Pismo Beach

After a wonderful breakfast we toured the old part of the hotel where we were able to see door markers of some of the famous people who stayed here. 

Found the room of Rudolph Valentino where his ghost is supposed to knock on the door and lie down on the bed.

Then we meandered through the Santa Maria Valley and made our way to Oceano, first to the small airport that offers bi-plane rides and then to the Oceano Dunes.  We don't know of any other place where you can drive a car and camp either in a tent or an RV directly on the sand.

Then on to Dinosaur Caves Park in Pismo Beach.  This was just a field for many years.  I have a photo of Stephanie learning to walk in this field!  It's a lovely spot now.

Dinosaur Caves Park (coastline here is very similar to that in Oregon)

One of our favorite drives is along the shore in Shell Beach and we have taken the steps down to the beach and picked up sea glass (not today, however, too far to go).

Shell Beach

Then it was time to check into the Cliffs Resort and our Nifty Fifty room (special rates and discounts on various things for those over 50).  Lovely spot!

From our balcony

We obviously misjudged this whole Christmas thing!  We figured it would be a very quiet time in the hotels and restaurants. Not.  The hotel is packed and there were no more reservations for dinner in the restaurant here for tonight. Those restaurants in town that were open had the same situation. We might have been able to squeeze into the bar if we went for a preset menu at 4 pm.  Since we had lunch at 2 pm that didn't sound like a good plan.  So, Norm raided the front desk and this is our Christmas dinner 2016.  Ha ha ha.