Extra Bits from California

Some pics that didn't make their own post from the California 2025 trip...

YouTube has offices that we visited on the day we headed south from San Francisco.

Massage chairs are the best!

Sad she had to leave

With the YouTube logo

Almost tall enough for bunny ears

Photo booth results

What a ham!

They also had a video game console that was a lot of fun. Killer Queen is a bee-themed game that allows up to ten players simultaneously!

We visited the Barney Schwartz Park in Paso Robles to have fun at a playground. They also have a large artificial lake and a couple of geocaches.

Playground #1

More of the first playground

View on the way to the second playground

Turtles in the lake

Spinner at the second playground

Blocking the slide

Tables are turned!

We had a lunch at Tin City, a collection of restaurants, wine shops, beer brewers, and other sellers, all under corrugated roofs.

Tin City Sign

We ate lunch at ETTO. I had eggplant parmesan, my go-to for Italian eating (too hard to make at home but so delightful).

Eggplant Parmesan

For dessert, we walked over to Negranti Creamery, which has ice cream. It's claim to fame is that the flavors are mostly made from sheep's milk. I had the peanut butter chip, which was nice but not great. I would try something else if I visited again.

Ice Creamery (we ate too fast to take pics)

I did some geocaching in the town of Atascadero, which has an amazing city hall.

Atascadero City Hall

We thought we would try a local wine, so we bought Paso Dragon from a local supermarket. It was ok, not my favorite. Again, I would try something else from the region before going back to this.

Hard to resist a wine with "dragon" in its name!

In San Luis Obispo, we went to a playground to use up some time before the mission opened. Our kids tried their hardest to go up a roller slide. They eventually succeeded!

Facing a challenge

We stopped for lunch in Solvang, a city in California that was settled in the 1940s by Dutch descendants. They made the town very Dutch in its architecture and food and decorations (we drove by wind mills, so I was not able to photograph them). We ate lunch at Ellen's Pancake House (I had the pineapple dutch pancake--a lot of pineapple chunks folded into a thin and delicious pancake). 

Sample of architecture

Pineapple pancake (with bacon pancake in background)

More un-Californian architecture

Of course we stopped at a bakery and got some danish to eat!

Cheese danish and cinnamon roll

Our next stop was Ventura, California, with a playground near our hotel (in addition to the Mission and, later in the day, the Reagan Presidential Library). 

Swinging too high!

Crossing a rope bridge

See-saw siblings

Beach and Pacific Ocean

Unloved playground equipment