"Psycho" Meets "The Birds"

We've just gotten back from  mini vacation up to a hotel in Mussel Shoals, CA, which is a little North of Ventura.  Before we went, I read some of the hotel reviews, and most were positive---"quaint, clean, relaxing...."  One of the reviews said it was a little like the movie "Psycho" as the rooms were "old, a little tacky, with lots of strange noises."  This review went on to say that they expected to see Norman Bates at the desk.  Since the hotel was right on a gorgeous beach, we decided to wing it.  As we approached the hotel we passed it on the left and went to the next off ramp.  The off ramp's name was "BATES"!  We went in, and at the front desk was a carbon copy of Anthony Perkins in his role as Norman Bates from Psycho!  Upon entering the room, we started giggling because the room had a back door which looked like it had been through the war.  You could actually see through some of the tiny holes in the door, and it was ill fitting----a building inspector's nightmare.  Duane could have written a book on all of the faults he found in this room.  However, we loved the beach which we could see through our very large picture window.  You could see the entire Rincon bay, complete with playful porpoises.

Our stay ended up being very pleasant, where luckily, we had an excellent restaurant right on the premises.  We had some memorable meals, and the most exciting was when a sea gull swooped down on a table near us and stole 3 pieces of bread right off the table.  It's amazing how big a seagull can look when it is next to you.  This seagull came back again and again during our stay and we named him Seacliff.  Part of the waiter's duty was to keep the seagulls at bay.

Here is Seacliff, eyeing our table.  We kept our bread, butter and any other food covered.  Perhaps he was unhappy, because the morning we left, he had covered our whole picture window with doo doo.

I loved this hanging pot of petunias, and plan to make my own one day soon.

Duane wanted to make a note of the pier behind him.  At the end of the pier, there appears to be an island.  It is actually a camouflaged oil derrick.  All in all, a very interesting vacation, with lots of fun things to report.