On The Road to Pismo, Grover and Oceano's Beautiful Beaches

Once upon a time our best friend Happy, my daughter and i had it figured out how to take road trips each winter down to California and out into the deserts.Year after year we spent 3-4 weeks putting on 4-5 thousand miles down through the southwestern US thereby avoiding the realities of winter in Canada while enjoying the warm and generous hospitality and culture of the folks down there.

One stop we never missed was the Pismo Beach area. We'd stay 3-4 days at the Motel6 there. We'd spend hours at the beach where we flew kites, built outrageous sand structures in the dunes and walked miles of white sand beach each day. We ate homemade Mexican food at a little place nearby that we knew and visited the monarch butterfly enclave regularly.

Pismo Beach and the Central Coast play host to annual spectacle of nature every winter from late October to February when millions of migrating Monarch butterflies cover the eucalyptus trees. The famous Pismo Monarch Grove is part of Pismo Beach State Park, it's a fantastic and educational family outing. The grove is located on Highway 1 at the south boundary of the city of Pismo Beach.

Pismo, Grover and Oceano's easily accessible beaches continue uninterrupted for many miles. Our little team walked miles in the company of little shore birds and the rolling surf. We'd almost always come back down to the beach again at sunset and watch the world turn. They were some of the best days of my life...so far.