A Hop, Skip and a Jump

Internet access has been nearly non-existent for the last few days while we were nestled in the canyon of Big Sur.  I feel like we saw so much since San Luis Obispo but will not dwell too much on it as the few days in Big Sur seem to be what is occupying our whole self.  We headed out from SLO toward Hearst Castle on Wednesday morning.  We had tour reservations for the afternoon tour.  We stopped along the way at Morro Bay, a busy commercial fishing harbor where the main attraction is Morro Rock, a Gibraltar-like monolith that also serves as a peregrine falcon preserve and nesting site. We briefly walked around, spotted a falcon and headed towards the beach.  It was so windy it was almost impossible to walk and I was crunching sand and hiding beneath my hooded sweatshirt. We decided to leave the beach and head up a small trail called Black Hill where the views were spectacular of the Rock, the valley on the other side and part of a chain of sister mountains.  We left Morro and headed up the highway to see the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery which is a California coastal sanctuary for seal pups.  The bulls can weigh up to 2-1/2 tons and the beach was littered with hundreds of these massive mammals in various stages of molting. It looked like carnage on the beach. We left that amazing sight and headed to Hearst Castle.  I was afraid it would be a little too touristy for us but we thoroughly enjoyed this unique attraction.  You have to see the Castle to believe all that it is--144 rooms, including 36 bedrooms over 3 guest houses and the Casa Grande. It is the second largest attraction in California, next to Disneyland.  Hearst is still a working beef ranch of approximately 80,000 acres (originally 250,000).  The ride up to the actual house(s) is on a bus and it takes a very winding road up. We actually saw big-horn sheep on the ride down.  The normal route from Hearst to our next stop of Big Sur would normally be about 65 miles north on the PCH.  However, there was a landslide of significant magnitude about 35 miles away and we had to detour around.  We had been given advanced warning about the slide so we were prepared.  You had to travel north of Big Sur and then go south to get there.  The scenery changed on this route as we left the pounding surf and rugged cliffs. It was more rolling hills, trees and farms.  There were some areas that had grape vines growing at the many vineyards for as far as the eye could see.  Quite impressive.  Made me want a drink. We went about half way to King City, stopped for the night to pick up our travels in the morning. The weather was definitely taking a turn for the better as we left King City,  We stopped at Carmel-by-the-Sea, a small village that is also one of Northern California's biggest attractions.  It was originally a haven for artists and writers but apparently they have long since been priced out of the area.  There are many art galleries still remaining.  The town is on a hill and walking down to the bottom brings you to a beautiful, white sand beach. Again, the rugged cliffs are ever present and never cease to amaze me. The town is quiet with no postal delivery so all 5,000 residents pick their mail up at the post office.  There are no house numbers. We did notice that most of the homes had been given names such as Coastal Cottageor Beach House.  The local real estate office had pictures of various homes for sale and only one small condo was under 1 million. While the homes are not all that large, it apparently is all about location, location, location. After a walk on the beach we walked the neighborhoods, as we usually like to do.  Again, the gardens in California are incredible and each house had unique gates for entrances into their yards.  Bob is quickly using up his camera card with all the photo ops we have seen.  I called Deetjens in Big Sur to say we were about an hour away.  Check in was 4pm so we had time to drive and stop for lunch first.  The best was yet to come.....