“Ewww, they stink!” said Isa. “Yeah, but they’re amazing! And SO big!” said Addy. “Look how many hundreds there must be…I love it!” I said. And so began a whole morning spent with the Elephant Seals along California’s coastal Route 1 at San Simeon where there are some viewing pullouts maintained by the Piedras Blancas Friends of the Elephant Seal. The display the seals put on was nothing short of amazing. It was like being in a National Geographic special. The seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds and were laid out all over the beach, some of them taking time to spar with each other, make threatening snorting and belching noises, and bite at each other. The noise and smell were a bit much at times, but it was fascinating to watch the variety of interactions going on. Post-University I entertained thoughts of working on an elephant seal project as an intern and am glad I thought better of it. How a group of biologists tackle such a huge, and slippery mammal for genetics studies is beyond me, and it seems inevitable that you’d get injured doing it.
Lounging on the beach!
We decided we’d have our picnic at a less pungent site so wound around further up Route 1, which is now not Isa and Addy’s favorite road, and ate a roadside pb&j in view of the cliffs. The evening ended us in Monterey at the Veterans Memorial Park above the city and right above the Presidio of Monterey, an active military installation where we could hear training in progress. Listening to buglers play taps in the evening as I fell asleep amongst the pines was magical. In the morning military drills were going again and reveille echoed up the hillsides as we packed up camp.
May 9 after a morning of organizing the car and doing schoolwork at the campsite, we struck out for San Luis Obispo and California Polytechnic to visit with Kelsey Byrd who was the Island Fellow on Vinalhaven for two years and is now working and doing grad work at Cal Poly. It was SO great to visit with her for the afternoon, get a private tour of the school and a walk around town. She took us to see the mission and learn about Father Serra and his establishment of missions through California, and for a hike along Morro Bay. At Morro Bay we saw guillemots and pelagic cormorants, enjoyed the waves crashing on the rocks, and the beauty of the rolling grass and tree dotted hillsides in the mist and clouds. Strangely enough it was like a cross between Maine and Iceland. Very comforting. We went to dinner at McClintock’s at Pismo Beach where Kelsey used to go as a kid with her folks. Through Isa and Addy’s story telling and contributions, Jud and I managed to have some good conversations with Kelsey about basketball, Vinalhaven, California water shortages, agriculture, and other interesting issues. Our time flew, and now we’re back at the campsite. While I type in the tent, Jud’s reading, and both girls are working on drawings on the new scratch pads they got yesterday. Another good day of learning and exploration.
Father Serra McClintock’s Restaurant California Poppy
Mother’s Day! It was May 8 and we were driving up the California coast, around Los Angeles, past acres of white hoop houses, fields of strawberries and hillsides of vineyards. We found a great lunch stop with a playground along the ocean then continued on to Pismo Beach and North Campground where just over the dunes the wide beach stretches out. The girls dug in the sand and made me some ice cream scoops on a wooden plank (out of sand) with a rock cherry and some seaweed caramel drizzle. What a nice Mother’s Day gift! I also bought myself a Ghiradelli chocolate during our grocery supply run. When possible we’re buying local brands, eating regional cuisine, and eating at small non-chain establishments all in the effort of getting the flavor of the area we’re in. We saw the sunset’s glow into the coastal fog bank as our first Pacific sunset. It was a perfect scene; one of those moments that makes you think what an odd and great excursion we’re on.
Welcome to Long Beach!Long BeachAddy loves the jacaranda trees!
My friend Jeannie from back in the days of my college Botswana semester with the School for International Training moved to Long Beach some years ago. She grew up in the Boston area and went to college in Maine, so I was curious to see how much she might be loving California living. The gorgeously planted front lawn of flowering plants, cool succulents and neighborhood of purple jacarandas sure had me loving California! During our visit with Jeannie and Kenny, we had Mexican appetizers followed by a Moroccan dinner when we arrived and continued to be foodies throughout our stay. We had Asian buns for breakfast, lunch in Little India and Korean burritos for supper. Reminiscing about our Botswana adventures entertained us as well as gave Kenny and Jud some laughs, Jeannie put on her outfit from the Gabarone dress shop and Isa and Addy dressed in saris after being inspired by dress shops in LIttle India (especially as a sweet shop keeper gave the girls a pack of bindis to enjoy). We had a wonderful time at the El Dorado Nature Trail where there was a turtle expo, hung out on Long Beach learning about kitesurfing, oil rigs and shipping (it’s the largest port in the US for container ships from Asia), and got to drive by the Queen Mary (sister ship of the Titanic). How wonderful it was to pal around with an old friend, have the kids instantly adopt Jeannie and Kenny and Mochi, their cat, and have local tour guides. Saying goodbye to the dragon under the tree in it’s house under the front tree, and waving bye to friends, we headed out to see the Hollywood sign amidst insane traffic and continued north.
Little India dress shopAfrican and Indian stylesThe Queen MaryWelcome to Hollywood!
Months before this trip began, Addy and I were reading a book we randomly picked off a shelf in the library, Song of the Swallows. After we were done reading Addy asked, “Is that a real place? Is it in the US? Can we go there on our trip?” I wasn’t sure where it was exactly, so we looked it up on the map, and figured out it was in southern California and that’s how it ended up on our list of places to try to find. We are SO glad we did! San Juan Capistrano is a beautiful old mission where there’s a festival every year when the swallows return from their winter home, and the mission grounds have beautiful gardens, historical displays, and an audio tour for visitors. The children’s audio tour was so good that the girls were giggling and repeating parts and the adults’ tour was good, but I was jealous of the girls’ tour at times. If you are ever in the vicinity, it’s well worth a stop to enjoy the serenity, and understand how missions played an integral part in community life in the early days of California (even back when it was Mexico). The surrounding town is a fun spot to wander as well with gorgeous gardens all around.
Audio tourCourtyard poolExploring the missionSwallows’ nestsDowntown mosaic
My college roommate Jess moved to San Diego some years ago and she and her husband Matt invited us to come stay with them and see the area. It took us 9700 miles since February 1st (3 months) to touch the Pacific Ocean, and we had a great time playing in the water and watching surfers. Isa and Addy started a seawall project with the gorgeous beach rocks. Just above the beach above the cliffs, we learned about the native and rare Torrey Pines, the seasonal whale migrations and how the beach composition changes spring to summer. There and all over San Diego, or more specifically the Carmel Valley area where Jess lives, I noticed the gorgeous gardens of succulents and the many flowering plants attracting hummingbirds. I liked succulents before, now I love them. The variety is just amazing!
Amazing garden!
Jess and Matt have a beautiful yard where Isa and Addy enjoyed doting on Cinder and Blaze, the household cats, and Jud and I enjoyed cooking, chatting and planning with friends. It’s such a delight to pop back into a friend’s life after many years of not getting together and have it feel like no time has gone by.
Enjoying the garden and the catOff to the safari park!Are we in Africa?
One highlight of the trip was the San Diego Zoo Safari Park which provides animals large areas to roam, boasted many baby animals this spring for visitor viewing, and has a safari drive where I almost felt like I was back in Botswana at times. The girls fed the lorikeets, a gimicky park addition, but an experience the gals loved. After spending an entire day at the park, Isa and Addy spent the remaining hours of the day comparing what they liked best and drawing their favorite animals. The Safari Park and staff did a good job too of raising awareness of conservation efforts, educating visitors about the threats facing animals in the wild, and empowering people to make a difference.
Lorikeet Feeding the lorikeets Addy and her new friends!
With a Cinco de Mayo dinner celebration, chatting and sharing photos, we rounded out our time with Jess and Matt and Cinder and Blaze. It was another case of being sad to go, but knowing that more adventures await down the road!
Joshua Tree National Park had been repeatedly suggested to us and when Randy Shepardson encouraged us to go too and told us it was full of good bouldering for the girls and there would be rock climbers to watch, the deal was sealed. Joshua Tree did not disappoint. Even our campground was an opportunity to scramble up the rocks and try out new skills. Jumbo Rocks campground was true to its name. With our tent nestled among the rocks, a dinner of ramen in a nearby cave, and stunning sunset views, we were sold on Joshua Tree forever. It helped that the desert was in spring bloom with an astounding variety of delicate wildflowers.
Desert flowers!More flowersScrambling in the rocks
The weather was mostly warm with only a couple showers, and there were no biting bugs, so the last night in the park we all slept out enjoying the deep starry skies, spotting satellites and shooting stars. And oh yeah, the hiking was great too! There was even a centennial parks hiking challenge and we all earned mileage stickers to add to our sticker collections. It is definitely a top park on our list, and not nearly as crowded as some of the big-name mega parks.
On the day we arrived in Prescott I noticed two green Old Town Tripper canoes as I walked in the door. Not surprisingly it did not take Randy too long to propose a canoe trip on the Colorado River just south of the Hoover Dam. The girls and I were excited by this idea so the planning began almost immediately. Gear piles began to form in the newly renovated living room, groceries were purchased, and a day later we were ready to go!
Staging area
After a relatively start we all piled into Randy’s truck for the more than five hour drive to the river. Like all Shepardson sponsored canoe trips this one began with an eight mile paddle upstream to our campsite. Randy had assured us that the wind usually blows upstream so it wouldn’t be too hard. Strangely, upon launching our canoes and heading out into the water we found the wind blowing in our faces and a few sprinkles falling out of the desert sky. Spirits were high, however, and we made good time to our campsite at the Arizona Hot Springs.
Our team photographer is actually on the trip!
When we arrived there was a rather large high school group already there but they were good neighbors and after setting up camp we were able to eat our dinner, go for a scorpion hunt (they fluoresce under a blacklight, though unfortunately we didn’t find any) and get a good night’s sleep. Randy boldly slept out under the stars.
A full canoe
The next morning we went to the hot springs. They were divine. In a narrow slot canyon people had sandbagged the hot running water in order to form pools. The pools farthest upstream were very very hot and they decreased in temperature as the pools descended the stream. Everyone including Isa and Addy were able to find a pool that suited them. We relaxed there until we decided to go further upstream to see the Hoover Dam and hike Gold Strike Canyon.
Approaching the hot springsEnjoying the hot springs!
Due to new security restrictions and the rapidly running water below the dam we were unable to see the dam from below. That did give us more time to explore Gold Strike Canyon that climbs up the cliffs from the river. To say the least it was a strenuous hike. There were large boulders to climb, streams both hot and cold to wade through and ropes in certain places to make the climbing easier. Everyone was challenged on many levels on this hike… except perhaps Randy… maybe we challenged his patience?!
Gold Strike Canyon!
When we finally headed back to our campsite Randy added Addy to his canoe as a second paddler. We found upon our return that we had the site essentially to ourselves and we built a fire next to the river, cooked chili and made a bannock for our dinner. For the uninitiated, a bannock is a biscuit-like bread that is cooked in a pan first over the fire to cook the bottom and then is propped up next to the fire to cook the top. It is usually pretty good when fresh and hot from the fire but is often not as tasty the next day when it is traditionally eaten for lunch. We chose to eat ours hot!
Spelunking by canoe!
On our final day we spent some more time soaking in the hot springs, played some all-terrain bocce ball on beach and loaded our canoes for the paddle back to the landing. Perhaps not surprisingly the wind direction had changed once again and we paddled into a strong head wind all the way back. At times the wind was strong enough to hold us in place despite the current! After our long drive home we rewarded ourselves with a very tasty dinner at the Prescott Brewing Company. We had a wonderful time and the girls are excited about doing more canoeing in the future!
It would be terribly difficult to recap the entire awesomeness of Prescott, Arizona and all we did there, so highlights will have to do, and bullets seemed like a fun approach for our adventures in and around town with Randy and Bridey. So, that said, we:
Ate a superb lunch at Iron Springs Cafe
Learned about cowboy days, mining and more at the Palace Saloon
Hiked Clear Creek, cleaned up a stream bed, and swam the water chute
Indulged in Thai dinner followed by gelato (my favorite: prickly pear)
Bouldered in Prescott National Forest, the Groom Creek Area complete with chalk bag, climbing shoes and crash pad…sweet!
Did a day trip to the Grand Canyon to take in the crowds (hard to see the canyon for the tourists!), and hiked the Bright Angel trail to the 1.5 mark.
Rock climbed with harnesses and shoes in the sweet rock formations just 10 minutes from Randy’s house!
Had awesome chats, played with the cats, drew pictures, played Game of Thrones the card game (Jud and Randy), reminisced, told stories, watched inspiring climbing videos, and so much more!
Thanks Randy and Bridey for housing us for over a week in Prescott! We’ll be back someday for more!
One part of the Prescott experience does deserve it’s own section. (See the next post!)
Brunch!Fire by friction (almost) Clear CreekBouldering!Visitor Center Video!Grand Canyon!Here we go!Isa on the rock!Addy on the rock!Quiet moment with the cat
If you’re going to drive near Las Vegas it’s a shame to go past without checking out the sights so we checked into a room deal at Excalibur which led to great discussions of Camelot and started to explore. Over the course of our short visit in Vegas we managed to chat about so many fun things: art, architecture, water shortages, the Colorado River and uses thereof, gambling, probability, investments through purchase of stocks and bonds, homelessness, cultures, buffets, horticulture, fountain engineering, statuary, entrepreneurship, business techniques, and more. Favorites of town included the Bellagio Fountain, Venetian Grand Canal, Eiffel Tower, Aria’s tornado tubes and ice art, the Sphinx, and of course elevators, people movers and escalators!
Luxor at nightBellagio ConservatoryVenice or the Venetian?The Bellagio Fountain ShowPrincesses at their castle
ravensroadschool 