Reflections From the Fence: May 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Ragged Point, on the California 1, California

During our day long ride on California 1 from Morro Bay to Big Sur and back, we stopped for our lunch at Ragged Point. We found real picnic tables, and spread out our picnic lunch, the weather was tolerable and the food went down pretty easy!

Inside one of the stores we found this more than cool cooler.

After our lunch we took a few minutes to walk around the grounds, the gardens were special, and the view of the left coast (looking north) was pretty nice too. We did not wander all the way to the end of the point, probably should have - -

Pride of Maderia and Bird of Paradise. Cannot grow these in SE Michigan.

Blues and purples were abundant, they were lovely!

And, then some bright yellow which stood out. This was a bush and I have no idea what it is.

Yes indeed, we had a nice lunch stop.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Riding the California 1 From Big Sur California to Morro Bay California

About 90 miles, give or take, north of Morro Bay we stopped our northward trek and stopped for a break at the Big Sur California post office. There were other businesses, stores, we found coffee (not hot, but, it was coffee) and some baked goods. After a bit of a walk around, we headed Jolly south and began the trek back to Morro Bay. We knew this would be a longer time, as the pulloffs were handy and I wanted to stop at many of them.

This A frame cottage sat way above the Pacific, what a view!

At one of the stops we found this fellow just sitting there all by his lonesome. Waiting for his kid to come back for him??

I believe the purple flower is Pride of Maderia. I am soooo in love, lots more photos of this, there are some more on Flora and Fauna.

Next two photos are a set. Several sets today. Fun to discover what is seen IF you zoom. I zoom, I zoom a lot. Sometimes too much, but, I do love zoom!

Looked like a divot in the photo above, zoom, and lo and behold, people and a great cave/hole for the water to crash into .

A long way down, dramatic. Zoom brings it closer without endangering ole Carol!

Another set:

An arch, isn't it great?

A set of three photos:

Actually I am not sure why I zoomed on this particular cove/black beach. Look to the far right of this photo before going down to the next.

Super zoom, very hard to hold and get clear images, this one is pretty good tho.

In some places the roadway is quite close to the edge, and then it climbs so you get good, make that spectacular and dramatic views.

I love this, California poppies and these deep cuts, valleys of sorts, rocks jutting here and there. Oh, what is NOT to love!?!

Another set:

This guy was sitting in a kayak sorta thing. Suppose that means he took off from the water or intends on landing in the water?

The shape of this land form sitting in the Pacific drew my attention.

Sea mist and long distances, hazy views, the things of dreams.

Some crashing waves, more rock outcrops, more black sand beaches, OK, outta descriptions!

A solitary wind surfer. We would see more over the coming week or so, fascinating for a non-surfer, make that land lubber like me!

We will explore the coast almost every day, Sony Too and I got a work out. I needed more time, lots more time! There were some spots I could have stayed at all day, till dusk, shooting the same view over and over again as the light changed. Sadly, we just did not have that kind of time.

The left coast, I have a love affair going - - come on back and I will show you LOTS more!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Riding the California 1 From Morro Bay to Big Sur California

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

April 5, 2013

Huge day trip today, from the campground in Morro Bay up California 1 to the Big Sur Post Office, over 570 photos. YIKES! No, don't panic, I will NOT share all of them. I will share some here and some over on Flora and Fauna. This post will take us as far as the Post Office, next I will share the photos from Big Sur back to Morro Bay. We basically drove without stopping from Morro Bay, as all the good turn offs were on the southbound side of the road. We stopped for lunch and for seals (see below), but, we knew the best stuff (view and Sony photo wise) would be on the south bound direction. It is 90 miles, give or take, one way. It was a LONG day, and the views took our breath away. (So did driving along those drop offs! OK, no they did not, well most of them did not! LOL)

Starting out, the roadway is not much higher than sea level, and the "cliffs" are small.

Lighthouses always get my attention.

Same light house.

The lighthouse was near Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Viewpoint. We stopped, I took photos, many photos! I took enough photos that I posted a bunch over on Flora and Fauna.

The constantly changing sea mist hangs on the hill tops. I have come to really love that ever changing sea mist.

Mist, black rock and beaches, looking north.

See that small band of road, mid photo? Yes, we are going there. The highway twists and turns it's way up the coast.

OK, just where are those horses gonna walk?? This sign befuddled me. Then, down at the bottom of the hill, in the curve, there is a trail. I'll bet that is a fabulous ride!

Here is the thing with RV's. There are size limits/suggestions for many California roads. It is the mountain roads, curves and the percentage of grade that you need to be aware of. For many roads in California they suggest that if your rig is longer than say, 25 feet or 30 feet from the king pin to the rear axle you have no business on that particular road. Tana is exactly 25 feet from the king pin to the rear axle. Yes, we measured! Glad we did! These two rigs are much shorter than 25 feet.

The road climbs above sea level, and would you look at that blue water! At times it was almost turquoise.

Twisting climbing road way, mountains, ocean water lapping waves at the rocky coast, sea mist hanging over the mountain tops. Rugged beauty.

Really?? Yes, indeedy, some bikers do ride this road. Personally I think they have some loose spindles on their tires. And, yes, that is Jolly's hood. It was quite concerning passing this guy on a blind narrow curve with ole big butt Jolly.

We stopped at the Post Office of Big Sur. Twelve days later we would drive south to that same post office, and turn around there again. It made for a great stopping place going north and south. I'll show you - -

Monday, May 27, 2013

Remembering This Memorial Day, The Flag, The Reason

Sunday, May 26, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Hearst Castle, The Interior

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

April 4, 2013, Hearst Castle

Well, we have seen the outside photos, and the gardens and statuary, now a few inside photos.

No flash photos are allowed while you are inside the castle. I put Sony Too to the test, as it is also somewhat dark in many of the rooms, many of my photos are blurred and dark. I tried very hard to not capture other guests in my photos and have edited a few where someone just kinda showed up at the last moment. Time to snap any given photo was of the essence and was fleeting at best. Tough assignment, for which I barely received a passing grade.

Here are a few of the best photos. The front "gathering" room, it's cocktail hour.

The ceiling in the front gathering room. Carved wood.

The dining room, or the Refectory, as William named this room. Silver, dishes, and regular ole ketchup and mustard jars. Reported to be original jars. Don't believe the ketchup is original tho!

The dining room ceiling. The ceiling is carved wood, the detail is amazing.

Ceiling in the billiard room, read about it on the official web site (link broken as of October 2018) it is 15th-century and it is Spanish.

And, yes, there is an elevator:

Morning room. I found a virtual tour of this room while writing this post (link broken as of October 2018), the colors are beautiful, clearly they had better lighting situations than we did on our tour. Please be warned this is a large file and takes some time to open up for viewing.