Trip Day 4 Big Sur to Monteray

Big Sur and Los Padres National Forrest

Seals and Surf

Morning in Cambria, its chilly, and the air is fresh and salty; the ocean is only steps from our hotel room. How cool! We are not in Indiana anymore! After breakfast we drove out to the Shammel Tide Pools. The beach was a combination of sand and pebbles; it was warm, but hard to walk on in bare feet. There were these tubular tan and green things and a lot of kelp scattered all over the beach.

I climbed over a lot of big rocks to see the pools. Wow, I always forget how loud the surf is, mom and I had to yell to hear each other from feet away. The surf was fast and would hit the rocks and spray everywhere; the tide came in fast, really fast. I was high on a large rock and I was getting wet, so mom and I decided to hit another beach about 15 minutes away.

Elephant seal beach, where all sizes of seals

were sleeping and molting on the beach. The seals rotate being in the water and sleeping and playing on the beach.

The elephant seals can be on the beaches for up to 6 weeks while they are molting (shedding their skin). It was so amazing, all the seals were just there, flipping sand over there bodies as sun protection. They are so large but they can really move!

After the seals, we hit the road and traveled through Los Padres National Forest and Big Sur. It is so breathtakingly beautiful. On your right, the forest, the mountains. On the left the ocean, rocks and cliffs. With the twists and turns the ups and downs, you can’t tell which way is up and which is down. What is sky and what is sea. There are areas where you can’t tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins. There is heaven between the clouds, the sky and the ocean. This is only one of two places in the world I have felt this way. This is my road to contentment and my mind went silent, the only thing I could do is be apart of the road, the mountains, trees, surf and sky. For me, this is a spiritual journey, a healing one as well. I can't tell you why I felt this way, I love nature, and most of the time during this journey we were just in the car, not connecting to the outside. We were just passengers, just traveling from point A to point B. True contentment, the only other place I have felt this was on the Hana Highway in Maui.

On the road as we where driving, I wanted to laugh, cry and just be a part of this beauty! This was my only thought during the drive through this is my heaven is, I have never been this close to God. Stop right there, just so you know, I am not religious, I don't buy into it. This area was my spirit was happy. This is my peace.

Lunch was up next, as mom and I were in Big Sur, the gas stations and restaurants were flying by, and we were running out of options for lunch. By chance we stopped at the next place we saw, Lucia Lodge. This coastal resort resort has been serving the Big Sur area since 1930's. The lodge was completed before even highway 1.

Lunch was eaten down the cliff, on a deck. The road noise was blocked by the sweet sounds of wind, birds, and the crashes of the ocean meeting the cliff, just below us. I had this awesome hamburger and mom had a salad.

I

love burgers, but I have never had such a amazing hamburger. If the food had sucked, it wouldn't have mattered, the view and the experience were worth it. Luckily for us, the food was fantastic. My cheeseburger was rich and soft, perfectly cooked. Slightly charred and very juicy. The fries were perfectly crisp and salted on the outside and melt in your mouth inside. This was my favorite meal.

Dessert to go, we got ice cream. You as what this is? It's-It. 2 oatmeal cookies covered in chocolate and mint chocolate chip ice cream in between. A San Fransico treat since 19

28. Yum, but not the best car food!

As we continued through Big Sur on highway 1, the views were breathtaking. Sky to mountain, mountain to sea. The fog, the cliffs, the art of Earth. On this drive, we pulled over a few times to get pictures, there are small places to stop. There are 2 famous bridges, we stopped to take pictures of. These are the bridges that you always see in car commercials. Beautiful and dramatic.

This picture was taken once we had driven past the bridge. We pulled off and I got out to get the pictures. There were no barriers, no fences, just dirt and plants, and rocks. To get this picture (below) I shimmied down from the parking lot. Holding on to a rock, I tried to reach out just to get the picture. But I had to give up and slide (on my bottom) to the next flat space, a few feet down, to get the shot. Was it worth it, hell yeah!

There were 2 or 3 times during the day were I was either about to fall off the cliff, following lunch, we climbed down the path to the cliff. I wanted to take pictures, but I am terrified of hights, with my mom holding me on one side and my legs turning to jelly, I hung over the cliff just to get a few great shots. This was a long, amazing, unique day, and today was my favorite day of the trip. Looking back, I still can't believe what I did, like a dream. Sitting in at my desk, I am remembering how crazy it was, how fun and how my legs still feel like jelly just remembering. Big Sur, Los Padres National Forrest, I will be back!