the park, played on the beach, and went out
cruising the dunes.  Again, the weather was cool, overcast, and
slightly breezy.  On a tip from another camper in our campground we
went to Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab
http://www.docburnsteins.com.  As many of you know I'm somewhat
of an ice cream expert.  This is the best ice cream I've ever had
and I'll be making a stop there every Pismo trip from now on.

Saturday morning, Chris showed up in his "new" Jeep with Leslie and
Jeff.  Joe also showed up in his F250.  After everyone had their
camp set up, we all went for a ride in the dunes.  Chris' had a
blast in his Jeep and the only things that went wrong were the
battery cable and the passenger seat coming loose. 

We started off just cruising around the small dunes and the sand
highway then found some big hills to climb.  Everyone was doing
great following me around until Joe decided to try something on his
own.  About half way up a dune when he backed off the throttle too
much and didn't make it to the top.  Unfortunately at the bottom of
the dune was a ridge and he ended up fairly off camber on one side
of it.  I anchored his front end with my winch and after much
digging got his rear end pointed downhill enough that he was able to
back down safely.

We went to Old Juan's Cantina on Saturday night as we have for 14 of
the past 16 years and they have really gone downhill.  What used to
be excellent Mexican food is now a step below El Torito.  I guess
we'll have to fine a new place to go for Saturday night dinner.

My original plan was to stay in the campground Thursday night to
Saturday morning and camp on the beach Saturday night.  However, the
campground had a Saturday night cancellation so to make my wife and
kids happy, we took it.  We did have to get out of the first site
before noon and the second site was not going to be ready till
around 4:00 so we went ahead and took the camper on the beach for
the day.  The new dually made it through even without airing down
the tires.

As I was leaving the campfire Saturday night, I said I would be back
to go wheeling at 8:00am.  Someone commented that if I was going to
be starting that early I'd better bring breakfast with me so at
7:00am I went to Old West Cinnamon Rolls and picked up a fresh made
box.

We planned on wheeling until about 10:45 when I had to go back to
the campground and get camp the camper packed up to go.  About 10:30
I was starting to make our way back when Chris' radiator came loose
and hit the fan.  Of course he was in the bottom of a bowl so
getting him out was a challenge.  Once I got him going we did well
only having to stop and adjust the strap once.  We got back to the
beach campsite by 11:00 and I drove Chris to the parking lot where
he had his Tahoe tow vehicle (one more reason to tow your 4x4).

We left Pismo about 1:00 again stopped at the Santa Barbara Zoo. 
After dinner we waited for traffic to die down though we didn't wait
long enough.  Once we hit the road again we were stuck in stop and
go until we got to Ventura where it cleared up.

If you went, you had a good time.  If you didn't, maybe you'll go
next time.  I plan to do a trip in December and possibly one in
January when the Monarch butterflies are there so I hope you'll go
then.