Point San Luis Obispo Lighthouse 16 October 2015

After spending the night in the Rose Garden Inn on the South Side of San Luis Obispo, we arrived in Avila Beach at 7:15 AM 

A warm, but cloudy day.  This is the South end of the Bay

In the early 60's, where this coffee shop is now, was a very small little bar and grill named Frenchy's.  A Frenchman married a Mexican lady, both were excellent cooks.  It was a regular stop on our Daily trips in to pick up the Station mail,

Avila Bay

This will be our destination

Pat and Elaine on the steps of the old Keeper's House

The Parlor coal burning fireplace.  Ii's a double, the other side of the wall has the same kind and warms the dining room.  They share the same chimney.

View to the North from an upstairs bedroom.

When the Coast Guard took over the Light Station in 1939, they built housing for the Keepers, and this building was only used as the structure to house the Main Light,  It was always kept up, and livable, but was never modernized.

Pat and I enjoyed the visit, and appreciated the time Andrew and Elaine spent with us.

Checking the Buoy to make sure the fog isn't coming in...

Made in the 1860's this lens originally used whale oil. Then, was converted to Kerosene. And, before I was a keeper, it was converted to electricity.  The clockwork that rotated the light was still in working order when I was there, but the lens was turned with an electric motor by then.

This little gift shop was the heart of the Light Station in the early 1960's.  The Radio Beacon room, communications,  and Station office.

The volunteers have spent countless hours restoring the old buildings. They have put the main house back to the colors of the Lighthouse Service, before it was merged with the US Coast Guard.  In 1939, the Lifesaving Service, Revenue Cutter Service, and the Lighthouse Service all merged to become the US Coast Guard, under the Department of  Transportation.

The South end of the New Deplex.  This is where I lived with my wife and Daughter, Debra.  This was the Master bedroom, there is still the original bathroom off the other side of the room.

The porch of the second house I lived in while stationed there.

Cormants resting on their rock

There used to be a relatively large wooden dock that used this rock as a structural support.  There was a boat hoisting house, a storage building, and a crane used to raise and lower the boat.  This was our main transportation to town, there was no usable road into the Light Station then.  A storm in the 1980's took out the dock all the buildings on it.

Smith Island. Years ago, this had some living quarters on it, and a few family of "squatters" lived out there.  Not it's painted with Guano.

Avila Valley Farm.  Will get back to the Lighthouse after these pictures.  3 cameras in use, so they got out of order.

Although it's a school day, there was a lot of children out here with their parents buying pumpkins.,  

The roasted corn booth is only open on weekends this time of year.  They are still harvesting sweet corn, but the season is coming to an end.

A large farmers market and gift shop. As well as a bakery and deli. And an Ice Cream shop

Not plastic

Crisp apples right off the trees

One of the many items in the bakery case

And PIE!

Large local melons

And some fun folk

Everything is organic

Strawberries

Raspberries and Blackberries

House coffee was only a buck a cup

40 cents a pound for most of the pumpkins

Ice Cream and other goodies

Natural snacks

Natural Pumpkins

Although it was cloud covered today, it was in the mid 70's

larger than it looks

Pygmy goats.  Very cute 

This little guy probably came from the miniature horse farm, which is in Solvang, about 50 some miles South of here.

Big Daddy

We're having lunch at Jack's Ranch, on Highway 46, between the Coast and Bakersfield, CA.

This is about 5 miles from the junction of  Highway 41 where, in 1955, James Dean was killed while driving his Porche, and collided with a 1950 Ford driven by a 23 year old Cal Poly Student.  We went through that  intersection  a few minutes before stopping here for lunch.

As you've all seen before, this is one of my favorite picturers

Good food, and a wine tasting area.

The Station in Barstow.  A McDonald's, and many other food offerings and tourist stuff.

I had a Jalapeno and cheese covered large pretzel. 

The sugar free candy was $16 a pound

Rain building up on I-40

We went through some heavy thunder showers.  We found out this morning that shortly after we came through this area, there was flooding, mud slides, and all sorts of other storm related problems.

Hackberry store, a couple days before we left on this trip

Dinner with people from the Pet Rescue, HALT. Where Pat is a Volunteer (Help Animals Lives Today)

A Walmart lady wandered in from the Walmart just down the Street

Our new neighbors.  These lovely ladies will take care of Sugar while we're gone.  They, with another friend, bought a house across the street from us., 

This seagull is waiting for breakfast.  The sun just coming up

Only 53 years ago, this was a narrow little street with a few shops, some bars, and a small general store.  Time changes things:-)

A banner near the parking area where you can take a trolley out to the lighthouse

Sail boats in Avila Bay

When I lived in this house, we had a beautiful green lawn, and geranium  plants along the borders.

From the back.  There used to be out houses and a laundry room building here.  The round thing between the buildings is one of the 10,000 gallon cistern's that were used to collect usable water from a concrete slab rain catch just above them. 

Foundations of the outbuildings,  The cement that looks like a slanted parking lot, was the rain catch.  By the time I was there, a well was providing household water.  The plumbing for the rain system was still usable.

It took awhile to jar some old memories, but the more we looked around, the more I remembered about the time I spent here. Was frustrating, a few things that were common to me then, I couldn't recall.

We did out best to give the Historical Society representatives some information they can use for their tours. They have been limited as to the living conditions and responsibilities during the time period that the station was manned by Coast Guard personnel.

Another lens picture.  I used to have to keep this clean, and rotate the bulbs as  needed.  This is still the property of the Coast Guard, but is on loan to the Historical Society.

This is a 2009 picture I found on the internet.  I would give credit to the photographer, but don't know who took it.