Hanging around Pismo Beach (03-15-14)

   On the way home from Hearst Castle, we stopped along the shoreline to watch the elephant seals for a while.  There were hundreds of them strewn all over the beach. 

They were quite noisy as they chattered away at each other.
During breeding season they do not leave the beach to feed, so they live on stored fat.  When they are in the water (80 % of their lives) they can stay under for over an hour and a half at a time.

The males are much larger than the females, weighing in at about  5000 lbs compared to the female weight of 1600 lbs. This area of the coast is one of the nursery areas so there were a lot of pups around as well.

We also managed to find a reasonable hiking trail in the area and hiked the 4.5 mile roundtrip hike up to the top of Bishop’s Peak, the tallest peak in the area.

Once the weekend arrived, we were joined by our friends Kirk and Karen, from Fresno.  We took advantage of the great weather and walked along the boardwalk in town.

Kirk and Karen are thinking of buying a trailer, one that they would leave in the Pismo area as a “vacation home” so shopping was high on our list of things to do.

We went to several dealerships where we discussed the good and bad points of quite a few trailers and Kirk and Karen tried to get a sense of what features are important to them.

Of course, we have to eat at some point!  We were invited to Terry and Annie’s for dinner where the women relaxed and enjoyed the warmth….

…..and the men barbecued while watching the sun set.  It was an awesome weekend!

We are now in Fresno, where, in between all the socializing, we are starting to figure out what we’ll need to do to the truck camper over the next month or so to get ready for our trip north.  Tomorrow I fly to Boston for 10 days, so Paul will have to start the projects without me!

Storming the Castle (03-11-14)

One of my favorite movies is Princess Bride, and one of my favorite lines from that movie is the one said by Billy Crystal when his friends leave to go attack the castle where a princess is being held captive.  Billy’s character (a very old man) waves goodbye and calls out “Have fun storming the castle” as if they are going on a field trip.  Anyway, that line kept running through my head as we toured Hearst Castle.

Hearst Castle, actually named La Cuesta Encantada-the Enchanted Hill, was one of the many homes of William Randolph Hearst.  

The land it sits on was owned by his parents, and “Willie” spent a lot of time in his childhood camping on this piece of land with his family. After his parents died and he inherited it, he decided to build “ a little something” so he wouldn’t have to sleep in a tent.  By this time he was in his 50s and not interested in sleeping on the ground anymore.

He hired architect Julia Morgan to oversee the building of his home. Julia was the first woman architect to be licensed in the state of California.  She worked on the house with Hearst for over 20 years- in fact, until his death in 1951.  The castle was never finished, partly because Hearst kept changing the design.  Finished or not, he started entertaining here as soon as there were enough finished rooms to do so.

We’ve toured several homes of the “rich and famous” and this certainly ranks right up there.  What was impressive about this house was that many of the furnishings were already ancient antiques when they were put in the house.  Many of the tapestries and artwork are centuries old.

One particular painting has an interesting past. If you’ve seen the movie The Monuments Men, you’ll know that during World War II, the Nazis stole artwork from Jewish people on a regular basis.  This painting, and 2 others, were bought by Hearst at auction, which was the usual way for him to acquire furnishings and artwork.  It turns out that these three paintings had been owned by the Oppenheimer family in Germany- well known Jewish art gallery owners. The family was forced by Nazis to sell all the artwork they owned.

Just a few years ago, enough proof was presented to convince California State Parks (owner of Hearst Castle) that the paintings do in fact belong to the Oppenheimer family. They returned two of the paintings to the family, but were allowed to keep this one, so that the story behind it would be heard by millions.

In between formal tours, we strolled around the extensive gardens.













The grounds are strewn with marble statues, some of which date back to the year 3500 B.C. This is actually stark white- so white that I had to darken the picture just so you could see the details.
Other statues were custom made for Hearst.  He liked mixing the old with the new.

Born to wealthy parents, Willie took his first “Grand Tour” of Europe when he was 10.  The trip, taken with his mother, lasted a year and a half.  Early in life he discovered a love of ancient cultures, and he incorporated that into the decorating of his home.  In his library, the “newest” piece of pottery is 2200 years old.

In addition to entertaining on a personal level, he opened the house to public tours as soon as he was able.  He understood that many people would never have the opportunity to travel to foreign countries and he wanted to be able to show them what other cultures looked like.

No mansion is complete without a pool, and Hearst Castle has two of them.  The outdoor pool-the Neptune pool- showcases a 1000 year old Roman Temple.

Right now the pool is being drained.  This area is in a drought, and the water is needed for the livestock, and since the pool leaks, it was decided to drain it temporarily until the leak can be fixed.  Most of the water was still in it when we saw it, so I was very happy.


The indoor pool is just as spectacular:




The floor and walls of this room are decorated with inlayed gold leaf, which cost millions of dollars, just for the gold.


Its very hard to imagine having the kind of money that it takes to build a home like this one, and for me, its hard to imagine actually wanting to live in a house like this. Of course, this house is about 68,000 square feet and mine is about……..300 square feet.

Los Angeles (03-09-14)

It’s very nice having at least one of our kids living someplace that we can visit during the winter. Although Los Angeles is not our favorite place to visit- (lots of people, millions of cars, narrow roads) it’s worth it to be able to stop by on a fairly regular basis to see our daughter.

The last time we were here, we went hiking with Jess, and I figured we’d try to do that again, but the weather forecast called for temps in the mid 80s so we decided to take to the water instead.

Jess and Geoff and Paul and I headed out on a beautiful sunny day to get some kayaks. Since it was off season the kayak rental place wouldn't make a reservation, so we had to wait over an hour for the boats.

Once we had them, we paddled around the Marina Del Rey area for a while before stopping at a beach to eat the lunch we had packed.  This is the first time Jess has ever kayaked, but she did great.

We also managed to meet up with Paul’s brother Tom and his wife Sue for an evening, and we went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner.  It was my first time eating at this restaurant chain. Great food!

One more dinner out during our short visit- Jess and Geoff took us to one of their favorite restaurants-Gyu Kaku- a Japanese Barbecue. It was a bit noisy, but I really enjoyed the interesting dishes, the pace, and the cooking of parts of the meal right at the table.  Luckily they knew what they were doing, because Paul and I wouldn't have had a clue how to order from the menu.

We crammed a lot of activity into a short, 4 day visit.  Much too soon it was time to leave, and we headed north to Pismo Beach, where we’ll meet up with some friends.  Next week we land in Fresno for 6 weeks, partly to prep the truck camper for our trip to Alaska.  I’ll take advantage and fly home to Boston for a week while Paul works on some projects.

Desert Surprises (03-04-14)

Paul and I managed to fit in two hikes before we left the Phoenix area.  The first one was supposed to be the Siphon Draw trail to the Flat Iron Trail. 

This is a 6-7 mile hike with 3200 feet of elevation gain. We didn’t make it to the top- after 2 hours of hiking we were only half way there and 1700 feet still to climb. At the top of this picture you an see the Flat Iron portion of the trail.  It does look like an iron.  If you enlarge the picture (click on it)  you will see the little tiny people on the trail.

   We didn't get on the trail early enough in the day to make the whole trip.  Once we got to the basin part, the going got a little slippery and slow going. The trail is pretty steep. It wasn't anything we couldn't handle, but I got concerned about making it back down. Sometimes going down is more dangerous than going up.  I saw many people scooting down on their butts.  I’m not proud- if scooting on my butt is what keeps me from falling, so be it.

Once we had gone as far as I was willing to go, we sat down and enjoyed the view while we ate lunch.

Paul decided he wanted to explore a bit further, so I waited for him while he climbed higher up the mountain.  If it looks like he is going straight up, it’s because he is!

   

Once he was on the other peak he called out to me, and I took a few pictures of him. If you look carefully you can see him standing along the ridge.

It turns out I was worried for nothing, and going back down the slick rock was slow, but not too slippery.  If we come back, I’d be willing to try again to get to the top.

Dutchman’s Trail

The second trail we hiked was actually a combination of the Dutchman’s Trail and the Bluff Spring Trail, in the Tonto National Forest.

Here’s where most of the “surprise” came into play.  The views from the Siphon Draw trail were dramatic and although the views along the Dutchman’s trail were great, they didn't really compare. 

The combination of the two trails was about 9.5 miles long, and took us over 6 hours.  There wasn't a ton of elevation gain, but I stopped to take a million pictures, which slowed us down.

Hiking in the desert after a spring rain brings many surprises.  First of all, there is the water- quite a few streams and waterfalls were running that usually aren't.

The water turns everything green.

The greenery brings out the “wildlife”

 

….and the color and variety of flowers  was absolutely amazing:









    

It was an excellent hike.

We've now left Mesa and have actually been in Los Angeles visiting our daughter for the last few days.  That, of course, will be a different post.

A Little Taste of Arizona (02-28-14)

When my brother Ray and sister-in-law Dawn arrived from Boston, they wasted no time shedding their heavy winter clothing and donning their summer attire.  And they were soon sipping on summer-time adult beverages.

Our week was pretty much divided into two themes- Fun in the RV Park, and Day Trips.

RV Park Fun

It would be hard to get bored at this place- there are so many activities, you could be busy all day, every day.

With great weather, we spent a fair amount of time outside enjoying the sunshine.  We tested out the bocce ball court and even played a game of Pickle Ball.  Ok, well, we didn't really play a game, we just tried to hit the ball back and forth to each other.  It was still a great work out!

When it was time for some relaxing, we played Rummikub or headed poolside for the live music every afternoon at Happy Hour.












There’s just something about the scooter that attracts guys.  Ray found many opportunities to go for a spin.

Day Trips

  Our first venture out was to hike the Blevins Trail. This is a 4 mile hike without too much elevation gain, so those in our group who have been housebound by sub freezing temperatures and constant snow storms weren't overwhelmed.  The trail was a great one for showing off the Sonoran Desert.

Although Sedona is 2 hours away, we decided it was worth the drive and hit the road early in the morning. On the way we stopped briefly at Montezuma’s Castle. There are actually numerous dwellings here that were occupied from about 1100 to 1400 A.D.

Although the structure itself is impressive, they don’t allow tours anymore so this is as close as we could get.  A little disappointing.

Sedona itself is beautiful, of course, and the weather was perfect for checking out all the rock formations. We checked out a few stores too, but sticker shock sent us out the door pretty quickly. After a great lunch and a few hours of looking at rocks with names like Coffeepot, Bell Rock, and Cathedral Rock, we started the trek home.

Having spent the previous day driving all day, the shorter trip down the Apache Trail was next on our agenda. Completely different, looks wise,from Sedona, the view from the Apache Trail is just as impressive in its own way.

   

Apache Trail is a mostly dirt road that meanders through the Tonto National Forest.  You can see the road in the picture above.  If it looks as though the road is cut into the side of a mountain, that would be an accurate assessment.

The trip all the way around is a very long one, and one that requires nerves of steel.  We elected to go only as far as Tortilla Flat, an old stagecoach stop that now houses a saloon, a small museum, and of course, a store. Soon thereafter we turned around and headed back to town.

Friday night, their last night here, was dance night at the RV Park.  Every Friday night they have a live band.  I like these dances because they start at 7 pm and end at 10- a reasonable time for us old folks. This particular week the music was mostly country, with some rock and roll. We all spent a lot of time on the dance floor.

Before we knew it, it was time for Ray and Dawn to head back to the cold.  Actually, they got out in the nick of time.



  The day they left we had torrential downpours all day long, causing such flooding that the water went up over the hoods of cars. The next day it was confirmed that a small tornado formed down the street from where we are staying.