Carmel

Ok, I have to admit (between you and me) that a county park on Memorial Day weekend with competing Mariachi music on boosted stereo systems can get a little old…we were ready to head out.

The mornings were nice though, before the music started blaring.  Theo and I enjoyed the park.  I think its a good spot to visit during the week.  That is so true for so many parks! So, we got up early this morning and had our last walk at Santa Margarita Lake.  It was lovely.  At one point, I said to Theo:  "Look, T!  Aren't these grasses lovely!?"  and he was like "what?  where? is there a rabbit or something?"  oh well… its hard to teach the finer points of artistic observation to a dog.  But Theo does try…

So we headed out on a not-too-difficult drive to Carmel.  Only  2 1/2 hours.  Our kind of day.  I got to the address on the GPS of the vacation house my cousin had offered me for parking the RV and was a little confused - no house of that address there!?!… I had been here before, but couldn't remember how to get there...

Of course I didn't have the cell number for the cousin who owned the house and he was on vacation, so I called my other cousin (his brother) and got specific directions (you know, along the lines of, Oh you have to take that private road, and the steep switchbacks and then take the first fork to the left and then its the driveway between the olive trees and the solar panels! etc.) …

 I decided to walk it first with Theo to make sure there weren't any low limbs that might impede Mac.  We got about halfway and, out of breath, decided it looked good enough  Once I saw the road, though, we decided to go get groceries first and then "climb the mountain."  It wasn't that far, but it was a steep grade.  Mz. Mac made it - in first gear all the way, bless her heart!  Its a lovely spot and we are grateful to be able to camp here for the night.  Even got a hot shower - a quick one given the drought conditions… but nice to have a spot to rest - quietly! - for the night.  This is a beautiful area… and no stereos blasting within miles… ahhhh… Thanks Ross and Karen!  Nice to be here.