central cali coast - there and back

i am a mess sometimes. i went to monterey, drove around in circles trying to find a butterfly grove, took ursula for a walk for the first time in months and LOST her, was denied access to pebble beach (sorry dad!), and then got lost some more. after that things were better...

the thing was i had this huge internal debate... do i got back for ursula? or let her go? she's a finger puppet. but i felt guilty, we bonded at camp this past summer, and she traveled all over australia and new zealand in my pink pack and i never got her out for a photo. i am sure she was mad. i got her out for a photo in pacific grove with a whale. later i went to look for her and she was gone. maybe she jumped ship or ran away to show how mad she was at me. or maybe i am a bad friend. i decided she was important and that i needed to turn around and go look for her. even if i did get funny looks when i asked folks if they had seen her. i did find her and she did look mad... but it is ursula... she always looks mad (or at least excited). (for those of you unsure who ursula is, you will have to look at my photos from this summer. she is a beautiful magenta monster with a loving mouth-open-teeth-baring expression and six arms with clawed hands ready for a hug.)

i drove highway one south down the coast. after leaving monterey, i had to pull over to take a picture of a pig crossing sign(!). shortly after i should have pulled over again, but there was more traffic, for the curvy line sign stating next 74 miles. then one that said hills/curves 64 miles. excellent. it was a beautiful drive along cliffs and ridges with the wide open pacific on the right and bits through forests and inland ravines. the thing with not being from here is i keep forgetting the ocean is over there and then BAM! there it is extending forever. you would think i'd get the hint, but every time it is just as spectacular.

the nice thing about highway one is that it is beautiful and there are pullouts everywhere, so if you think you want a picture, there is a place to pull out and take one. until you keep getting stuck behind the same camper van - then you make your pullouts short so you dont get behind it again. this works until the traffic is stopped by a huge front loader blocking the road for no apparent reason. then everyone gets stuck. but who cares when you can stare at the ocean while you wait. despite the camper van, i stopped often to take photos, scramble over rocks, play in tide pools, look for gray whales, and spot sea lions.

when i got to san simeon i was to stop and look for an elephant seal with a satellite tag for hot mel. i would have stopped anyway bc i could see two huge male elephant seals fighting from where i was driving on the highway. there is a huge colony next to the highway. i just missed a birth too - evidenced by the slimy pup and the seagulls fighting over the afterbirth. despite, not finding the tagged female, things were exciting in elephant seal land.

after that things were closing and the sun was going down, so i watched the sunset and was off to find my hostel and get some sleep. i had big plans of getting up and getting an early start, but that is difficult when the free pancakes and coffee begin at 8. rest assured, i was first in line.

first i headed south to another monarch butterfly grove - this time i did actually see large clumps of them instead of one here and one there, but they were high in the tree branches. then it was north back to san simeon to hearst castle.

hearst castle was built by media mogul william randolph hearst whom i have never heard of. basically at 50, he decided he wanted to build a home where he could entertain guests and decorate it with the antiquities and fine art that he had been collecting. they built on it for twenty some years and it still is not complete, bc mr. hearst passed away. there is a huge five story residence on top of a high mountain cliff five miles from the coast with three enormous guest cottages that all have at least 8 bed/bath suites. everything looks like a museum and i would have LOVED to have been invited to come visit for a few weeks, since that is how things were done at the time. he also had an in-house movie theater, a private zoo, an indoor and outdoor pool bigger than my house and all kind of other gardens and walks. it was neat to see, but reminds me of my poor existence and also how people now buy things like furniture bc they are cheap not bc they are well made and beautiful.

so tonight is my last official night with hot mel - we celebrated with thai and mint kisses. tomorrow we will go our separate ways - her to play with elephant seals and me to yosemite.