Point Lobos Natural Reserve

Ahhhhhhhh.........Fresh Air!

There is nothing in life I enjoy more than the smell of the fresh sea air on a bright sunny day.

Crisp! Salty! Alive! We wasted no time getting outside once there was a break in the endless rain. Our destination was just down the road to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve just south of beautiful Carmel by the Sea.

Note a very happy Jenni on the coastal trail

 Rowan wasn't quite feeling like herself yet when we got started on our hike. She needed a couple of lady finger cookies to get her in the hiking mood (thanks, Nancy :o)

We had been on the coast trail for only a very short time before we spotted our first Southern Sea Otter having a little nap on its back. 
Otter info. from the reserve flyer: These otters were once found along the coast from British Columbia in Canada to Baja CA in Mexico but were nearly hunted to extinction for their dense, luxurious fur. Today, this threatened species is making a slow but steady comeback, with about 2,900 sea otters now ranging across more than 300 miles in central California. About 60-70 sea otters are routinely counted in the waters along Point Lobos. We looked for  them around seaweed beds, their favorite place to hunt and nap.

A little history about the Point Lobos sea shore: Evidence of mortars hollowed out of bedrock and mounds of shells indicate Native Americans gathered and prepared food here over a period of thousands of years. A permanent settlement was never established, because fresh water disappeared during summer and fall. Similar to the changing weather patterns today. Hmmmmmmm......... The Europeans arrived here in 1769. Point Lobos, at various times, was a pasture for livestock, the site of a waling station, an abalone fishery and cannery, a granite and gravel quarry and a shipping point for coal mined nearby. Chinese fisherman, Portuguese whalers and Japanese abalone divers all worked these lands and waters for a living. Proof that immigrants helped to build this country! 
In 1898, A.M. Allan bought the land and the area became a part of the California State Park system in 1933. The park today includes 554 acres. In 1960, 775 submerged acres were added, creating the nation's first underwater reserve.

The cliffs and coves are very dramatic

The rugged coast trail is covered with coastal live oaks, Monterey cypress and Monterey pine. The Monterey pine forest in Point Lobos is one of only three native stands of this tree. Considered the most important cultivated tree in the world today, the Monterey pine is grown for timber in extensive plantations in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

This photo was taken along the North Shore Trail

The live oaks along the trails are covered in Spanish moss (notice the tree to the left behind me). I couldn't resist putting some on to do my ZZ Top impression.

As we went south along the cliffs we merged onto the Cypress Grove Trail and Cypress Cove. This trail winds through one of only two naturally growing stands of Monterey cypress trees remaining on Earth! (The other grove is across Carmel Bay at Cypress Point).

Rowan standing along the trail under the massive Monterey cypress trees.

As we were standing looking out from Cypress Cove, we could see Gray Wales spouting off in the distance (impossible to get that in a photo). The wales migrate through here between December and May.

The scenery along the coast is so captivating it is hard to remember to pay attention where you are walking. It is critical to stay on the trails and out of the bushes. Poison Oak is one of the most plentiful shrubs in the Reserve. The oils from this shrub are evil! It gets on you and your clothes and spreads everywhere. You won't know you have even been exposed until 3 days after you have touched it. Suddenly, you will start itching and breaking out in blisters. This will last for about 3-4 weeks! Best practice is to stay out of the bushes and in the middle of the trail at all times. Strip your clothes off and wash them and you immediately once you get home. I am telling you this from my experience growing up in this region. You want to avoid the itchy and scratchy show :o)

The evil weed

 The view from the point of the Allan Memorial Cypress Grove

Our 3 hour walk took us further south along the South Sore Trail and Devil's Caldron, Sea Lion Cove, Sand Hill Cove and to Weston Beach and Hidden Beach where there are wonderful tide pools to explore.

The one thing you NEVER DO is turn your back on the ocean while you are exploring the tide pools. I stood near the oceans edge and watched the waves for about 10 minutes before I looked down to start exploring the tide pools. You can see how close the waves got to me in that time.

I backed up about 20 feet from here before I started looking down :o)

We got lost for quite some time looking at all of the sea life in the tide pools. I could do this all day! So much life in these little pools.

This little crab was having a bite to eat while is crab friend looked on

The rocks express their own beauty too. I am pretty sure this is an example of granodiorite rock which comes from molten quartz.

This is my favorite video of the tide pools.

I call it the hermit crab jamboree.

We came across this artist painting the coastline. What a wonderful way to spend this perfect sunny afternoon.

Just before we left the coast trail to hike back to the car, I looked down and saw this very alien looking face in the sedimentary rock (or could that be mortars where the Indians had ground their corn?). Seems the aliens have been following us since we paid that visit to Roswell, NM a few weeks ago.........Hmmmmmmm, Should I take this as a sign?

Oh, dear.............We found Nina like this when we got back to the house. I think it is a sign!!! I mean, haven't they already taken over Washington?

HA!!!!

More from the beautiful Carmel coast in my next post.

San Miguel / Monterey, Part 1

Today, we got back in the car and continued to head north on Hwy 101 through some of the most beautiful scenery in California. There are numerous Missions along our route, Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, Mission San Antonio de Padua, Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad to name a few. We will stop at one of my favorites, Mission San Miguel Archangel. I used to stop here every summer during the 90's as I rode my bike along this route in the California AIDS Rides from San Francisco to LA. The chapel being a peaceful place to reflect on life, loss, and hope, became a place I looked forward to being in, and still do.
San Miguel is located just north of Paso Robles, one of California's premier wine regions.
As you exit the highway into the tiny town of San Miguel, The first thing you see is the brick and adobe bell tower.

A brief history of Mission San Miguel Arcangel

On July 25, 1797, Padre Presidente Fermin Francisco de Lasuen founded the mission and celebrated the first mass. A simple church structure was built only to be partially destroyed by fire in 1806. Plans for a new church were drawn and adobe blocks were constructed. For almost 10 years these blocks baked in the hot sun. Construction on the new church, using these almost concrete-like blocks was started around 1816 and completed in 1818. The frescoes on the walls were completed in 1821. The artist was Don Esteban Munras from Monterey. Members of the Salinan Tribe completed the coloring of the frescoes under his direction. The church was damaged by the San Simeon earthquake of 2003. Over the past several years there has been significant retrofitting and subtle wall mural conservation done in the church.

The inside of the chapel is very simple and elegant.

The original paintings hanging on the walls are - The Saints Of The Missions - all painted in the late 1700's. This is one of the finest collections of art found in all of the California missions today.

A closer look at the altar

-In the center, above the statue of St. Michael, the patron saint of the church - The Eye Of God is shown in clouds representing heaven with divine rays. This is the largest and most beautiful God's Eye in any of the California missions.The All-Seeing Eye Of God reminded the Indians they now had a God who was watching them and watching over them.

-The statue on the left is St. Francis who stands with one foot on a skull - he welcomes death and eternal life. 

- The statue on the right is St. Mary, the Blessed Mother

- The fresco painting on the walls is spectacular! 

The Virgin de Guadalupe prayer candle altar

 Take note how the columns on each side of The Virgin are painted on the wall. The outside lines are thinner than those in the middle giving a round look to the columns. Pretty cool!

The Wall Pulpit

The wall pulpit is high on the wall so all can see the padre and hear his voice carried over to all the people in the church. The crown, representing God, has a wooden bottom that amplifies the padre's voice as a "sounding board". Christ as a child is held by the Blessed Mother and the dove hanging from the crown represents the Holy Spirit.

I have been in this chapel during a service and it is breathtaking to hear the singing and to hear the padre speak. The acoustics are amazing.

Wow! Just, WOW!

I left a prayer request in the prayer request book at the entrance to the chapel.

I asked the padre to pray for our country.  I figured we need all the help we can get at this very moment in our history.

 I found these Sister Folk in the mission gift shop and asked them to pray for our country too! They all smiled at me which I took as a 'yes we will'!

After our mission stop, we continued driving north through the coastal range and along the Salinas River. We crossed the Salinas Valley where virtually all of our fruits and vegetables come from during the spring/summer/fall months. We haven't seen the hills around here this green in years........we need to be thankful for all of this bloody rain :o)

 

As you drive along 101 going into Salinas, there are all of these very large cut-out farm worker images in the fields painted by the artist John Cerney. They are only seen going along hwy 101 (not Interstate 5). So if you are driving in the north/south directions you must be on 101 to see them.  After seeing them you will have to agree that these farm workers are outstanding in their field! :o)

The figures measuring up to 18 feet tall, are made from varnished plywood and have been at this location along 101 since 1995.

This is a photo of the artist, John Cerney, standing next to an 18 ft. tall cut-out. I found this photo on the Internet so you can understand the scale. They literally stop you when driving down the highway. Go here for more on John Cerney and these great works of art: http://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-land-of-giants-an-artists-roadside-attractions-call-attention-to-history/Content?oid=2826905

As we made our way to Monterey we started to wonder if we would ever get there as we kept making so many stops. We finally arrived at our dear friends Nina and Kim's place by late afternoon. We are so exited we will get to spend the next few days with them.

Of course we arrived to the smell of something extremely delicious in the oven.

Kim had whipped up this outstanding apple gallette for us to have for dessert tonight....and breakfast tomorrow morning.........and the next day..........and the next day......it was HUGE!
Yes, those are layers and layers of sliced assorted apples.

And then there were the orange trees in the yard (also lemons, limes, etc). More heaven for us. We just cannot grow these sorts of things in the mid-west. Sigh!

 

 Oh, and then there is the bread. Nina is a master bread maker. Every time we visit there is some sort of new crusty wonder to ingest, with great pleasure I might add.

These are sourdough loaves. You can imagine the crunch of the crust by just looking at them. Add butter and you are in HEAVEN!

Something from the WACKY file:

Isn't this a nice tree? Looks like a sugar pine or sequoia to me. We took a walk around the neighborhood and found this tree that was taller and just different from most of the other live oaks, pines and manzanita. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the tree is actually a communications tower. They dress these towers up like this so they are not such an eye sore. Brilliant idea! This should be the standard nation wide. We will see if we can find more of these along the west coast as we go north through Oregon and Washington. 

 

Much more coming from the Monterey area. Stay tuned.........the rugged coast is next.

 Pismo Beach

Life really is a beach when you visit Pismo Beach, CA. This laid back hippie enclave is the perfect place to get that golden sand and cold Pacific water in-between your toes, and out of your ears. This is one of my favorite places to spend time when traveling between LA and San Francisco.

We left LA to head north to Pismo Beach in another rain storm. The Pineapple Express just keeps wreaking havoc on the whole west coast. The photo below shows what we had to try to see through just about the whole way on our journey today. The flooding on the LA freeway system was dangerous and we just got through before some road's became impassible.

As we came out the other side of Ventura on Hwy 101/1 the weather finally broke. We continued north on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and noticed the next weather system we were headed into in the distance.

We took scenic route 154 from Santa Barbara through the Santa Yanez and San Rafael Mountains. The scenery was all so dramatic due to the weather. It was just stunning.

A few photos below.........

We met up with 101 again at Los Alamos and the landscape turned to vineyard's and farming. There were grape vines as far as the eye could see around Santa Maria....

.....then it turned to hoop houses just bursting with cherry tomatoes (those are newly planted strawberries in the foreground). Oh, and don't miss the oil rig in the background. I'm not quite sure if the oil well goes well with the food crops surrounding it! Hmmmmmm...

It took us about 6 hours to get to Pismo Beach from LA (should have taken us about 4, but the heavy rain slowed things down). We arrived at the historic Pismo Beach hotel, just a block from the beach.

We found the painting below hanging on the wall in the hotel. It shows all of the special surf spots along the California coast. It presented everything with a great sense of humor.

The notes on the map are hilarious. Things like, Tijiuana, Mexico...Had a bad burrito and missed a day of surfing....and of course, Holly Weird.......all the famous beaches from Sunset, to Ocean Beach in San Francisco where it says "Don't Surf Here! Saw great white sharks here", are on the map. Lot's of hippie references too.

Mavericks (just north of Half Moon Bay), known for it's HUGE waves between 25-60 feet tall is the most famous beach on the map. Mavericks is the winter destination for some of the worlds best big wave surfers. Here is a photo from Wiki showing a typical Mavericks wave. Yikes! Hold your nose......

 We wasted no time getting food after we got settled in our hotel. Cracked crab was definitely the first thing I wanted (no better place to get it than at the source).

Our restaurant of choice was no other than Cracked Crab! This was a case of the name being everything.

I was really excited when they brought me my tools to eat my dinner. Made me feel right at home :o) They also had a jar of crayons on the table so people could draw on the butcher paper table cloth. I wasted no time drawing my version of The Orange One with his "I am an idiot" halo. .......Ugh! Don't even get me started!

 

My crab arrived just in time to distract me from going off on a tangent with the drawing.

 

Rowan went for the lobster bisque and a caesar salad. Oh, the many joys of being on the ocean!

The next day we got up to overcast skies, but no rain, so we decided to go for a hike along the beach and out to see the Monarch Butterfly Colony, currently here to spend the winter months before going back towards the Rocky Mountains.

On our way out to see the butterflies, we came across this artist in the process of painting this huge clam shell to look like a monarch butterfly.

 In the photo above, you can see there are lots of RV's behind the artist. We decided to take a walk through this RV park just to have a look at what this whole RV thing is about. It is amazing what kind of houses can be put on 4,6 or 8 wheels! This park was just packed with RV's. And it is WINTER! Who knew? Anyway, this is the curiosity we found in the park we thought most interesting.

A hawk on a string. Listen to the video for explanation. I think I have to have one.

 The Monarchs

Here is the map explaining how the monarch populations in the US migrate to either the West Coast or Mexico. We are so lucky to catch them here in Pismo Beach as they will be gone from here by the end of February.

The butterflies attach themselves very high, way up under the canopy of huge eucalyptus trees. There are thousands of them grouped together in bunches all through the trees. I zoomed in with my camera to get this photo.

There were a couple of docents standing in the grove to answer questions and they also had a couple of telescopes set up for people to have a closer look. I took this photo with my camera through the telescope lens. We grow buddleia (butterfly bush), milkweed and other butterfly friendly plats at our own home just to attract monarchs during the late Summer on their journey south from where we live. We were so excited to have a chance to see this part of their migration.

A photo looking towards Pismo from down the beach.

A panoramic movie of the whole beach

After our walk we went back to town to have a siesta (the fresh sea air just puts one in this state). However, when we walked by the open door of Harry's Nightclub and Beach Bar (next door to our hotel), we noticed they were showing lot's of different college basketball games, so we popped in for a beer. Soon after we arrived, a live band started setting up, so we stayed for a little music too. Their first song was Born on a Bayou (Creedence Clearwater Revival). What a blast from the past! There goes that siesta :o)

 

Woo Whoooo! Shake that bootie!

Enough scenery.........back to food!

The Splash Cafe is famous in Pismo Beach. We attempted to go eat lunch here, but the line was out the door and around the corner. Always a good sign that the food is good.

We decided to wait to eat dinner here. We waited until almost 8pm to be able to get a seat in the place (good thing our hotel was just across the street so we could see the front door from our window).  Orders are placed at the counter when you walk in, then they bring your food to your table. The whole place is a riot of art and entertainment. Murals and signs and photo history of Pismo and surfers everywhere.

This is just one of the murals showing clams swimming and surfing in the ocean along the beach. Notice the woman on the right serving the surfer dude a bread bowl full of clam chowder.

Rowan chose a crab louie. We are talking almost 2 inches deep of crab on this beauty.

I couldn't resist the clam chowder in the bread bowl. THUD! Nap anyone? :o)
Everything was so simple, fresh, delicious and not expensive! Now we know why the line is out the door.

My favorite sign on the wall (besides the one at the top of this post).

Good thing is, we ate great food here and didn't get gas! :o)

The mural on the side of the Splash Cafe. It's funny that the surfing clam is wearing a wet suit too. Hang Ten, Baby!

As the sun sets on the Pacific, we get ready for our next stop:  Monterey via San Miguel