Santa Barbara, CA

We moved on to Santa Barbara yesterday, although we could have definitely spent more time in Pismo Beach, we had made reservations in advance that we could not change. Don't get me wrong, every place is more beautiful than the next!  I pinch myself everyday that we are so lucky to be doing this trip.  It has been so great and everyone is so happy together.  Someday, I will be wishing for these days back.  For now, I just try to journal this adventure so I won't forget and enjoy it for as long as it goes on.

It doesn't take them long to get on their bikes!

Nice walk into the State Park.

We are about 15 minutes north of Santa Barbara at El Capitan Canyon resort.  They have a beautiful heated outdoor pool and hot tub, great views of the ocean, biking trails etc. All the boys went for a swim and I went for a hike down to the beach for the sunset.  It was a bit further than I had expected, maybe next time I will take my bike.

The office has a store that sells incidentals you might have forgotten, beer, wine, firewood and S'more kits! Last night was the first time we were able to have a nice fire outside, for Tyler, last night was "EPIC"! Jack got the fire started with flint and some cotton balls with petro jelly on them.  He was pretty excited...using the skills he learned in Cub Scouts!

The moonrise was pretty cool...coming up over the canyon.  I do use the application The Photographers Ephemeris or TPE daily! I gives me sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset info and points me in the right direction everytime!

Jack enjoying some hot chocolate.

I set my camera up and wait!

Looks like we are going to stay here for Christmas. Lots of questions about Santa and I think if we just stay put, he will be able to find us! We have been quite elusive so far!

~Linda

Hearst Castle & Pismo Beach

12/18
Hearst Castle

Today we are at the Hearst Castle.  We’ve bought tickets and we are on a bus riding up a hill.  I could see the castle in the distance on top of a big hill.  The ride was pretty long.  Towards the end, we saw some ram-looking thing.  Once the bus stopped, and we went up the stairs, we met out guide.  We were doing the Big Rooms Tour, and the rooms sure were big!  They had it all decorated for Christmas too!  There were two giant Christmas trees and wreathes everywhere!  Our guide showed us the tapestries, the wood carvings, the tables and everything else.  We moved on and another room was decorated with red flowers!  They even made a tree out of red flowers!  It had a nice window too.  There was a room with pool tables and a tapestry with a bunch of hunters and there dogs chasing a stag.  The guide said the hunters were supposed to look like they were tired.  There was a classic red movie theatre that had these big statues.  We got to watch a movie!  It was short with only music and in black and white though.  When the tour was done, we got to walk around.  There were gardens, and balconies with great views of the mountains.  There was a pool called the Neptune Pool that we went down to.  I saw these fancy ladders, but then I saw these normal ladders.  I asked a worker if people went in, and she said the Hearst family and employees go in in the summer.  There were a lot of statues.  I didn’t want to look at them because most lacked clothes.  Later we went to another pool called Poseidon’s pool.  I liked this one because it was indoors and had lime green and blue tiled floors at the bottom.  The lime green looked like it glowed.  The bus stop was right next to the pool so we waited there for the bus.  When it came, and we rode down, we ate lunch.  I had macaroni and it was so good!  Our Dad bought some meat that was grass fed and raised at the castle.  We got some fudge too.  Ok, we got what we wanted, let’s go!

~Jack

I found myself wondering, so, what was that story about Patty Hearst? Obviously there is a lot of info online so to just refresh your memories...

"On February 4, 1974, the 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California apartment, which she shared with her fiancé Steven Weed, by a left-wing urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army.  When the attempt to swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA demanded that the captive's family distribute $70 worth of food to every needy Californian – an operation that would cost an estimated $400 million.  In response, Hearst's father arranged the immediate donation of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the Bay Area.

Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on March 20, 1976. She was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment, but her prison sentence was later commuted to two years by President Jimmy Carter, and Hearst was released from prison on February 1, 1979, having served 22 months. She was granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001".

We decided to take the Grand Rooms tour.  After jumping on a shuttle bus for the 5 mile trek to the main house up more winding roads we were treated to a small Italian/Mediterranean type village. 

Every evening, W. R. Hearst’s guests gathered in the grand social rooms on the ground floor of Casa Grande—his formal name for the main house. 

The Refectory. Mr. Hearst and architect Julia Morgan named the dining room after the term for a monastery dining hall. Its high windows, bright silk banners, and gleaming silver candlesticks convey the atmosphere of a church from the middle age. But, the mustard and ketchup bottles show that Mr. Hearst liked to keep things informal at the ranch.

The Billiard Room was a popular spot, where guests could relax and play both billiards and pool. This baroque game room is decorated with a variety of gaming themes, but it also boasts a 15th century Spanish ceiling painted with scenes of courtly life, in addition to a Flemish tapestry from 1500.

We continued on to the Neptune Pool, and walked around the colonnades and Cassou statutes that provided the setting for lavish pool parties and lively social gatherings.

Lastly, we saw the intensely detailed, indoor Roman Pool. Modeled after ancient Roman baths, this meticulously detailed, majestic pool is tiled from ceiling to floor, and features eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes.

On our way out of the Visitor Center, Scott bought some of the Hearst Ranch beef. They are the nation’s largest single-source supplier of free-range, all-natural, grass-fed and grass-finished beef. They practice sustainable agriculture and managed grazing on their two ranches in Central California.  We had some awesome ribeye steaks for dinner!  He also bought fudge.  I asked the sales lady what her secret was for getting him to buy it! LOL The kids actually asked for it!

We checked into Pismo Beach tonight and I did the dreaded laundry....7 loads! We hit the grocery store and we are all set! 

December 19

Pismo Beach

This is a classic California Beach town! I love it here! We got our bikes out and went over to the Monarch Grove. Each year thousands of vibrant orange and black Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach, seeking shelter from the freezing northern winters. From late October to February, the butterflies cluster in the limbs of a grove of Eucalyptus trees at Pismo State Beach. 

The butterflies form dense clusters with each one hanging with its wing down over the one below it to form a shingle effect. This provides shelter from the rain and warmth for the group. The weight of the cluster help keeps it from whipping in the wind and dislodging the butterflies.  Current count on the Monarchs is +/- 30,000.  

The Monarchs that visit Pismo Beach are a special variety. They have a life span of six months as opposed to that of common Monarchs who live only six weeks. This can be attributed to a unique fat storing system. However, even with an extended life span, those butterflies that leave in March will never return.

After that we biked over to the Pismo Beach Pier, it's 1200 feet long! The place we are staying at is so close to everything and has a lot of amenities.  After the pier, the kids went into the arcade, played some ping pong & miniature golf.  I made some chocolate chip cookie dough and froze it so I can have fresh cookies on demand!

Another quick ride over to the pier with Jack for the sunset and my day is complete!

~Linda

PS...Thanks for calling today, Sandy!

Elephant Seals at San Simeon, CA

12/17

As we were leaving the Pfeiffer Big Sur campground, we noticed all the little "tent cities" of about 10 each grouped together of firefighters that traveled into the area. The fires still burn in Big Sur, and continuing our journey down the Pacific Coast Highway we noticed catering trucks and more firefighters on their way to help.  They hope to have it contained in the next couple of days.  From what we heard, it was not spreading too much at this point.  It is such a beautiful part of California and mostly untouched by developers and housing.  From the road, we only saw a glimpse of fire…most of it will be hidden from view and regrow while no one is watching. 

Hey, Hey! It’s the Pacific Coast Highway!  I think this was the most stressful road for my Dad.  Besides it was a swervey and up and down. Plus, there was cliff right next to us.  We kept stopping to look at the overlooks, and one time scraped herself really bad on her knee when she was getting out.  My Dad sent Tyler and I out of the RV so he could see what he could do for my Mom.  The highway stretched back for a long time. I picked a car and watched it until I couldn’t see it anymore.  Our Dad called us in, so we ate some lunch.  Our Mom showed us how big her scrape was.  It was pretty big.  After lunch everyone came out.  We all looked at the ocean.  It was an amazing sight!  I think this was the greatest highway ever.

~Jack

Unfortunately, we did need to get some gas.  Now, choices are quite limited on this stretch of highway.  Classic Supply vs Demand! We had to pay $5.499/gallon! yikes!  I dropped my my Christmas cards off in the hotel lobby at the Ragged Point Inn.  The guy behind the counter was a bit unsure because I had so many.  Maybe he did not want to burden the USPS employees.  Anyway, let’s see if any of you actually get them!

The drive continued to be spectacular.  We stopped at many vista points along the way and even drove by our bicycling friends.  I can’t imagine riding a packed bike on this road!  We saw some surfers and thought that was pretty cool until…

Elephant seals!  Today we are at the Elephant Seal Rookery.  Once we got to the fence, there were so many of them!  All the males had these trunks that were above the mouth.  They were mostly just lying down and flipping sand up.  Some of the bigger ones were fighting.  On a sign it said it was actually called sparring.  Some of the intense fights were some that were actually bashing their teeth into their opponent.  The babies were so cute!  One funny thing was that an adult flopped up to a baby, so the baby went further away.  Then the adult went up to him again, so the baby went further away.  They kept doing that for a while. Some were swimming, but barely any.  That night, I did some photo editing with my Mom.  We cut out the outlines of a baby elephant seal and put him on a pacific coast highway picture.  We made that into a postcard.

~Jack

We arrived at the Elephant Seal Rookery near San Simeon, CA.  From mid-December thru March, elephant seals follow an ancient migration and reproduction cycle. They haul out onto the beaches twice a year, once for breeding and birthing, and once for molting.  Bull hierarchy is established with dramatic and often bloody battles.  Pregnant females give birth and nurse during this chaotic time.  After the pups are weaned, the females are receptive to mating with the dominant bulls.  This was definitely the highlight of the day.  We were all so fascinated, even Scout!

We got lucky and found a State Park to settle into for the night, but before we did that, we parked it at the beach for the sunset.  The sky was on fire!

We decided last night that we would wake up and drove out early this morning to watch the moonset at the ocean.  When we got there it was all fog!  Oh well, we are just staying parked here for awhile since we finally have some internet here…make breakfast and then head on over to the Hearst Castle.

~Linda

Big Sur, CA

December 17, 2013

Welcome to Big Sur State Park!  As we were walking around, ashes were falling from the sky.  That’s not normal.  We looked at the sun and it was glowing red.  There was a forest fire.  It was only like 20% contained!  We met some nomads that were all beardy.  The women had long hair.  They only had their bikes, tents, clothes, and a few other things.  They invited us to come to their camp at night while they sing by the campfire.  I felt pretty awkward so all I did was stare into the fire.  When it finally got freezing, Tyler and I took action.  We told Mom it was so cold and she agreed.  We left my Dad to talk with them while we settled into the warm RV.  Some firefighters camped there too.  They made us feel safer and would tell us if we needed to evacuate.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to leave at all.  By the time we got up, the nomads were gone.  We drove off.  We saw the nomads taking a rest, but we couldn’t pull over.  We kept driving and saw a hitchhiker we couldn’t pick him up because Tyler and I were here.

~Jack

After careful deliberations with Kevin, Julia, Google Earth, Google maps, Map Quest and all the other mapping programs available, we decided to “take the plunge” and drive down to Big Sur on Route 1 in this 32 footer.  

The drive did not disappoint! There were lots of turnouts and vistas to stop at.  We had lunch at the top of one vista overlooking the Bixby Bridge in the distance.  When I was getting out of the RV, I did not notice a small lip in the pavement and went down ever so slowly and gracefully with both cameras in my hands.  Thankfully, the cameras survived with only minor scratches, I wish I could say the same about my knees!  One knee has a good scrape, one is bruised and my baby toe is pretty bruised too. Ouch! Better me than the kids. I got my pic though!

The ride turned out to be easier than we had imagined and arrived early at our destination, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  Approaching our destination we had noticed some smoke in the distance, what we did not realize was that it was right where we were staying.  I had Scott pull over so I could take a photo.  The sun, at 2:30 PM, was a bright red fireball.  I really had never seen anything like it in my life!

2:30pm sun thru the smoke

Upon check-in we chatted with the Ranger and she told us that the fire had started at 1:30am the night before.  Allegedly,  some homeless, transient poured propane on some trees and lit it on fire.  The Fire Chief of this small community lost her home along with a 14 other homes lost.  Over 500 acres have burned and about 100 people have been evacuated.  The population is only 1,000 residents, so the impact of this fire is pretty big to the locals that live here.

As bits of ash were falling, the Ranger assured us we would be safe and notified well in advance if we needed to leave.  They do not have anything to plug into here, so if we needed to leave, we were all ready to go at a moments notice.  Upon check-in, we also met some nomads on bicycles.  The first guy we met was quite articulate, smart and peaceful. He said he sold everything in 1995 and has been traveling like this for the past 18 yrs! They were in a group of 10.  They referred to each other as brother and sister.  A quick google search and I came up with this statement, which I would say sums them up.

“The mission and purpose of THE MODERN DAY NOMADS is to glorify God by creating an environment that compels us to move beyond the chaos of daily life to the throne of God. To humbly serve Him in a spirit of excellence as ministers of music and media, and through music and media, prepare hearts to receive His Word and draw into close relationship with HimThrough His Son Jesus Christ in whom we serve”  website: http://themoderndaynomads.wordpress.com

Scott and the boys got on their bikes, while I nursed my knee, and met a few more of the group, brought them some extra firewood etc.  One young man came back after we ate and invited us over to their campfire to listen to music. 
We definitely like the boys to experience all they can I brought my camera and tripod hoping to get some nice photos around the fire because we really have not had that campfire experience yet.  I first asked them if it was ok to take a few photos and the answer was no.  One girl said that they were like the Amish, they like to remain somewhat anonymous and I respect that.  The kids and I stayed for about an hour and Scott walked us back and returned for another hour. 

While, I was not as “chatty” as usual because they were a softer crowd, I was able to have a couple side conversation with some of the girls.  One girl, I especially liked, was originally from New Jersey, pretty with dark long hair.  She even spent time living in Chicago.  Honestly, she is someone that could have been my friend while I was living there.  I asked her about her family. She did keep in touch with her mom, but, has also been living like this for 13 yrs, she is 37 now.  I just think their families must miss them an awful lot.  I did not want to probe too much into their personal life because I pretty much assumed they would not want to share too much.  Another woman was 56 and I could tell had a nice, big personality.  The roads here are tough to drive, let alone bike!  She said 2 of the guys had to help her, one by pulling her and one by pushing!  She said they also had to throw out supplies that were too heavy.

While Scott was still out, they noticed fire trucks moving into the camping area.  They used this place to stage the deployed firefighters from around the state.  Scott felt safe knowing the firefighters were here and if they left, surely we would too.  

We woke up to a calm morning.  I’m not sure what it will look like outside the park but we will be moving on later this morning.  One of the camp hosts told us about an Elephant Seal Rookery further south down Route 1 and we hope to see that in the next day or so.

We are all safe and will be heading out of the wildfire area soon.

~Linda

Visit with a grade school friend, Woodside, CA

December 16, 2013

San Francisco! We are crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

~Jack

There are so many great things about traveling the way we are.  One is being able to connect with old friends.  Kevin and I got reacquainted on Facebook a couple years ago, around reunion time.  So, when we started out this trip I let him know that we would be in the San Francisco area and he said to come on by.  I'm so glad we did.  

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and the kids instantly bonded over video games, the adults over cocktails and wine.  I always see him "checking in" at Vesta in downtown Redwood City, CA.  I knew that I just had to have dinner there!  We had a great meal, conversation and dessert.  The kids were in heaven after the meal at a candy/ice cream place right next door.  Jack even spent the first night sleeping in his house. 

Parked in front of Kevin & Julia's facing the vineyard

We have had a nice relaxing couple of days and not the usual sightseeing. The boys really enjoyed just hanging out with other kids, jumping on their bikes and generally just taking advantage of distracted parents.  In a matter of hours Kevin's Christmas tree went from having a couple dozen candy canes to none! The kids would probably have a smart comeback and could say that they saw a couple of dozen bottles on the counter that were now gone too! 

So, here we are in San Fran and I bet you want to see pics of us at the Golden Gate Bridge, maybe at Ghiradelli Square or on a trolley car.  Well, that didn't happen and I'm pretty sure I only took pics of their huge Irish wolfhound this weekend that was just so big and fascinating to me.  

How much for the dog in the window?

It's not about seeing every single site or crossing everything off the "bucket list".  At the beginning of this year, I told myself I wanted to "see" more people that I hadn't seen in years.  I did it in March when I met my friend Jodi in Florida, and squeaked in a quick visit with Michelle V.,  I got to meet my longtime online friend, Kim K, over the summer and see her again a few weeks ago.  My old college friend from Spain, Calleen came out to Boston for a nice weekend in June.  Lisa H. and I finally caught up in upstate NY after almost 14 yrs!  I have missed seeing Bonnie & Sari, but hope to do that soon too!

Now I get to add Kevin to that bucket list! I did get to see my friend, not as the scrawny 15 yr old that I envisioned, but, as a great Dad, husband, cook and all around nice guy that he has turned into. It was so nice to meet his family and catch up.

a quick sunrise shot from his house.

Dragon watching as the guys cleaned up the remaining crab

kids digging in

Dragon, 150lb puppy

Time to journey on today and when we remember our time in San Fran we will remember the laughs, and Dungeness crab meal, the kids laughing and playing together in the background and say that was a nice couple of days.

Thank you Kevin, Julia, Thea & Malcolm for making us feel so welcome at your home! We loved San Fran and hope you come out to visit us one day in New England!

~Linda