<bgsound src="audio/CAdreamwav.mid" autostart loop="-1"> My tour guide called this morning to invite me to go on an afternoon-evening car trip in our own wondrous backyard of the California Central Coast, destination spot for millions coming from around the world, more people than live here in this rural county halfway between L.A. and S.F. Tourists have probably seen more of it than I have til today, Wednesday, March 28, 2001. He had talked about doing this trip some time ago. It's one of his favorite pastimes. First he got to see my first year planted late March blooming Daffodils and new Tulips opening along our sunny street with many passer-byes. He got out of his car to get a better look over the Tam juniper hedge at our continuing to bloom dwarf fruit tree orchard. He lives in an apartment with no yard along our city's main street, El Camino Real (Spanish for "The King's Highway"). After a short 5 mile drive up Hwy 101 at Templeton, we turned onto Vineyard Drive going west past newly developing rural homes, pastures and wineries: one of the oldest is Pesenti's, our family friends, and then old world style Mastantuano's on the corner of Hwy 46. It becomes an oak forested hilly drive with deer, wild turkeys and other wildlife. If you get out to walk there sometimes you can see them. Once over the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the view opened to the massive fog covered Pacific Ocean with long views towards the near fog enshrouded Morro Rock to the south, and splendid sweeping sunnier views of the green grass covered mountains and valleys accented by the dark green oaks and wild shrubbery. There are road turnouts to get longer looks. We had to stop a few minutes for a Caltrans slide clearing project. But once real dry weather and summer sets in it should be clear sailing. At Hwy 1, we turned north for a not-so-well travelled route by me, but with some first time sights that many tourists have already seen long before I ever have... We arrived at quaint but now very touristy Cambria that boasts a great Monterey Pine forested community. We had a good snack at the Cambria Village Bakery (now called the French Corner Bakery). They had some good dark bread that I bought for my Ukrainian descent mother. Then we walked over to Cambria Bicycle Outfitters to see the great stock of mountain bikes and accessories. They had an interesting bike-brand-logo-covered store front still in operation this day: However they have since moved next door to a larger building. We met a customer, Kathy, who told us about her great Santa Cruz MtB, and salesman Red there. Cambria is a great place to walk around to see the shops in old and new old-style buildings. But not to tarry too long as there are more sights to see... Further north my very own personal tour guide drove past San Simeon Acres and old San Simeon up towards the 100 plus years old Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, now decommissioned and sold to a private group. But it still has a U.S. Coast Guard and Government Property No Trespassing signs at the Hwy 1 driveway electronic gated entrance. We saw windsurfers along the way on the beautiful azure waters with white foaming breaking waves with strong wind that day. But one of the new treats for me was just about to arrive... We pulled into a paved parking where we climbed a nearby gated fenced cliff area and walked a well-worn path north to two sandy beach coves, getting sand blown into our faces by the strong wind. There we saw the herds of weaned Elephant Seals left behind by their mothers and the long gone males since the mating/calving season had ended. The young seals still have to learn to swim while feeding off their own heavy weight gained during their infancy. They lay out on the beaches like slabs of rock or like giant slugs warming themselves together against each other in the sun. You could see one here scratching its tail with a fin, and another there scratching its head with a fin. There were yawning mouths and fins flipping sand on their hides. Only one older seal was moulting its hide. It may have been one of the more mature young seals returned from a migration. They were females and calves, younger "weaners" as the video says. This was all a first time sight for me. As we had the powerful wind to our back returning to the car, we got a good push with my tour guide's cap flying down a bank that was easy enough to retrieve. Thankfully it didn't blow into the seals. I left my cap behind so only my long hair got blown all around. A light jacket was useful to wear. Just up the Hwy 1 we stopped for a very good cappuccino at the Cappuccino Cove & Gifts Restaurant motel gas station which was completely deserted except for the young employee. There is a beautiful strand of cypress trees on a farm across the highway. As the fog was coming onshore from the ocean over Hwy 1 north of there, we decided to head back south. But that was good so we had time to tour the Hearst Castle Visitors Center full of parked cars, tour buses, and many people from around the USA and especially from Japan. It is an arched mall of multiple buildings with a gift shop of Hearst Castle Art reproductions, and a separate memorabilia gift shop that has an email card service for $3.00. The Hearst family museum is really quite a production and a shrine. There is a fast food shop across the patio from the large theater where I met a girl who had been employed at a local lumber/hardware store where we live over in the agricultural Salinas Valley, but now she works at the Center's theater. Jennifer looked like a bit of Hollywood. At the end of the center's last outdoor patio we used the 25˘ telescopes to peer at Hearst Castle and its mansion-like guesthouses set on the Enchanted Hill as William Randolph called it. The Castle is set all alone on a forested ridge of the coastal mountains with no other development in sight. Then we drove down to San Simeon Acres and along an ocean drive full of nice motels. A backing van almost struck my friend's car, nearly spoiling the day. Thank God for His protecting angels. We stopped at a nice commercial center and the Sphere gift shop where I bought the video "Elephant Seals of Piedras Blancas". It is a colorful documentary of all that I have missed seeing here tho' San Luis Obispo has been home to my family since 1954 to 2001. Although the Elephant Seals has been a fairly new phenomenon since the early '90's when they began to return from near extinction. From there we continued south to get a tour of the new Cambria Pines Lodge before sunset. We had a drink in the bar of the lodge where we met a curious, and another Curtis, his first name. He told us some details of the history of the Hearst Castle swap with the State of California which gave the Corporation 15 tax free years for the gift of the Castle to the State. But the Hearst Castle pays for itself. The government is making money, instead of losing it through debt financing, with the Hearst Castle, at least in our own backyard. Finally we drove in the near dusk light down to north Morro Bay (where the famous volcanic core rock is) to turn east on Hwy 41 which takes us uphill thru coastal valley farmland with old barns, a hillside avocado orchard, up the winding west coastal mountainside past the Cerro Alto Federal Campground along the scenic forested mountain valley, past the Halfway Café, past my window cleaner brother's mountain side house, and back down home to the long Salinas River Valley whose headwaters begin in the southeastern Santa Lucia Range of mountains and ends up 150 miles northwest in the Monterey Bay where a great oceanarium may be visited, tho' not yet by myself. BTW, the Census of 2000 puts our local county population at around 243,000, much smaller than many of the world's large cities. Come here for some elbow room and fresher air while it lasts. We have a few small cities and towns that are nice to live in as well as to visit. I'm thankful to God that I live here. Tour Sequel 1 - November 5, 2001 Tour Sequel 2 - December 21, 2001 - Winter Solstice: Photo Album of Wintering Elephant Seals, Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, Ragged Point, Moonstone Drive, Cambria Conservancy with a walking path above the Pacific Ocean, and nearby seaside housing. Tour Sequel 3: Full House Bull Fight, January 31, 2003. Morro Bay Wharf, Tallship: Hawaiian Chieftain", The Rock, Montana de Oro tidepools and rock beach, Spooner's Cove, Black Hill views on very mild Winter afternoons and chilly evening. There are two trip album links thru this link above. Cayucos North Beach walk with photos on March 9, 2002 and visit to Gull Cottage. CCAT bus trips to San Luis Obispo, in Yahoo Photos touring my own backyard. Route 12 CCAT bus tour Hwy 1 Morro Bay to Cambria and back. My friend Rose was my driver on Rte 9 both ways at the beginning and ending of my trip between Atascadero-San Luis Obispo...In Cambria, I especially enjoyed Linn's Fruit Bin Restaurant...(and) the French Corner Bakery on Main Street walked by lots of locals and tourists, some possibly honeymooners... Sign Guestbook View Guestbook View My Webcam Round the World Tour Wanted! Copyright © 2001-2009 Joseph Curtis. All Rights Reserved. Links to other sites on the Web My Paver-Patio in progress in the backyard
My tour guide called this morning to invite me to go on an afternoon-evening car trip in our own wondrous backyard of the California Central Coast, destination spot for millions coming from around the world, more people than live here in this rural county halfway between L.A. and S.F. Tourists have probably seen more of it than I have til today, Wednesday, March 28, 2001. He had talked about doing this trip some time ago. It's one of his favorite pastimes.
First he got to see my first year planted late March blooming Daffodils and new Tulips opening along our sunny street with many passer-byes. He got out of his car to get a better look over the Tam juniper hedge at our continuing to bloom dwarf fruit tree orchard. He lives in an apartment with no yard along our city's main street, El Camino Real (Spanish for "The King's Highway").
After a short 5 mile drive up Hwy 101 at Templeton, we turned onto Vineyard Drive going west past newly developing rural homes, pastures and wineries: one of the oldest is Pesenti's, our family friends, and then old world style Mastantuano's on the corner of Hwy 46. It becomes an oak forested hilly drive with deer, wild turkeys and other wildlife. If you get out to walk there sometimes you can see them.
Once over the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the view opened to the massive fog covered Pacific Ocean with long views towards the near fog enshrouded Morro Rock to the south, and splendid sweeping sunnier views of the green grass covered mountains and valleys accented by the dark green oaks and wild shrubbery. There are road turnouts to get longer looks. We had to stop a few minutes for a Caltrans slide clearing project. But once real dry weather and summer sets in it should be clear sailing.
At Hwy 1, we turned north for a not-so-well travelled route by me, but with some first time sights that many tourists have already seen long before I ever have...
We arrived at quaint but now very touristy Cambria that boasts a great Monterey Pine forested community. We had a good snack at the Cambria Village Bakery (now called the French Corner Bakery). They had some good dark bread that I bought for my Ukrainian descent mother. Then we walked over to Cambria Bicycle Outfitters to see the great stock of mountain bikes and accessories. They had an interesting bike-brand-logo-covered store front still in operation this day: However they have since moved next door to a larger building. We met a customer, Kathy, who told us about her great Santa Cruz MtB, and salesman Red there. Cambria is a great place to walk around to see the shops in old and new old-style buildings. But not to tarry too long as there are more sights to see...
Further north my very own personal tour guide drove past San Simeon Acres and old San Simeon up towards the 100 plus years old Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, now decommissioned and sold to a private group. But it still has a U.S. Coast Guard and Government Property No Trespassing signs at the Hwy 1 driveway electronic gated entrance. We saw windsurfers along the way on the beautiful azure waters with white foaming breaking waves with strong wind that day. But one of the new treats for me was just about to arrive...
We pulled into a paved parking where we climbed a nearby gated fenced cliff area and walked a well-worn path north to two sandy beach coves, getting sand blown into our faces by the strong wind. There we saw the herds of weaned Elephant Seals left behind by their mothers and the long gone males since the mating/calving season had ended. The young seals still have to learn to swim while feeding off their own heavy weight gained during their infancy. They lay out on the beaches like slabs of rock or like giant slugs warming themselves together against each other in the sun. You could see one here scratching its tail with a fin, and another there scratching its head with a fin. There were yawning mouths and fins flipping sand on their hides. Only one older seal was moulting its hide. It may have been one of the more mature young seals returned from a migration. They were females and calves, younger "weaners" as the video says. This was all a first time sight for me.
As we had the powerful wind to our back returning to the car, we got a good push with my tour guide's cap flying down a bank that was easy enough to retrieve. Thankfully it didn't blow into the seals. I left my cap behind so only my long hair got blown all around. A light jacket was useful to wear.
Just up the Hwy 1 we stopped for a very good cappuccino at the Cappuccino Cove & Gifts Restaurant motel gas station which was completely deserted except for the young employee. There is a beautiful strand of cypress trees on a farm across the highway.
As the fog was coming onshore from the ocean over Hwy 1 north of there, we decided to head back south. But that was good so we had time to tour the Hearst Castle Visitors Center full of parked cars, tour buses, and many people from around the USA and especially from Japan. It is an arched mall of multiple buildings with a gift shop of Hearst Castle Art reproductions, and a separate memorabilia gift shop that has an email card service for $3.00. The Hearst family museum is really quite a production and a shrine. There is a fast food shop across the patio from the large theater where I met a girl who had been employed at a local lumber/hardware store where we live over in the agricultural Salinas Valley, but now she works at the Center's theater. Jennifer looked like a bit of Hollywood. At the end of the center's last outdoor patio we used the 25˘ telescopes to peer at Hearst Castle and its mansion-like guesthouses set on the Enchanted Hill as William Randolph called it. The Castle is set all alone on a forested ridge of the coastal mountains with no other development in sight.
Then we drove down to San Simeon Acres and along an ocean drive full of nice motels. A backing van almost struck my friend's car, nearly spoiling the day. Thank God for His protecting angels. We stopped at a nice commercial center and the Sphere gift shop where I bought the video "Elephant Seals of Piedras Blancas". It is a colorful documentary of all that I have missed seeing here tho' San Luis Obispo has been home to my family since 1954 to 2001. Although the Elephant Seals has been a fairly new phenomenon since the early '90's when they began to return from near extinction.
From there we continued south to get a tour of the new Cambria Pines Lodge before sunset. We had a drink in the bar of the lodge where we met a curious, and another Curtis, his first name. He told us some details of the history of the Hearst Castle swap with the State of California which gave the Corporation 15 tax free years for the gift of the Castle to the State. But the Hearst Castle pays for itself. The government is making money, instead of losing it through debt financing, with the Hearst Castle, at least in our own backyard.
Finally we drove in the near dusk light down to north Morro Bay (where the famous volcanic core rock is) to turn east on Hwy 41 which takes us uphill thru coastal valley farmland with old barns, a hillside avocado orchard, up the winding west coastal mountainside past the Cerro Alto Federal Campground along the scenic forested mountain valley, past the Halfway Café, past my window cleaner brother's mountain side house, and back down home to the long Salinas River Valley whose headwaters begin in the southeastern Santa Lucia Range of mountains and ends up 150 miles northwest in the Monterey Bay where a great oceanarium may be visited, tho' not yet by myself.
BTW, the Census of 2000 puts our local county population at around 243,000, much smaller than many of the world's large cities. Come here for some elbow room and fresher air while it lasts. We have a few small cities and towns that are nice to live in as well as to visit. I'm thankful to God that I live here.
Tour Sequel 1 - November 5, 2001
Tour Sequel 2 - December 21, 2001 - Winter Solstice: Photo Album of Wintering Elephant Seals, Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, Ragged Point, Moonstone Drive, Cambria Conservancy with a walking path above the Pacific Ocean, and nearby seaside housing.
Tour Sequel 3: Full House Bull Fight, January 31, 2003.
Morro Bay Wharf, Tallship: Hawaiian Chieftain", The Rock, Montana de Oro tidepools and rock beach, Spooner's Cove, Black Hill views on very mild Winter afternoons and chilly evening. There are two trip album links thru this link above.
Cayucos North Beach walk with photos on March 9, 2002 and visit to Gull Cottage.
CCAT bus trips to San Luis Obispo, in Yahoo Photos touring my own backyard.
Route 12 CCAT bus tour Hwy 1 Morro Bay to Cambria and back. My friend Rose was my driver on Rte 9 both ways at the beginning and ending of my trip between Atascadero-San Luis Obispo...In Cambria, I especially enjoyed Linn's Fruit Bin Restaurant...(and) the French Corner Bakery on Main Street walked by lots of locals and tourists, some possibly honeymooners...
Round the World Tour Wanted!
Copyright © 2001-2009 Joseph Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
Links to other sites on the Web
My Paver-Patio in progress in the backyard
