all the way to the top {perfumo canyon }

perfumo canyon road is just a few miles from our home. it’s a side road that goes all the way to the top of the hill overlooking san luis obispo.

steve rode his bike up the hill earlier in the day and it was such a beautiful day that he wanted to drive us all up so we could see the view.

i’m so glad he took us up that wind-y road. it was gorgeous!

the sky was blue and we could see all of san luis obispo and all the way over to morro bay!

the grass was green and the cows were curious.

and of course the boys were silly.

such a simple family activity. and free. and then we followed it up with frozen yogurt.

and my family let me take some pictures–i love being able to capture those little moments.

what’s your favorite free {or inexpensive} activity?

29 comments

  1. Lisa,
    Absolutely gorgeous photos. Thank you so much for sharing!! I love that area . . . . and I’m so wanting to escape L.A. and head on up there . . . PRONTO!

    The first photo of the series of the windmill on the hillside is stunning. How much to buy one of those as a wrapped canavas??? 🙂 (I’d seriously buy a print of some kind of that one!)
    Your family is just beautiful! Enjoy your spring break!

  2. I love the pictures – what a beautiful place. I know this is an odd question, but what brand is Matty’s glasses? I am looking for new glasses for my son and I’ve fallen in love. Thanks!

  3. Our favourite free family outing is the beach. We live in a little town on the south coast of Western Australia and right now (even though we are in Autumn) the weather is still sunny and hot with amazing cloudless skies. The sound of the waves crashing, the warm sand between my toes and the squealing and laughing of children as the cold water splashes them is just THE BEST. The fact that I live walking/bike riding distance to the beach in this beautiful town makes me feel like I am on holiday every single day of the year, even the days when I have to go to work. Come visit sometime…you wont be disappointed

  4. Riding a bike down to the river to watch the sunset. ( Like the song says “It’s the “perfect time of day”. 🙂 )

  5. oh boy!

    library (free movies)

    a game date at starbucks. now this is really a deal when you have the GOLD card and get a cheap tea or simple coffee drink because then you can get unlimited FREE refills!!! so we can spend the afternoon or evening there for under $2 each AND it counts towards our free drink!

    our monthly grocery shopping trip is a fun date for us. not ‘free’ yet it’s a necessity that we make fun..

    other times we use various freebie coupons and such we get through singing up for different company’s email clubs.

    sooo looking forward to the farmers market starting up! it’s free to go and walk plus the free samples!!!

    sooo many things. feel like i’m drawing a blank right now!

  6. the beach is our getaway. we love to go to the tide pools and explore. my husband looks for creatures and my son bangs on rocks all while i’m playing around with the camera. it’s what we do and it’s totally my escape.

  7. We live in Buellton and I love taking my boys to the blueberry farm just outside of town. They love seeking out the ripe berries and putting them in their individual buckets 🙂

    1. when we were up the hill, we were saying it could be scotland. i’d love to visit ireland sometime!!

  8. Hi Lisa, love your family photos! I love packing a picnic lunch & going to our zoo. St Louis has an awesome free zoo in a lovely park that is perfect for laying out a blanket & sharing a picnic.

  9. i will humbly admit that i cannot drive perfumio. i get very car sick and have ruined a handful of dates with scotty because of it.

  10. I like to take the kids to the library. They have no problem being entertained there. But if we make time for the drive, we go to the beach and enjoy a nice walk.

  11. simply beautiful pictures! do you use a program or action to edit them? just lovely 🙂

    for our inexpensive activity, we used to go to Opry Mills Mall and just roam around. We loved how beautiful it was close to the Opry Mills conservatory which is also free. unfortunately, though, they’ve closed it down due to the flood in nashville last year. it’s never reopened and it’s a huge debate if they ever will.

    maybe i’ll have to find an awesome place like this to go to instead!

    1. hi laura! i edit my pics in iphoto and on picnik.com. picnik is awesome–it’s addicting! i was in nashville in january and was wondering about opry mills!

      1. Oh did you like Nashville? We live about 45 minutes north of there. It’s the closest big city to us.

        I’ll have to try picnik. I mainly use photoshop to do all my editing but it takes me forever! Thanks!

  12. What beautiful pictures!!! I especially love the third picture of your husband and oldest, along with the family portrait. 🙂

  13. My favorite free activity is a beach bon-fire with the family. The only thing we splurge on is ingredients for smores!

  14. I have to tell you that just your mention of SLO and Morro Bay brought back some lovely memories for me…as a child my elderly (well, to me he was elderly) uncle would have my mom and me come to his yearly National Guard training (he was a chaplain there to provide services for the guardsmen) at Camp San Louis Obispo. As my mom was a single parent with very little money this was our summer “vacation”. We stayed in housing that he arranged for us and would visit some of the training the men and women were put through…but my favorite was our annual “dinner-out” trip into SLO and to Morro Bay to see Morro Rock and eat wonderful, fresh seafood! This isn’t really my favorite inexpensive activity (that would be hiking around the nature areas near where we live or taking long Sunday drives) but it a wonderful memory…thanks for taking me there!

    Your adventure looks delightful…thank you for sharing it with all of us!

  15. My favorite inexpensive activity is going to parks and just haning out with my family breathing in the fresh air! Hiking, taking pictures, swimming, all free!

    PS- your adventure looks heavenly!!

  16. Wow, you have so many beautiful and secenic areas where you live. All of your photos are beautiful. I love the family shots, along with the cows. It is always the things in life that don’t cost anything that mean the most to us. Thanks for sharing, those pictures made my day.

    1. Sorry, I forgot to answer the question. My favorite spot to escpae at the lake near our house. It is about two minutes away and very secluded. Love to just sit there and watch the ducks and swans in the water. Everytime we go, I enjoy picking up some rocks. Then I’ll put them in a mason jar so I feel like I’m still there.

  17. There’s a castle in town with a beautiful baroque garden (you can see pics on my FB page.) I love to go for walks there and bring along a blanket and a good book. I’ll be moving back to the States in just over a month, so I’m going to have to find a new pretty place to walk.

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