 |
| From big sur birthday |
Judyth owns and operates an art studio/gallery down there called Soul River Studios and that's where I stayed for the two nights.
 |
| From big sur birthday |
The ride down there on Thursday with my motorcycle was amazing ~ perfect weather and nobody on the road.
 |
| From big sur birthday |
My first stop after arriving was at my favorite place NEPENTHE which is just so beautiful and full of local history with good food in the restaurant. I love the origin of the name is from the Greek and definitions are:
1 : a potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow
2 : something capable of causing oblivion of grief or suffering
 |
| From big sur birthday |
Then after a few hours of relaxing, Judyth's friend Hal came to pick me up. Hal is somewhat of a legend in Big Sur since he's spent all of his 72 years living there and was born on the property he now lives on... here's a picture of Hal after he drove me up his steep muddy road.
 |
| From big sur birthday |
Judyth met me at Hal's place and whisked me off to Esalen for my very first visit after hearing about it for my lifetime and to experience the thermal baths above the cliffs and the crashing waves just below ~ what with the moonlight it was really a sublime experience. Here's the pool at dusk:
 |
| From big sur birthday |
We had a few other adventures throughout the visit and then on Saturday, Judyth took me whale watching out of the Monterey Harbor. It was a four hour excursion for which I am still flummoxed to know why people would pay big money to go out and see a glimpse of a whale while enduring what appeared to be unbelievable agony of seasickness. Fully half of the boat was in the throws of kinetosis as the swells were about 8 feet high. We did observe whales and dolphins and plenty of seabirds. Here are my two best photos of the day:
 |
| From big sur birthday |
 |
| From big sur birthday |
One of the highlights of Saturday was the visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium which has a permanent installation of jellyfish which is mind-bendingly beautiful every time and also a seahorse exhibit that is quite engaging.
 |
| From big sur birthday |
 |
| From big sur birthday |
All in all, a very relaxing and interesting trip, a full set of photos can be viewed here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kooshoo/BigSurBirthday?feat=directlink
No comments:
Post a Comment