The Scamp is Sold

It is the end of an era, the Scamp is officially SOLD (to a super nice couple that we have a ton in common with).

Jill and Scott actually drove 2.5 hours to San Juan Bautista to see the Scamp while we were heading back from our summer vacation.  They loved it and that is all she wrote.  

This is one of the things we have in common, we love the Scamp and our word is good.

A1 has grown up in the Scamp!  

When we first got it she had just learned to crawl.  

It is bittersweet.  We will miss our Scamp adventures but at least we love the new owners so it makes it much easier.

Scott is 1.25 inches shorter than Eric, it is all the clearance Eric needed to make it functional for us.

Scott used to teach high school science, as did I.  They used to live on a Cleveland Street, as we do.  Scott's middle name is Eric's brother’s name.  Scott's sister's name is my middle name.

And both Scott and Jill went to high school with my mom, in the same graduating class, in two different cities.  Scott went to Foothill High and Jill went to Fallbrook High.

My mom started at Fallbrook and then later moved to Foothill.

Show and tell!

Scott brought his yearbooks, and I had my mom's flag team outfit.  

It's a small world after all.

I guess I look more like my mom than I realize, when A1 saw this picture she pointed to it and said, “mama!”

The West (Day 38)- Santa Barbara to Oceanside

A1 deserves an award for her willingness to put up with her vacationer parents. 

I know she will appreciate it when she is older, but since she is just learning words now, it isn't easy to understand that we actually have her in mind while designing our trips.

Today is our last day on the road. We are headed to Oceanside with our Scamp, for the last time. 

It is bittersweet.  

(It is nice to be home but now I have to go back to work, AND we won’t have our Scamp for hotel free trips.)

We followed the mission bells all the way to Oceanside.

Mission accomplished.

We drove 4,826 miles on this road trip.

Between this year and last, A1 has visited fifteen states.

Not bad for a one year old!

This little darling has earned a much deserved camera break.

❤

The West (Day 37)- San Juan Bautista to Santa Barbara

We are definitely getting closer to southern California, camping is getting less pretty and there are more people.  We booked this site at Betabel not for the beauty but for the convenience and location. 

 It did its job.

Here we are, following the mission bells down El Camino Real.

There are 380 bells along the highway, which marks the path that was founded by Father Junipero Serra, linking the 21 California missions.

We had to do a quick baby reset at Ecola State Beach, before reaching our final destination in Santa Barbara.  The beach is always a great reset, for everyone.

45 minutes out of the car allowed us to continue for 30 minutes in the car.

Our campsite at Sunrise RV park is even more so just getting the job done than Betabel was. 

So we get settled and then picked up dinner and dessert and drove three miles away to the Santa Barbara Mission.  

We were already following the mission bells, we may as well see some more missions!

Each mission was strategically built so it wasn't more than a day's horseback ride away from the mission before.

Santa Barbara was built in 1786, it was the tenth mission built in California.

It is known as the most beautiful mission, as well as for its twin bell towers.

We picnicked on the lawn (pizza and a salad from Bettina and ice cream from Rori's).

First we gave her calories then she burnt them off.

I think we spent most of our time at this fountain built in 1808. Little fishies are so interesting. 

Beauty is found everywhere.

Just like San Juan Bautista Mission, Santa Barbara was not on our itinerary, but it was the perfect place to spend our last full day as we travel down El Camino Real. 

The West (Day 36)- Cloverdale to San Juan Bautista

 

We just have two more campsites after this!  Two more days until we are home.

We decided to continue taking the 101 south, so we could drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has been to San Francisco, it was rather foggy.

Our campground tonight is just outside San Juan Bautista.

(If you zoom in really, really close you can see a train of horses underneath the sign.)

Spanish and Mexican explorers arrived in the San Juan Valley in the 1700s.

This adobe building was built in 1799.

There are 128 adobe buildings in town, including the San Juan Bautista Mission.

I guess San Juan Bautista was a pretty quiet town, because this jail was made for one.

Or maybe it was made for someone in town everyone knew was a problem.

The town San Juan Bautista was named after the mission, established in 1797.

It was the 15th California mission constructed along El Camino Real.

The mission sits in a central plaza surrounded by pretty wooden buildings.   

This is a new mission for all of us, and it wasn't even our mission to see missions.