Wandering and Pondering: Did I mention that our air conditioner went kaput?

Yes, here it is the beginning of summer and that whining, clanking sound that our heat pump was making has finally ended along with its functioning. The other side of that is it is a heat pump, which means it is also our air conditioner. Bad news...we can't get an appointment to get it fixed until July 9th, so we need to get out of the Sacramento Valley heat.

Because it's only a few days, we head back to Fort Bragg to Pomo's. It's the week before the 4th of July weekend, so we're only able to get a couple of days in a water and electric site, which is not quite as private as their full hook-up sites.

The area behind us is shared with several other RVs. One of them had a dog who was off leash and had the audacity to walk behind OUR RV. Tank, of course, took exception to that and reacted, breaking through the plastic clasp of his collar in the process.

Tank at his favorite venue (the Subaru) modeling his latest accessory.

So here's Tank looking chic in his brand new green collar, no more cheapo plastic on this one. (We had a choice of Christmas colors and decided green was the way to go.)

We took one night to head to the harbor for dinner. Looking for a place with a water view, we ended up at Silver's at the Wharf. Tom's sister says they have the best fish and chips in Fort Bragg.

We didn't know this was the restaurant she was talking about at the time,

so, of course, I order the fish tacos and Tom gets the pan seared fish with pineapple champagne cream sauce.

We have reservations at Westport Beach RV and Campground. According to Google Maps, it's right on the beach, so we're excited. Well, you gotta be wary of Google Maps. We were using it to navigate to the rv park, and it took us right past the entrance to the point closest to the park, which has no driveway and is blocked by trees and shrubs. So now, we've passed the entrance and are headed north on Hwy 1 looking for a place wide enough to pull a U-turn in a 33' RV towing a car...

That's us behind the tree that's behind the fence.

It's the 2nd of July. The 4th is in two days, and, accordingly, the campground is crowded with family groups getting ready for the celebration. Our site is a little tight; we're actually right up against a hill with no ocean view. Luckily, the beach is only a short walk away...

...and Tank is pretty excited about being at the beach!

It's a beautiful evening and sunset.

The next day we have a picnic on the beach. This table is one of the campsites on the beach, and tomorrow, the beach will be filled with tents.

We'll be moving on from here on the 5th, so we will miss the 4th of July weekend crush. We find a place to stay in a mobile home park in town. Found out that on the 5th of July Fort Bragg hosts the world's largest salmon barbecue. Gotta admit, salmon is not my favorite fish, so the incentive to go to the gathering just isn't there. Just thought I'd throw this tidbit in here for any salmon fans who might want to attend in future years.

Now, it's time to head back towards Newcastle where we will get our air conditioning repaired. As it turns out, the air conditioner/heat pump could not be repaired and had to be replaced, thereby extending our stay in the area. We attend the Nevada City farmers' market