After our unplanned hiatus from RVing, we were thrilled to heading to our favorite destination, Pismo Beach. In the winter, we like to stay at Pismo Coast Village for the full hookups. Last year when we were here in February it was cold, windy, and rainy. This year, blue skies and temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s 🙂 Wonderful!
The hills in back of Pismo are beautiful and I’ve often wondered what the coast would look like from that vantage point. Well, just a month earlier the Pismo Preserve opened, providing over 14 miles of trails to visitors.
The trails provide some amazing views of the Pismo coast. The trails are well marked and rise gently about 400-600 feet above the beaches.
It can get a little crowed on the trails.
As you make your way up the hills, you meander through a small forrest of coast live oaks covered in moss. This is a good spot to have a drink of water in the shade before you make your way back down to the parking lot.
Note that the parking lot can get pretty full mid morning to mid afternoon, though if you are patient you can get a spot. Your best bet is early morning and late afternoon.
A beautiful sunset capped a perfect day in Pismo.
The next day we walked to the state park to visit the monarch butterflies. Though a little late in the season, there were plenty to see.
Every year, from October through early March, these butterflies migrate to central & southern California, mostly coming in from areas west of the Rocky Mountains, and south from Oregon & Idaho.
I took this photo through the telescope setup by the park ranger. 🙂
That evening, we enjoyed dinner at Ember, a farm to table restaurant in Arroyo Grande. Everything is made from scratch there from local sources. The food was excellent and we will be back again.
Their Oven Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream Cake…amazing!
The next day, we hung out in Pismo, starting with a walk on the beach to the pier.
From the pier, its fun to watch the surfers catching waves. It was a pretty busy day for surfing.
This lady on the right was really good.
We ended the day at Avila Beach, with a Cappuccino at Kraken Coffee, while we watched the sun set. I usually take photos of the ocean, so I thought I’d take this one of the pretty little beach town of Avila.
We ended the first leg of our beaches RV trip refreshed and ready to dry camp for 5 nights on the pacific Coast Highway at Rincon Parkway!
Al & Deb
MobileMosers.com 
Pismo Beach is one of our favorite places to camp. We always go to the North Beach State site, right next to Pismo Coast Village. We’re going againa the end of the month for 4 nights. Looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, the trip at the end of March had to be canceled due to Covid19 and the state campgrounds being closed.
Sorry to hear that! Yes, we have had to cancel many plans this year, as well, so I know how disappointing that is. Stay safe and hope you can get back there soon!