Tag Archives: New Brighton State Beach

Hello from New Brighton State Beach

Posted in California, camping, cooking, travel, Walking by

We’ve been here since Sunday and it’s very nice. Our drive down went well trailering and going thru SanJose. I’m sure that being Sunday makes a difference. We found a Costco in Tracy to get gas so that saved us quite a bit on gas.

A lovely spot but I think I still like 62 and 63 better. if you’re lucky you are on the bluff side overlooking the ocean. Some of the spots weren’t even occupied but the website says everything is sold out. Go figure. Still new Brighton is a nice campground.

We did a nice beach walk yesterday

The weather is warming up and I suspect the campground will be fuller by Friday. Yesterday when I walked around half the spots were empty.

We’ve had great food so far, a Staub dinner of stuffed peppers and sauce, burgers on the Weber, and a quesadilla night. Tonight is another BBQ with some chicken for me and tofu for B. I have some potato salad I bought to have with that. We also stopped at Gayles which is a must in Capitola.

My daughter says the kitties are fine and all is good at home although it has been quite cold. Did I mention last week we lost a chicken to either a fox or coyote. We think a fox because we never heard anything. B lets them out to free range and generally they stay together and don’t go to far. But clearly one of them did. It’s always a little sad to lose one of the girls.

Today we’re taking a drive to see some Redwoods so that’ll be nice and then a beach walk later.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, camping, cooking, Flylady, Lake tahoe, Myeloma by

It’s been a nice week with even a trip up to Lake Tahoe. I’ve wanted to try and stop at the Ritz Carlton in Tahoe to buy one of their signature candles. Each Ritz has its own signature fragrance. So that was our first stop. If you know Tahoe it is right next to Northstar on 267. It’s quite a ways back and feels a little like driving to the Overlook in “The Shining’. But it’s very beautiful. There was no one out front but the valet and he asked were we checking in? There’s NO parking at all in front of the hotel. So I said we were hoping to go to their gift store. He sort of hemmed and hawed a little and then said ok, pull over there on the right, and to give him our keys, and told us how to get to the spa. I practically ran in. It was really nice of him to let us do this. So anyway, long story short, I got the Tahoe Candle.

Barclay actually has enough points from his Marriot account for one night there so we will do that during an off-season time. Right now is perfect but we’re going to Capitola next week so it seemed too rushed to try and do it now.

From there we went to NuLeaf for B to get some chocolate and gummies. NuLeaf is in Incline, so you drive down to Kings Beach and then over to Incline going around the lake. Next, we stopped at Potlatch gift shop for some postcards of Tahoe I wanted to get you YouTuber Minimom who has asked subscribers to send postcards of the area they live in. She’s in New Zealand. I thought she’d enjoy Lake Tahoe. And we also picked up some stickers’ Keep Tahoe Blue”.

Next, we got sandwiches at a new to us place in Incline and then headed to Sand Harbor. Sand Harbor is one of the most beautiful beaches around Tahoe. There was pretty much no one there, maybe 5-6 other people. So it was glorious.

All in all a beautiful day.

Next Sunday we leave for a week at New Brighton State Beach. We have one of our favorite spots. It’s not an ocean view spot but it is open and near the bathrooms, if we need them. No hookups though. There are a few spots with hookups but they are hard to get.

I’ve cooked some great meals this past week from ‘The Le Creuset ‘ cookbook. The french onion soup.

A quiche

This week Flylady zone is the entryway. I did the windows and B replaced some pavers out the sunroom porch room so that was a nice improvement.

Our weather is going to be beautiful this week with temperatures in the 70s and even one day with an 80-degree day.

I have labs on Friday so I should get results next week while we’re gone. I’m not too worried about my numbers this time but I hope they are still in the normal range.

Here’s a view of the yard. Everything is very green and lush right now.

Friday Things and back from Capitola!

Posted in Blood test, California, camping, cooking, travel, Uncategorized by

We had a great trip to New Brighton State Beach.

The weather was picture perfect too. Lots of sun and temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s.

The ride down took about 4 hours and the only real traffic was near Los Gatos going over Hwy 17.

We thought it an accident but turned out just tons of people going to Santa Cruz. All in all a nice drive down. We got there and set up in out spot.

We did both realize that we really are going to have to get a new/used trailer as this one has seen better days. But we do still love it and it has taken us lots of places. At New Brighton, there are showers and bathrooms so a tent trailer works fine.

The view from the upper cliffs in the campground.

We had lots of good food. The first night was beans, macaroni salad and hot dogs. The next night we had BBQ chicken/tofu, twice baked potatoes from Gayles and salad. We had a pizza night order but it was terrible. Do NOT go to Village Pizza in Capitola. The last night we had bean tacos with trimmings. A lodge dinner would have been fun but I hadn’t really planned it out.

Another view from the bluffs.

Tuesday we drove over to Santa Cruz and walked the lighthouse trail.

This where the surfers go in the water to catch waves.

Nope, not a surfer:)

Gayles was great and I bought a bunch of treats to bring home including a loaf of their Capitola Sourdough sandwich bread. Delicious.

Today is my last shot of this round. Velcade Round 4, shot 3. I plan on putting together a falafel dinner so my son can cook that up later. I’ll take Dex after lunch.

The weekend will be low profile as I’ll be out of it tomorrow. Sunday I’ll do my Flylady chores.

Back from New Brighton State Beach

Posted in Uncategorized by

We had a great time. Our spot was level and out of the way. We didn’t have an ocean view but could walk to the overlook and see. Our next time here we do have a premium spot( has an ocean view). These are really hard to book. It looked RV city over on that side. Of course, there were the monster children whose parents think that camping is an excuse for their kids to run wild.

We spent time down at the beach walking and of course, B and I walked every am. Although not getting up at 6am.IMG_0670.jpgWe went to the store 2 x and the big hit was going to the Santa Cruz Farmers market. That was fun.

Plus we hit up Gayle’s for rye bread and a few sweets. If you’re ever in Capitola, do not miss Gayle’s . It is absolutely wonderful food and a great bakery.

It took us 4 hours to get home. WE had light traffic thru San Jose and Stockton and even Sacramento.

Getting ready for camping

Posted in travel, Uncategorized by

We are packing up most stuff today in the tent trailer and then tomorrow we’ll pack the Santa Fe. We have really learned how to minimalize our camping food, equipment etc.

For instance, we use to pack everything under the sun including all our food. Now we just do basics like cream, butter, eggs(our own). Then as we plan a meal, I’ll go to the market. In Capitola, where were camping, a Nob Hill is maybe 3 miles away. So if we’re going to do grilled chicken, I go get it plus whatever else. It really makes it easier. Now if we were boondocking somewhere remote this, of course, wouldn’t work. But we don’t tent trailer that way. If and when we get a hard body, I would definitely do some different style camping. Or when we go up the coast to Bodega Bay to camp, there are no stores nearby. There is a tiny market but it’s more for travelers. At Bodega Bay we do pack a lot more.

I do plan out our dinners and this time we’re using the Lodge every night. I have one night not planned and we may do something else. So far here’s the menu:

  • Lodge dutch oven mac and cheese and a salad
  • Lodge dutch oven pizza( we did this at Tahoe last year and it was great)
  • Lodge dutch oven chili and cornbread vegetarian( I might cook up a small amount of beef but I’ll wait and see how we feel)
  • Lodge breakfast casserole
  • Lodge  lasagna( this is the fall back meal if I want to cook a 4th night)
  • Lodge double stuffed baked potatoes is a possibility too.

I usually buy packaged salad and that is a side.

I’m off to the gym this morning and then to Grocery Outlet for a few things. If you get a chance go read this blog frugaltexasgal

It’s pretty darn good.