Our last trip was in January. We spent New Years in Southern Utah. We had two trips on the books – Oregon in June and Lake Tahoe in September. And we would have likely had taken another one or two, but…. Covid-19. So this short, spontaneous get-away to Ragged Point Inn on the Central Coast was a major event. Not only did the pandemic change things up, so did the massive west coast wildfires.
We packed up Clorox wipes, masks, including N95s (for smoke protection) and almost all the food we would eat for 3 days and headed out Tuesday morning. We drove in and out of varying amounts of smoke and after stops in Paso Robles and Cambria we arrived in Ragged Point.
Our room with a view was not quite that, at least not the first day, due to the smoke from fairly far away wildfires.
Night one sunset.
We hiked a short trail, called Salmon Creek to a waterfall.
The pier at San Simeon.
The boardwalk on the Cambria coast.
Roaming Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria.
Night two sunset..
A rare “dine in” meal. Breakfast at Ragged Point. We were the only diners.
Morro Rock.
Hoodoos on Morro Rock.
This midweek getaway was perfect. We walked and hiked miles, ate some food out and some food we brought, shopped a bit, and relaxed a lot. We need more days like these!
The pandemic, and specifically the stay-at-home order, has meant we have eaten almost exclusively at home since the second week of March. We have always eaten in far more than out, but typically we went to a restaurant one or two times a week for dinner and maybe once for a weekend breakfast. We also picked up take out or had delivery maybe once a week. Now we get delivery or “car dine” once a week. We also make a trip or two through the Starbucks drive-through every weekend. That’s it. So that means lots of meal planning and cooking.
Pizza continues to be a weekly stable.
I have tried many new recipes, more than at any other time in my life. Favorite sources are “Half Baked Harvest” and “Martha’s American Food”. I have also relied heavily on plain simple meals (no recipe required) and Chris has done his fair share of BBQing.
We have also upped our grocery store purchases. We have found delicious items in the Sprouts meat counter, at Claro’s (our neighborhood Italian market), and at Orchard’s Meat Market.
This was memorable – a cherry cobbler with fresh picked cherries gifted from a co-worker with a cinnamon biscuit topping, served warm with vanilla ice cream.
Fortunately most new undertakings were good, if not really tasty, but not all. There were majors fail with a salmon loaf and a vegan chickpea stew. Much better was the salmon and spinach salad and the shrimp with pesto and tomatoes.
This sweet and sour chicken stir fry and cahew broccoli beef, both from random internet recipe searches, were delicious.
I have been making sheet pan meals about once a week.
Hearty salads work too.
I continue to slowly (though not too slowly) make my way through my “New Recipes” binder. Next up, a chicken noodle casserole. Fingers crossed.
And when all else fails, there is always In ‘n Out.
Symptom tracker, temperature checks, scrubs, PPE, Zoom rounds, physical distancing, intercoms, iPads. It’s all part of our days.
We have all adjusted and now, about seven months later, go about our days as if nothing is different. I barely see the huge amount of PPE and equipement in what used to be near clear hallways. I am used to less visitors, more Zoom, less paper, more tech. I know some cafeteria favorites are not available, but I can pick up produce and other staples to go in the new “mini mart” that replaces the salad bar. And most importantly I know so much about feeding sick patients as they battle this disease.
We have been home since March 19. That is 173 days. Our house is small, but big enough. It doesn’t have too much. There are bare walls and a few empty cabinets. We have everything we need, and then some, but most would find it pretty minimalistic. When I say “home” I mean we go to work. We grocery shop and do other essential shopping and we pick up take out food about once a week. We have headed out for a few weekend day trips to walk at the beach or roam a new to us quiet neighborhood. That’s about it.
I like the natural light in our house, especially in the morning. I like the wall and trim colors and the window sills. I like the separate spaces. There is really nothing I don’t like… we could use a bit more room… another guest room and an office would be nice.
“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Since my final post on January 23, 2020 on my blog, Apple Slices, a lot and a little has happened.
we haven’t eaten in a restaurant, gone to a movie or visited family
we haven’t met up with friends or hosted friends or been guests of friends
we haven’t been to the gym, library or coffee shop
we haven’t traveled anywhere
we didn’t celebrate Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day or either of our birthdays
we have walked many, many miles in our neighborhood
we have completed many jigsaw puzzles and read many books and watched much Netflix and Hulu
we have walked at the beach and in the hills and biked around town
we bought a tent trailer
we learned to Zoom
we have organized, decluttered and cleaned this house to within an inch of it’s life
we have focused on food – planning for it, shopping for it, unloading it, preparing it and enjoying – like never before
we bought a new sewing machine and lawnmower
we have zipped around town in record times loving the weirdness of so many fewer cars on the LA roads
we have stayed healthy and happy
The COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic. The outbreak was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
The pandemic has caused global social and economic disruption. There have been widespread supply shortages, panic buying, an economic recession, the postponement or cancellation of sporting, religious, political, and cultural events, travel restrictions, workplace changes, and the closure of schools and universities world wide.
Covid-19 is a virus. It is spread primarily by small droplets produced by coughing, sneezing, and talking. People may also become infected by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their face. The virus causes fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, and loss of sense of smell. Severe complications include pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
As of today, September 1, 2020, there have been 6,004,443 people diagnosed with Covid-19 and 183,050 deaths in the United States
Many vaccine candidates are moving through the phases of safety, dosing and efficacy testing required to mass administer a new drug. Until then, life will continue to be different.
I decided to resume blogging. More Apple Slices will let me document with pics and words this unique time in our lives. Thanks for following along.
More Apple Slices 