My Pandemic Getaway….

Hello Everyone….

So mid-July mom saw a post on our FB newsfeed that a friend of ours went to Cambria for a few days, safely to celebrate their anniversary. Now they have been in isolation mode almost as strict as us so this got mom thinking that maybe it would be doable for us as we, especially, me, Miss Kayla could really use a two-night getaway. So mom contacted our friend with a million questions and realized afterward she and I could definitely make this work. Mom ran the idea along with her plan to make this safe by my doctor and he thought it was a wonderful idea. Mom started looking into places, calling a few hotels but everything was booking up solid nightly as tourists were heading to the coast (just about everywhere –  the coast and the mountains) so we put the idea off but mom kept monitoring the status of hotels weekly and thought we will go when things lighten up (maybe September). We couldn’t wait. Mom also did a bunch of research on the COVID status for each area, protocols for hotels and city, etc of where we were considering to go to.

Well the weekend of 8/15, mom noticed the following week the hotels had a lot of availability so on Monday she called a few and decided to book at this one hotel. The gentleman was very patient with listening to mom’s concerns and answering her questions and made a great suggestion on staying in this one room at their hotel that would help with social distancing. Very nice of him, so mom booked our two nights for Tuesday and Wednesday in MORRO BAY!!!!

Yay, our favorite place!!!! We were going on a mini road trip for two nights!! Mom said if everything goes well we might stay a third night. Mom had so much to do to get us on the road the next morning since we were taking our own bedding, towels, disinfectants, food, fan. Mom couldn’t forget anything since we can’t go to stores. And mom wanted to make each of us another mask for back up so she did that as well.

Mom ran out of time on Monday so decided to pack up everything early Tuesday morning and hope to be on the road by 9am. I, Miss Kayla was so excited I hardly slept last night and when the alarm went off at 6am, I woke right up and got so excited I was ready to get on the road then! 🙂  Well, we didn’t get on the road til 11:30a.m. ugh, went through the carwash which slightly delayed us more as the machine couldn’t read our carwash sticker on the window so an agent had to come and handle it manually, etc. We finally got through the carwash,

got gas, and was on our way to Morro Bay. Yay! I, Miss Kayla was so excited. Mom was nervous but excited.

We had a gorgeous drive up through San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura counties and when we hit Santa Barbara County we hit haze. Ventura had some too as we couldn’t see any of the Channel Islands. Bummer as its always so beautiful to see them. We took the Cachuma route through the mountains and ended up in Santa Maria with thick smokey air and a strong smell of smoke. Mom got concerned as Santa Maria is not far from Morro Bay. Mom pulled off the freeway to see if she could find out via google on where the fire was. She saw there was one in Lompoc so figured the smokey air was from there. We got to San Luis Obispo and it was really hazy (better). We finally arrived at our hotel about 5:30pm in Morro Bay where the air seem clear, but a tad hazy and thank God no smell of the smoke.

Mom got us checked in and into our room. I was tired, cranky, and wanted out of my chair, but didn’t want out of my chair. Mom got me out for a little bit but I wanted back in. We decided to go for a stroll even though it was chilly (chillier than expected).

Mom forgot that down near the embarcadero and water its always colder than where they take the temp for Morro Bay (more inland) so she brought clothes for hot weather for me, and only one set of clothes for cold weather just in case – thank goodness! Our hotel was one block up from the embarcadero two blocks south of Giovanni’s Fish Market which from that block to the fish market is always the busiest sections of the embarcadero. We decided to stroll/walk down there but on the opposite side of the street (non water side) where hardly anyone was walking. Kind of a bummer not to walk on the embarcadero side but mom said at least we are here and can enjoy our stroll from this side. We went for a quick short walk as it was quite chilly (breeze/wind was the bad kind for me). Oh, yes, I realize Cubby doesn’t have her mask on. Mom forgot to put Cubby’s mask on for our walk – opps… Mom found us a little spot to take this photo of us at where no one was around and it was off the main path so no one would bug us.

I, Miss Kayla really enjoyed our stroll and was feeling better afterward that I tolerated getting out of my chair and watching some programs on the tv before bed.

I slept okay that night and was excited to get up early the next morning. Mom figured we should head out early for our stroll before it gets crowded so we could have a nice leisurely long stroll like we always have done in the past. We strolled all along the embarcadero waterfront and out to the rock along the nice walking and running path (two separate paths next to each other).

We saw quite a few Sea Otters – 4 in the new dock area

and many including a pup out by Morro Rock (area they have been hanging in for many many many years now). It is so nice to see that the population continues to grow.

Opps, pano mode cut me, Miss Kayla out…

Lots of Sea Lions in the area too which I heard last night and today. You can pretty much hear them from the water’s edge to a few blocks in towards town. 🙂

Mom was hoping to order take out for breakfast from her favorite restaurant/cafe but they were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so we decided to stop at this one place for a quick breakfast (mom was a tad nervous) that had one row of outside seating along their building and only two tables of about 10 had people at them. So mom choose the table at the far end with the breeze heading towards us, towards the rest of the people sitting behind us that way their germs wouldn’t come towards us. Well, that backfired on us as after sitting for a few minutes at our table the breeze shifted so we switched sides of the table, and then the breeze was coming towards us from others sitting behind us. We just put our backs to them so. A nice couple was sitting two tables down from us, they were from Imperial Beach about 20 minutes from where we live in San Diego.

Although, this would have been a nice spot for breakfast… 🙂

Mom decided to let me go into one of the stores I like as it has a door like the size of a single car garage that they keep open during opening hours than a regular door further down. Its a small store so she thought if we got there a few minutes after they open that it would be safe. Also, not too many people. She hoped I would be so excited but I wasn’t. I was in my blah state (I was cold) and not very into it but mom got me a sweatshirt for future use as she wanted to wash it before I wore it. I, Miss Kayla was glad I was able to go into a store, finally! First one since March.

We went back to the hotel to get me my blanket to put over my legs and then we headed back out. Mom took me back to that store as it only had a few people then and mom got herself a shirt. We looked for me, but didn’t find one. I was a little more into it then but still not much. Mom was really hoping I would get excited since she knows I have been missing my shopping time. By the time I would have been into it, it was too crowded and too long since they opened.

Then we strolled around a bit more before heading back to the hotel.

We always enjoy strolling to each end (Morro Rock and here; Tidelands Park)

Yay, mom let me, Miss Kayla take my mask off for a little while since no one was around or coming this way…

We had been out since 7:30a.m. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the restaurant across the street from hotel to order fish n chips for dinner as we could place a to-go order outside.  Not the place mom wanted to order from but the place she wanted to wouldn’t let her do phone order and it was too crowded to do their window to-go order. Mom actually planned on getting a shrimp salad each day we were there including day we arrived from her favorite place, “Lil Hut” but there were employees not wearing a mask in this tiny little to-go place (only kitchen cooking area inside) as its a walk-up window type place so mom wasn’t comfortable ordering from there. Bummer.

So we got back to the hotel to rest for a while at about 1pm. Well about 2pm the smoke rolled in. Ugh. Mom didn’t realize that there were fires in Northern and Central California including one that started the night before in Big Sur. The smoke smell was bad but it cleared up just enough that we could take a quick walk towards town and then south along the road above the embarcadero and Tidelands Park. It was a nice stroll especially the area through the trees along a trail but it was chilly.

Such a cool park (Tidelands Park) and you can see the sand dunes as well that separates the estuary and harbor from the ocean…

I, Miss Kayla enjoyed it. Then as we were approaching the hotel we could smell the smoke again. Bummer.

The next morning we were planning to go for a nice long stroll again, have breakfast from moms favorite breakfast place since they were open that day and mom was going to see about taking me to this other store that I really like when they open but when we woke up at 6am we could smell the smoke in our hotel room (just slightly) so mom said we can’t go for our stroll this morning, that we will probably need to just head home.  🙁 We were both really bummed but grateful we got yesterday morning early afternoon to spend strolling and such. Mom went outside and it was really bad, mom even had a difficult time breathing so she knew for sure we just needed to pack up and head home. We left the hotel at 8:30am and mom decided to wait for her favorite breakfast place to open at 9am to order to go breakfast and get a cup of coffee. She did just that and I didn’t have to get out of the car (thank goodness) as mom was able to just grab her food and coffee from them near the car.

We were on the road heading home 🙁 already… There was this waterfront park in Shell Beach area that we always see but never have been to. It didn’t look very smokey/hazy there so we decided to drive to it and just see if it was smokey. It wasn’t so mom parked in the residential area so we could take a nice stroll along the cliffs here and only towards the park (park had too many people in it) and then back to the car. I, Miss Kayla wasn’t too keen on that idea but it was still nice to take. We had never been there so something new for us! And Cubby wore her mask today.

We continued on our journey home (mom didn’t realize the phone took this picture until she was going through the photos at home)…

and once we got to Santa Barbara it was not smokey anymore but still hazy. Same with Ventura County. One thing that was nice about leaving early is that we didn’t have too much traffic in San Diego County or the one typical area in Los Angeles County so. I, Miss Kayla was glad once we finally got home but I can’t wait to go back to Morro Bay. Mom says we will if its safe once the fires are out to finish up our trip. 🙂 This little getaway really helped me, Miss Kayla ALOT! Mom too..

We were very safe the entire time despite crossing paths with a few people not wearing mask, but was able to social distance from them (although, mom and I both think 6′ is still way too close). Going out early in the morning always makes a difference with amount of people – not many out in MB until about 9-10am which is why we have always enjoyed getting out early (so nothing new for us). Knowing the area well helps to plan places to go hang out in, stroll in where there are less people, and those to avoid due to more people. Mom was glad we could go somewhere we were already well familiar with. Mom disinfected everything in our hotel room multiple times – yeah, she probably overdid it. Our hotel room was not used for 48 hours prior to arrival and we choose a hotel with exterior access no elevator involved. Mom asked if they could keep it vacant the night before we arrived and they were willing to (not many hotels are doing this nor are willing to unless you pay full price). Brought our own bedding, towels, food with the exception of one meal eating out (not planned), and two take out orders which were planned. 

Until next time….

Love,
Miss Kayla