austin_tycho | 5 lemons and 22 avocados- Day 3.2

Eric braided a sling and wanted to test it out, and the beach he remembered had nice sling-ready rocks all over the place. So he and I and Erin and Thom piled in the car and drove down from Nipomo, which is apparently on a mesa, to Pismo and to Shell Beach. First we drove right up to the coast and walked down several flights of stairs to the beach itself.

It was a little sandy, but there were cliffs and rocks and big rocky islands covered with pelicans and other critters. Eric spied a remote rock that he thought we could climb to, but after clambering over rocks in the hot sun (I had a sweater on because it had looked cool that morning) and getting nowhere I told him I was going back, dammit. He chucked some rocks from where he was and I worked my way back. I saw tidal pools for the first time, with little sea anemones and teeny weeny little hermit crabs. Ooooh, how cute (she squealed)! I resisted the urge to poke them with a stick and just watched. The waves proved too tempting so I took my boots off and waded around. Eric thought this might be a good candid photo opportunity so he snapped some pictures. I shod myself and we climbed back up to the car after picking up a few choice rocks for my friend the rock witch. She gives the most wonderful thoughtful presents and always remembers birthdays, and all she asks is that if you go on a trip you'll bring her a rock from wherever you go. That's fair.

At this point Erin and I demanded the opportunity to buy horrible touristy crap so we drove into Pismo and agreed to meet back at the car in a couple of hours. We looked at all sorts of things and I got postcards and a few little shell creatures (turtles made out of cowries, with little glasses or sombreros- majorly tacky). Eric got hungry so we stopped at a little dive and ate- I had what Chili's calls southwestern eggrolls and he got a fish and chips plate- he usually avoids eating fish because I hate it (!) but he couldn't resist. We split dessert, which is one thing I love about him- I don't see many men splitting desserts with their wives for some reason. It feels so wonderfully hedonistic.

Then we went back to the hotel and soaked in the hot tub a little. For dinner Eric wanted to try the amusingly named In and Out burger, because they supposedly treat their employees like real humans, paying them reasonable wages and outrageous things like that. Sadly they didn't take anything but cash and we were fresh out. So we went next door to Carl's Jr again, and huzzah! they had chocolate chip cookies, and I still had my craving. So we got dinner through the drive-through. But when we got home, no cookies! Damn it! Ah, well, tomorrow is another day and all that.