August 1, 2007
The time in Santa Barbara with friends Julie and Gary went quickly with all the remembering stories and the present delight of shared adventures. Many forms of art were displayed in their home, and faces of all kinds were portrayed, causing the rooms and spaces to come alive with personalities of every description.
When we left yesterday morning we completed our time on the coastal highways by driving northward on Highway #1 to Carmel, a beautiful town with multitudes of flowers everywhere. Anything called Carmel-on-the-Sea has to be wonderful, and so it is. We are spending two days here as we wind down our road trip. Our morning walk took us down the main street to the ocean, where lots of people and their dogs were out enjoying the sea and sand. There were retrievers that reminded us of Alphie as they ran into the waves to capture balls that their owners threw into the water. Of course, these dogs brought them back nicely. . . Alphie has never achieved the correct concluding action – he keeps the ball and dares you to try to get it out of his jaws.
These past weeks have risen to the top of the list of splendid holidays. The entire coastal road from Oregon southward though California is so varied and beautiful and interesting that one could immediately repeat the journey and be delighted all over again by the wonderful sights and experiences. The birds that we noticed throughout were the noisy white seagulls and the floating black vultures that sailed out from the mountain’s edges toward the ocean. Pelicans were always present in varying numbers, with the greatest gathering of them sitting in huge noisy flocks on large rock outcroppings near the shores of Pismo Beach. We were aware of many other birds flying about, and we enjoyed the sight and sound of them without knowing their identities.
Sometimes, as the news is heard in the Midwest, it sounds as though California is packed tightly with people, but we saw many miles of sparsely populated open beaches and land. The villages and towns varied greatly in their personalities – many of them were either preparing for or in the midst of local festivals, from kite flying contests to bicycle races through surfing and boating events. Farmer’s Markets provided us with lovely fruit which we know we will not experience again until the next time we come this way.
Tomorrow we come to the conclusion of our adventure and we will shake out our wedding finery to prepare for the weekend festivities. Charles will retrieve his organ shoes and his folio of music and another joyous occasion will enter the annals of our family’s history.