Tag Archives: San Ardo

Camp Roberts Military Museum

The Camp Roberts Military Museum is the largest military museum in California – or so they told me – this is a great museum for military historians and also for everyone to get a picture and feeling of many historical events that are not covered in a movie based history about the battle of so and so. This base has been training hundreds of thousands of men for many decades. 

The museum has a very limited schedule as to when you can enter. So check carefully, and have ID, Registration and insurance ready. Remember the only days are Thursday and Saturday 9 to 4 Only.

Once through the gate you are greeted by the museum annex. It has a display of choppers and tanks in many configurations.  Inside the Annex there are displays from many different battle fields and displays of what conditions were like in the past. It can get quite warm on the base in the summer, however it  gets a great deal warmer inside a tank or in the fields of the deserts where many of the men portrayed were deployed. The base has trained many movie and stage stars, and created a legacy that is worthy of investigation. The barracks of Red Skelton are displayed and the story of his service is one that was almost all done at Camp Roberts.

Camp Roberts Military Museum – Main Building

Proceeding up the road to the main museum, upon entering one is greeted by most welcome air conditioning. It may be a swamp cooler, but whatever it is it was most welcome! There is a 35 minute movie of the history of the camp and I always find these documentaries to reveal so many stories about goings on in the past. The museums entry way will tell the story of the naming of the base. This one was not named for a general! The docents are very helpful and will talk your ears off with stories given the slightest openings. So be ready to be guided through a big piece of California History. This seemingly desolate site hold many secrets. How many can you find?

San Ardo Swallows

The San Ardo Swallows can be found when driving the US 101 either north of Paso Robles or south of King City. Find the off ramp for San Ardo, take the ramp and park under the bridge. Now get out of the car and be patient for a couple of minutes.

San Ardo Swallows - US 101 California
Cliff Swallows Under the Bridge

Some people don’t know how long that is so, use a watch if you are uncertain. The reason I say wait, is that as you drive up, the San Ardo Swallows will all flee, and it takes a bit of time for them to get the courage to continue their day to day tasks with an invader (you) in the area. Anyway, if one patiently waits soon a few birds will appear, then more, and then even more. These are cliff swallows. You can see their nests on the bridges with the heaviest concentrations on the east side (closest to the river) At my house we always called them mud swallows, as they make their nests from mud. Well, cliff swallows is the real name so I guess we will stick with that for the San Ardo Swallows. Next, these birds are migratory. Continue reading San Ardo Swallows