Was sad to leave beautiful Big Sur.
I lost my phone in a tide pool on Tuesday so most photographic records of our trip are likely to be lost forever. So I feel the need to write things down lest I forget the brightest parts.
DAY 1
I had set my alarm for 6:08 am the night before. I kept waking up feeling anxious because I was afraid we’d oversleep and miss the one boat that was leaving for the Channel Islands that day…
Well, when I finally got out of bed, the sun was already in the sky. That’s strange…That meant that it had to be at least 7 am. BUT HOW COULD IT BE? MY ALARM DID NOT RING!
I consulted my phone alarm. I had indeed set the alarm for 6:08 am. To ring on weekdays. It was a weekend…
We had 10 minutes to get dressed and put our—literally—15 various bags in the trunk of the car.
We made it to the dock in Ventura County with time to spare.
I had meant to obtain Dramamine before getting on that boat but I never got around to it. I boarded the “Islander” fully prepared to throw up overboard. Fortunately I was SO GROGGY that I slept through the hour-long trip to our destination, Scorpion Bay.
We hiked up to Cavern Point and then continued on to Potato Harbor. The landscape itself was mostly brown grass and hills but the turquoise ocean was always in view.
At the end of our hike, just as we were walking toward the dock to board our return boat, we saw the famous Channel Island fox!!!!! It was sniffing around a picnic table, looking for scraps. It was a skinny creature with brown-orange fur and big pointy ears. It let us chase after it awhile before a tractor came rumbling along and it scampered away. Miracle encounter!
We returned to shore at around 3 pm. We raced around a beach a bit then set off for Solvang. We checked into the Hamlet Inn just as the sun was setting.
The bed was covered in a sheet designed to look like a Danish flag. Har har, cuz we’re in Solvang, get it?
We took a walk around town. There were trees with tinsel and lights and wreaths, it was like walking through a Christmas picture book. But for future reference: all the shops were closed for Christmas! All but one… a wine bar with a band playing rockabilly classics. We’ll take it! We each had a yummy wine cocktail and played a rousing game of chess.
Back at the Hamlet Inn, we settled down to cook. Yes, one of the goals of our trip was not to eat out, but to cook meals with our portable stove. On the menu that evening: Vegetable Korma Curry with Rice. First I cooked the rice in a pan. Then I cut pre-cut onions, celery and carrots in a pot, added a jar of curry, tossed in some potatoes and watched TV til everything got mushy and delicious. Then we ate it.
DAY 2
Christmas Morning! The Yamsmom and Yamsdad had sent us a box-load of presents earlier in the week. We had opened most of them but brought up 2 presents each to open on Christmas. Felt like kids again, tearing up the wrapping paper. So sue us!
Marlon was working online on Starbright World from 10 am to 3 pm. In the afternoon we moved from the room to the patio outdoors. I was texting Mae Mae for a good 40 minutes til it was time for us to pack up and move on with our journey.
Next stop, Cambria! Billy drove us straight to our next lodging, the Creekside Inn. Where we got a free Christmas room up-grade!
Our balcony was overlooking an actual creek. Who woulda thought? That evening we cooked spinach gnocchi in vodka sauce.
DAY 3
We went to Linn’s Restaurant for breakfast. Little did I know that while I was in the ladies’ room, Billy was going to ask the waitress if he couldn’t perhaps order a platter of FRIED CHICKEN from the lunch menu despite it being 9 in the morning. Oh, so this is why our breakfast came out soooo late, silly man! I had biscuits and gravy as I tend to do when I go out for breakfast. We also ordered Ollallieberry cream cheese muffins and apricot cream cheese muffins to go.
Then we rushed rushed rushed to Hearst Castle for our 10 am tour. No Zebra sightings, but the interior was all done up for Christmas. Bonus! AND Alex Trebek narrated the recording played in the bus to and from the castle. Double Bonus!!
Then we drove up to see some FATTY ELEPHANT SEALS!! They were REALLY BIG! And the males actually have longish noses. Billy pointed out that they looked like Gonzo from the Muppets. Some of the ladies were taking care of their newborn babies. Momma elephant seals are not very affectionate. When the babies cry (WAH! WAH! WAH!) the mommas say “WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” and throw sand on themselves. I could’ve watched them forever.
But we had to keep moving! We were camping that evening and wanted to get familiar with the campsite before it got dark. The streets of Hwy 1 was getting windy and the way the ocean kept coming in and out of view to the left and the mountains shooting up up up to the right was making me feel a little crazy. Gas was running low and it seemed like we wouldn’t see a gas station for miles and miles.
Fortunately, we came upon a little cluster of service shops and a gas station at a site called Ragged Point. Gas was 4.00/gallon for regular!!! Daaamnn!!!!
I bought a cup of tea cuz I was feeling drowsy. We ambled around the premise when we saw a sign: RAGGED POINT TRAIL. HIKERS ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. We disregarded the ominous tone of the warning and casually began descending the steps. According to www.raggedpoint.us, this trail drops more than 300 ft in less than 1/8th of a mile and that the rough and rugged trail is ONLY FOR THE FIT AND ADVENTUROUS (THAT’S US!)—but we didn’t know any of this at the time. We just knew that the path was getting steeper and steeper and the rocks were getting slippery and the beach below wasn’t so much inviting as it was TERRIFYING.
to be continued
