Tues Oct 14 or15
We are close to the end of this part of our journey. What at
one point seemed like such a long time, is soon to be behind us. This is
nothing short of amazing. To say we are full would be an understatement – we
are brimming. Brimming and overflowing with memories of incredible places,
smiles for the wonderful people we’ve met, relief that we are through the wet
zones, and somewhat nostalgically counting down the last couple of nights in
our tent. Daily I find that certain experiences trigger memories of past
moments on this adventure. Even as we look forward (and preparing ourselves to
fly is big on our minds right now) we reminisce and savour all that has passed.
Possibly this is a process of integration; in its own way it may be about
closure – freeing us to move even farther afield. Regardless, we have so much
to be grateful for.
I’m often composing in my head: while hiking, driving, and
early in the morning. One of my favourite past-times of late has been coming up
with other potential blog titles or posts: “debandbartravels” certainly works
and gets the message across, but now that we have so much more experience I can
see we could be a little more creative. Here are some others we could use:
1.
Today we Lost……
2.
The 120 hour T-shirt (I kid you not, and won’t
mention any names – has Jenny’s 72 hour dress beat by a mile)
3.
What’s for Lunch? Same thing as Yesterday, and
the day before….
4.
Gourmet Cooking with 2 Pots
5.
The Many Faces of Wet: Mist, Rain, Down Pour,
Gale, Fog, Showers….
6.
The Joys of Hostelling
7.
Clean is a Relative Concept
8.
Sometimes this is Boring
9.
Each Beach and Forest is Totally Unique
10.
Help Me, Before I Strangle You
11.
Travelling is Different Than Being on Vacation
12.
Tips For Tenters in RV Land
13.
I Guess I Didn’t Really to Bring Mascara, and
Other Useless Items
As for now, we are making our way slowly down the coast. We
are trying to infuse a bit of “holiday” into this work of travelling before we
go to Asia. We need time both physically (to plan, pack, and run a few errands)
and mentally. As I said above, we are integrating both what’s behind us and
what is to come.
Thankfully, we are being blessed with sun! Warmth is a bit
hit and miss, but we have lots of clothing to layer. Nights have been cold, but
we can bet money that we’ll have sun during the day. We spent 2 nights camped
at Half Moon State Beach – which gave me the idea for alternate blog-title 12.
I posted a little about this already. The Coast Line Trail was awesome for
biking and connected us to dirt bike paths along cliffs that line the beach. We
could watch surfers. It was windy, being so close to the water though, and
cold, but we also made a great connection with a man named Scooter, and even
had a wee party.
 |
| Fantastic bike trails - some paved, but some hard pack dirt. Cool, but sunny and the views were spectacular. Windy and cold at night though! |
 |
| Fog bank coming in off the ocean as the sun is setting. |
 |
| Deb, Bar and Scooter |
Because the National Park system is shut-down, state parks
are BUSY. Getting a site on a weekend is tough and has inspired us to book
ahead, but the process for doing this has to be done at least 48 hours in
advance, so it has limitations. We got a site at Half Moon Beach for 1 night,
but Barry had to line up for an hour the next morning to try and get any sites
that might be available. Standing in line for an hour is a great way to meet
people and Bar does a great job at that! Barry was 2nd in line, and
after waiting for the office to open everyone in line found out that only 2
spots were available. A site costs 35$, but y9u can put an extra vehicle on a
site for only 10$ - so sharing (if people are open to it) makes a lot of sense.
I don’t know all the details of how the agreement was reached but thanks to
Barry’s social skills, and community mindedness, we ended up sharing the last
site with Scooter and his small RV. Scooter is a Distinguished War Veteran, who
has been travelling for almost a year and a half (wounded combat soldier from
Iraq –and we did not go into the details), and vets can camp in any CA State
Park for free. Bar gave Scooter our site, we paid the extra vehicle charge to
camp there as well and Scooter bought the fire wood! What a great deal (and
camping here in CA is the most expensive we’ve encountered). We had great conversation, shared some food
and drinks and truly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Scooter. By the
time the day was done we’d had Mike (retired fire-fighter) and his wife Dianne
over (Mike had lots of beer) and Dave (an amateur competitive surfer and judge
at the age of 59, plus a fabulous ukelele player). Scooter play the guitar and
we had a great jam around the fire. Heck, we even stayed up late – 11:30! It is
dark down here by 7:15 – and usually we are in bed 9ish.
We camped 2 nights near Santa Cruz, and did get to spend
some time walking the city. As is often the case, some days we have to do some
planning: find wifi, check email and bank accounts, possibly try and arrange
some bookings. These days can be frustrating; we know there is so much to do
and see and we kinda’ resent the time required to plan and keep our lives
organized (I know some of you are really feeling for us on this one). We end up
drinking too much coffee in cafes, looking for ice for our cooler, ofr trying
to find a pay phone. We did have a great, huge breakfast at Zachary’s in Santa
Cruz and watched the sea lions at the wharf, which never cease to entertain us
with their antics and vocalizations. Santa Cruz seemed like a pretty hip town;
there is a college here. We saw lots of posters for great music, conferences on
sustainability, and community development. We went down to the famous boardwalk
– but that really is more of a midway full of rides and tourist shops; not our
thing. Thus is an agricultural area: lots of strawberry, brussel sprout,
lettuce, and I think artichoke fields around us. We are camped at Sunset Beach
State Park; a thin strip of protected shoreline wedged in between these fields.
In some places we saw fields butt right up against the sea. It is sandy here,
as we are in the land of dunes – and in some cases BIG dunes. I have loved the
dune ecology here – lots of scrubby plants adapted to dry conditions. Again, if
only we had more time.
We chose to do an attraction: the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Expensive, but fabulous. Made me wish I had kids with me – even my big kids
because there was so much to see and do. It was more meaningful given the
length of coast we’ve travelled, and I loved reviewing my marine biology. We also hiked 4 miles or so through the dunes to see the younger male elephant seals that have hauled themselves onto shore at Ano Nuevos State Park. They engage in mock battles, and mostly just lie around. Big action starts in about Dec when the males come to this beach/rookery and then the females. They mate, birth, and abandon their young here threw the winter. Maybe we will catch this on the way back!
 |
| Fantastic brunch at Zachary's in Santa Cruz - huge lineup outside it is so popular. Great ambience plus travel advice from our waitress. |
 |
| Santa Cruz beachfront |
 |
| More sea lions - under the warf. Their antics are hilarious - they are competing for spots and constantly challenge each other. They are rather ubiquitous, noisy, and stinky. |
 |
| Deep Ocean Tank - 20,000 sardines have come to the surface during a "target" feeding (only food they will eat has been put in). They move like a vortex and almost respond as a single organism. Lovely green sea turtle top right. |
 |
| Fantastic art exhibit incorporating plastic and having an environmental theme; the fate of garbage in the Pacific. |
 |
| This piece was probably 5'x6' in size and composed of thousands of thumbnail sized pieces of salvaged plastic. |
 |
| 3 storey high kelp-bed tank |
 |
| Viewing platform on the ocean-side of the aquarium - controlled burn of vegetation in the background! Made for a remarkably eerie sky. There was another one the following day that we could see as we drove farther south. |
Hiking at Ano Nuevo State Park to see the elephant seals. Great volunteers at key stations along the way:
 |
| Sunset Beach - we camped here 2 nights. Not our fav, but nice campsite in the cypress. HUGE dunes (see below) with a very interesting ecology of scrubby shrubs. The dunes just seem to but right up against the sand. And what of those people who build houses right on these dunes? |
 |
| Out of order: this is back at Ano Nuevo. |
Now we are in BIG SUR! Camping at Pfeiffer State Park at
what might be the best site we’ve ever had. We are in a forested valley with
lots of redwoods. Our site is right on the Big Sur River – even now my chair is
parked up against its bank and I am serenaded by the endless trickling of water
over rock. Being away from the water means much less wind, and much to our
surprise it is even “warm” out (at least by current standards). Last night I
did not wear my hat in bed for the first time in…. I can’t remember when. It
was 20⁰C at 5pm, instead of 14. We have learned that no site is perfect: forest
means cooler shade but wind protection; the beach means great views but also
great exposure. It is always a trade-off. But here we seems to have lucked upon
a special site because it is not so cold. It is interesting to watch ourselves
live outdoors; what we value is constantly changing. After a while in forested,
damp shade all we want is openness and sun. After some time in wind, we want
some protection….. just like the weather we are in flux. Either that or we’ve
become very good at appreciating what each unique campsite has to offer. Maybe both.
This shoreline is everything it is cracked up to be. Today
and tomorrow we will explore it, leisurely. Pictures will follow. Thursday and
Friday we are at a hostel in Cambria. Why Cambria? Because it is a little more south,
and it had a cheap hostel with a private room open for 2 nights. We’ve become
real fans of these hostels (makes us think of our friends Ed and Norah), and
have learned from experience that while we can do the dorms, we’d rather not.
Time for breakfast. I love this new tablet/laptop with a
battery life that lets me type beside the river sitting beside a coastal
redwood. XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment