Roadtrippin'

My youngest missed out on church winter camp this past weekend because she'd already committed to an all-star soccer tourney. At the time, we didn't realize they'd choose a holiday weekend to host the tourney (grrr). To cheer her up, I decided rather last minute to take the girls on a ROADTRIP after the last game on Sunday morning.

Didn't check the weather report beforehand, though. Big storm rolled in to Cambria (the small town that serves as part of the inspiration for my Otter Bay Novels) on Sunday and stayed til, oh, right about the time we had to check out. Lol... My older daughter loves the rain, so she was happy. Wet, but happy.

So anyhoo, we ate, we shopped, we got stuck in a 'gulley washer' and sat in my car, waiting it out. Our tour of Hearst Castle got cancelled, but we found other fun things to research for my books, like the 1920-something cabin that the heroine in my 2011 release finds in the woods. My youngest spotted it while I tried to keep us from driving off a cliff. Anyway, we drove into the driveway to poke around, and hoped the neighbors wouldn't call the cops, haha.

Later we ended up at Nitwit Ridge (see pic). Built years ago by an eccentric gent, the rain soaked "Poor Man's Hearst Castle" still stands at the base of a hill in Cambria. It's made out of all kinds of local 'finds' such as beer cans, car parts and on the pretty flip side, mounds of abalone shells pried off local rocks. A sign advertised tours at 1pm, but I doubted it. "Looks like it's about to come down," I told the girls.

We ended up in SLO (San Luis Obispo) for yummy Mexican fare at Tio Alberto's, then headed home. As I sit here, the rain's whipping through my back yard and I'm determined not to get caught up watching it through my window. LOTS to write today, and even though the weather tried to derail my research, it failed 'cuz I'm raring to go,

Have a beachy day, my friends (rain or shine!) ~ wherever you are :)