Over the time span of a few days, we spent time in many different terrains! After Zion, we camped in the desert of Willow Beach, part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It is a recreation area because the man-made lake was created by the Hoover Dam so that electricity can be generated by the dam while controlling the flow of the Colorado River. Our campground was on the River.

We were here the week before Memorial Day weekend and it was already very hot, close to 100 degrees! There were no shade trees at our campsite.

While there, we toured the Hoover Dam. It is enormous in scope. I remember reading about it in history books as a student. I didn’t realize then how important it was for its electric power generation.

The photo above gives you a sense of scale of size for the dam. The river is below out of sight of the photo.

The recreation area created by Hoover Dam: Lake Mead and Lake Mojave are beautiful blue gems arising from the barren desert that surrounds it.

Next we traveled to the Angeles mountains of California to a small Canyon town of Acton. We stayed at the Californian RV Resort over the extended Memorial Day weekend. We were on the dry side of the mountains, so we were seeing desert-like landscapes but mountainous in terrain. On the long trip here from Lake Mead area, we passed by Las Vegas and the entire stretch of the Mojave desert. We saw several large solar farms in the desert that date back several decades. This scenery is so totally strange to see. While in this area, we stopped at a farm animal sanctuary and learned about big business farming. I almost became a vegan on the spot, but I don’t like soy products, so I “chickened” out.

Here’s another relevant photo op of Ken while at the Sanctuary:

From the mountains, we headed west to our destination of Oceana/Pismo on the Pacific. Our first sighting of the Pacific was while driving in Ventura. We visited Pismo Beach on a really windy day and Ken got some great shots of someone kiteboarding.

After our stay in the Oceana/Pismo area, we moved north up the coast to Morro Bay, where we stayed in a campground very close to the famous iconic rock (rock is right behind). It was also a short walk/bike ride into town and the waterfront from here.

Note the hazy fog in the photo above. That is often the case around here. Also, this is a natural harbor as the land forms an isthmus to the rock.

In town, Giovanni’s fish market had great smoked fish. There were lines on a weekday at 4PM to get seated at a table. We bought smoked yellowfin tuna and calamari salad to go.

Since Jen is a wine club member of Cass Winery in Paso Robles (nearby wine country), she got us comp tickets for a members only dinner under the stars for June 2nd. It included 2 glasses of wine and star gazing with telescopes from students at Cal Tech. It was a fun event.

Morro Dunes was also our base for visiting Moonstone Beach to the north in Cambria and San Simeon for the Hearst Castle. At the castle, we had guided tours each which lasted a little over an hour in total time. Here’s a slideshow of the castle:

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When at Cambria, we enjoyed our walk on Moonstone Beach, named for the type of stones which can be found there.

While in the cute town of Cambria, we ate at Linns, famous for their pies.

Next post will cover Marina in the Monterey Bay area.