Just got back from a beautiful weekend on the central California coast, aka Big Sur. Yeah, I'd have to say it's the prettiest stretch of coast conceivable.
I went to Big Sur for a wedding... my previous boss, Paul, wed his soul mate, Holly. Their wedding was beautiful, simple, and outdoors in the oaks near the cabin. Paul's family owns a cabin in Big Sur, on a high headland overlooking the most rugged, beautiful cliffs and clear turquoise blue ocean. It's breathtaking, to say the least. It was a small wedding, only about 30 folks. Small and friendly.
After the ceremony and reception, Paul and his friend Andrew played guitar on the deck and the almost-full moon rose over the Santa Lucia Mountains and reflected off the ocean. They've been playing guitar together for 23 years and used to have a band back in Virginia that opened for some fairly well-known bands - Phish and Blues Traveler. Paul is the best guitar player I've ever heard. It's hard to get him to play an actual song. He'd much rather just sit down and play... improvise... make it up as he goes along. And that's what both of them did, just sat and played off of each other for 10-20 minutes on end. It was fabulous.
Camped that night at Ventana Campground under the redwoods. Woke up to the redwoods. I think my friend Lin said it best when she described the difference she felt between redwoods and sequoias. Permit me to paraphrase, but she said something like, "In the redwoods, the beautiful thing is their continuity, the combined effect of their beauty. With the sequoias, you can't help but notice how each one stands out with its bulk and individual fire scars and rugged branches. In the sequoias the beautiful thing is the trees individually." I thought of this as I walked around the campground that morning. It's true. The coast redwoods awe us with their combined presence.
Then I drove a bit north to Andrew Molera State Park and took a 2-mile trail down to the beach. A lovely trail I had all to myself that morning, it followed the Big Sur river down to a white curve of sand scattered with driftwood.
Then I drove south to Cambria... That drive from Monterey and Carmel south to San Simeon and Cambria has got to be one of the most, if not the most, scenic I've ever been on. I did it when I was very young and remembered parts of it. Now I know I'll have to go back. It's not all that far away, 4-5 hours...
Then I crossed over to Paso Robles with its vineyards and golden hills dotted with green oak. Then over into the very wide and impossibly flat San Joaquin Valley. Then up into the Sierran foothills to home.
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