The Back Room | Road Trippin', Watkins Style

Jeanne’s brother Dave survived his eye surgery like a champ and it was time to head south for grandkid time. Our first stop was back to Atascadero and a couple of weeks at the Elk’s Lodge there. And first on our itinerary was one of 5 year old Ellie’s soccer games. There is no forgetting soccer at that age…it should be called “Herdball”. Nevertheless we did get the opportunity to watch Ellie score a goal.

Grandparent’s Day/Veteran’s Day Celebration at Hailey & Ellie’s school was next up on the agenda. We have not had the pleasure of attending one of these yet. They did a touching presentation for both.

Both girls enjoy rollerskating so Jeanne found a roller rink in Santa Maria. One weekend we loaded the kids up and took them skating. I was just happy they survived with no major mishaps or injuries! And I have to say, roller skates have certainly evolved over the years (*decades*!) since I was a youngun’ sporting my skates (worn over my shoes) and adjusted with a skate key! Sorry about the pics, low lighting, moving targets, and my horrible camera skills do not mesh well.

7 year old Hailey is currently taking horseback lessons at a local ranch, so we tagged along to watch. She seemed comfortable in the saddle and was pretty capable of controlling her beast.

Mom & Dad celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary while we were there with a weekend away while Oma & Opa watched the girls. We took them out to Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Viewing area near Moonstone Beach just below Hearst Castle. This time of year is when the adults start returning for mating season and they were due any day. They had not arrived yet, but the beach was full of the juvenile males who precede the adults’ arrival. Besides the seals we got views of the Piedras Blancas Light House and of Hearst Castle.

Next up was a (very short, not by choice) stint with grandson Max back in Santa Rosa, CA and a return stay at the Petaluma Elk’s Lodge. Max celebrated his 12th birthday and being so close to Christmas we took him out on a combined shopping spree. He made out with a couple of video games as well as some new duds and shoes. We did not have time for sightseeing activities with Max, but we did get a few days of quality time with him, at the expense of nearly blowing out my shoulder throwing the football with him. Getting old really is a drag…

More sad good-byes and it was southbound and down once again. An overnight stop at the San Luis Obispo Elk’s Lodge, then on to our destination stop at the Santa Barbara Elk’s Lodge for a few days. This was our first time staying at this lodge, which has (16) RV sites, flat gravel with 50A/water and a dump site in the parking area. The name is misleading, the lodge is actually in Goleta which is just south of downtown Santa Barbara. Besides the lounge and dining areas, it had a fairly nice (small) gym, laundry, and shower area.

We wanted to pick up some liquid refreshments for an upcoming visit to Big Bear, so a short road trip was in order. Solvang is home to a very nice beer/wine store and taproom called The Backroom at Valley Brewers. As is our usual custom, we arrived in town just in time for an unexpected, massive downtown Christmas parade. Once we found parking out in the wilderness, a short walk landed us smack dab in the middle of Main St. and the tail end of the parade. A quick bite to eat, then it was on to The Backroom. For you who are unfamiliar and have not read my previous post about a prior visit to Solvang, it is a quaint little Danish styled hamlet, they even claim to be “the Danish capital of America”.

A visit to SoCal is never complete without seeing some Pacific Ocean once in a while. We headed into Santa Barbara and took a stroll around the area of Stearns Wharf. At Chase Palm Park next to the wharf there was a kind of “Art in the Park” thing going on with various artists displaying their works for sale alongside vendors of custom made jewelry. There was also a big outdoor skate park that was fairly busy. We took a walk out to the end of the wharf, taking in the sights, then a short spin around the seaside businesses in that area. We have been somewhat surprised at the low number of homeless visible in this area, but we came across one who was loitering and trash can diving next to the outdoor seating area of one restaurant. Jeanne almost gagged watching him pull out a half full cup of some discarded milky colored drink from the trash can and down it lickety split.

One last outing took us to downtown Santa Barbara and a foot tour down State St. It is a similar set up to Fremont St. in Vegas, sans the freakazoids dressed in character and those in various states of dress and undress. State St. is closed off to through traffic, however you have to watch out for your life as the throngs of yahoos on E-bikes go scooting along with the pedestrian traffic. It is quite the urban palm tree setting, with the usual types of mall shops and a plethora of eateries and such. It was a daunting task to simply find public parking lots within the maze of downtown one-way streets, but the walking was good.