7. Pismo Beach

Our next day trip was Pismo Beach, 20 minutes south of our campsite at Morro Bay, for sand dune sledding. I’d researched how to get to the good sledding areas. Most online suggestions mentioned parking outside an RV park there, walking through it, and, ba-dam, there are the sand dunes. I called the RV park ahead of time, but the receptionist said that the last rains had washed away their entrance to the dunes & left it muddy & impassable (weather, again). 

We decided to head out anyway, but stop at the pier first. Maybe someone there could help us. We parked right at the pier, & the wind was so strong that we decided to walk around the small town. One shop owner recommended we have lunch at the Cool Cat Cafe down the street, & she gave us coupons for free root beer floats. Before we left, I asked about sledding. She said, “Yeah, just go to the beach.” Mkay.

I was hoping for some specifics. People always say, “Just park at the beach,” “Just meet me at the beach,” “It’s at the beach,” and you get there and there are miles of beach, multiple parking lots, and you later find out the one you needed was some hidden unmarked parking lot down over the hill somewhere. I’m just going to refer to it as THE BEACH? from now on. 

The Cool Cat Cafe is a 50’s style diner, & they welcomed us in, even with Stout. The food was yummy, & the free root beer floats didn’t disappoint! 

We headed to THE BEACH? from there, again, unsure of exactly where to go. The road we were on led us to a beach entrance with a ranger station. Tacked onto, posted beside, and mounted above the station were signs like, 

Hazardous beach conditions! 

Enter at your own risk!

Flooding on beach. Beach can close at any moment!

4WD vehicles recommended!

Good God. 

But we were here, & we’d bought the disc sleds earlier that morning, & we weren’t going to let the ocean force us to waste $30 worth of plastic. We paid the entrance fee, & we were free to drive on THE BEACH?. I’m still confused that this is even allowed. Driving literally ON the beach. IN the sand. My confusion was rivaled only by my fear. I’d scrolled through Instagram pics that morning, trying to familiarize myself with the area, & I’d seen a few pics of vehicles buried in sand dunes. Theoretically, our giant 4WD truck should be fine on the sand. But. But! When you rely on that truck to get your new house from place to place, the stakes are higher. And, also, we’re still figuring out how to use the truck. Everything is new, remember?

I drove south on THE BEACH?, internally dying, while the kids & TJ loved it all. Sofina pointed out seagulls dropping shells from the air to crack them open. Chase saw a seagull on the ground snag another seagull’s hard work. We eventually came to what looked like a river running across the beach & into the ocean. We stopped & do what we do best – we watched what everyone else in their big trucks were doing. Stop. Approach slowly. Drive through it. 

Praise Jesus! We made it across alive. We continued heading south on the beach, assuming that we would eventually come to a clear SAND DUNE SLEDDING spot. So far, most of the dune areas were fenced-off from the beach, closed. 

At one point I felt the truck’s back tires spin. OH MY GOD, TJ, WE’RE GOING TO SINK RIGHT UP TO THE BUMPER!

At that point, TJ decided to drive. And the tires spun more. TJ turned the knob to 4LOW, the truck did its thing, & we continued to make our way along the beach. We ended up driving up & down the beach 3 times (and crossing the treacherous beach river 3 more times) before finally asking the ATV rental place where we should go. The worker there pointed to a small opening in the fence, so we parked, opened the doors, and almost blew away. 

I’ve been to the beach enough to know it’s usually windy. But these had to be 50 mph winds. We gave it our best shot. The pictures & videos speak for themselves. One recommendation – bring goggles for this activity. Sofina used my hat as a windshield, but that has its limitations.

While we were sledding, two men carrying a table passed us & continued walking far off into the dunes…