Travels with Pops

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

(FINALLY, THE END OF OUR VACATION PICS)

I know, it looks like a dump with a bunch of weird dirt mounds. But those "in the know" recognize this as the famous Post Office Jumps in Aptos. I sent them all, then finished up by rolling a couple of steezin' double front flips. Sick. 

Actually, It was raining. There was no one there. We had to be careful not to step in mud and ruin the tread just to get this pic. Cool to think that this place is the product of no corporation or government program; that it emerged from the work of people who just wanted to have fun.
And from it emerged people like Cam McCaul (whom honestly I had never really heard of myself until I began planning this trip)

What a cool area in terms of mountain biking. Just down the road in Watsonville is the Fox factory. Santa Cruz and Ibis bikes are local, and the major bike manufacturers use the local trails to test their product. The odd thing is that trail access in the area is somewhat limited and contentious, and the extensive network of bootleg trails compose, at least for the locals, most of the trails that get ridden. It's a great place to ride apparently, if you know where and are willing to take the chance. Not at all what I was expecting.

Then it was one to Monterey and Carmel to find a beer milkshake.

The inspiration for Lee Chong's grocery:

The private property which apparently was the inspiration for Doc's Western Biological Supply in Steinbeck's Cannery Row. It was the least touristy thing in the whole town.

Then on to the tidepools of Point Lobos to find a beautiful drowned girl:

Weird conglomerate rock. Artemis and I have a strange habit of collecting rocks from the places we've been.

Watched some sea otters. This is just north of where the famous Sea Otter Classic is held:

Spent a lot of time watching our first sea lions on the rock to the top left of the pic (there are two lounging on the rock in the center of the pic, the two white specks toward the left end of the rock). We were hoping they were elephant seals, but we found out later that they weren't. Massive and cool to observe. Down the coast closer to LA, we would see more of them, and it became apparent that they were as ubiquitous gators in the everglades. What a cool country we live in.


Muir writes about these shrubs, which were a deep purple and everywhere. Ceanothus. 

Heading toward Big Sur. We gave ourselves the entire day to drive from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo, but we kept finding cool stuff to stop and look at:

Made it down to Big Sur and found a relatively secluded beach someone had recommended to us:

Cool rock formations and crashing surf. a beautiful place, possibly our favorite of the trip, which is no understatement.

We observed more sea lions, and patiently awaited while they dropped one by one into the rising tide. I hate to use the word "meditative" but that's what it was. I could spend a summer or a lifetime in Big Sur. I know Artemis sure was digging it.

Sea urchins are cool:

We saw people using kelp stems as jump ropes.

Another pilgrimmage, this time to the home of one of my old literary heroes:

Drove by one of my old literary/philosophical influences, as the sun began to set:

 After a tense drive down the PCH in the dark, we were welcomed in San Luis Obispo by this guy in our bathroom:

And this blessing on the wall:

And something straight out of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five:

We had found another clean, cheap mom and pop hotel, this one in Morrow Bay. We slept soundly.

The next day, we decided to go whale watching. The migration route for a number of whale species is just offshore of Morro Bay, and we were out to bag some gray whales. That's Morrow Rock in the background. 

It took a while, but we were finally treated to a pod of three whales, who would surface for a few moments, then dive, then surface again in an unexpected place. We weren't allowed to get any closer than 100 yards away from them, so it was tough to photograph them, but they were quite a sight and we had a good time. 

Lunch at a cool restaurant at the end of a pier, looking out over the ocean.

Sea lions everywhere:

After a couple of stops on the way to LAX, including a brew stop on the beach in Santa Barbara, we had to haul ass to make it to the airport. Finally hit some of the legendary LA traffic. Me and my LA Woman were driving through the suburbs, which changed our mood from sad to gladness - that we made it to the airport alive, surviving six lane 85 mile-an-hour madness. No time to take a look around at which way the wind blow. We felt like a couple of lost angels in the city of light. 

We missed Cambria Bikes , Art's Cyclery , and Montana De Oro along the way, but hey, there's just too much to do out there.

Other than the old guy who pooped his pants and had to be removed from the airplane, our red-eye back to Cleveland was uneventful.

That's all, folks!!!