04.07.11
Posted in photo, travel at 10:41 pm by heidihoho7
I woke up with grand plans for sunrises and misty coastlines, but my days had started catching up with me and when i noticed it was raining I decided to hit snooze and enjoy my rainy morning in bed.
With a bit more sleep i was ready for my day to begin, so i started working my way up the coast yet again. I noticed a nice little waterfall just a few miles to the north and did a quick stop, but after McWay it didn’t really compare so I didn’t stay long. With the weird weather (some rain, some sun) I was glad I’d made all my stops the day before and quickly made my way to Pfeiffer Beach.
Now I’ve read over and over how hard it was to find the access to this beach, but honestly I don’t get what all the fuss is about. So it doesn’t scream BEACH ACCESS HERE! off of Rt 1, but if you have a vague idea of where it should be its super easy, and even better it has a huge yellow sign saying “windy road, no trailers”… AND they give the exact mile marker. If you can’t find it, great! you probably shouldn’t be there if you can’t follow any of those instructions 
The drive down to the beach definitely keeps you on your toes. It is mostly a 1 lane very windy road with some pretty blind corners. It reminded me a lot of JDC roads, but more fun. I got a little too excited and had to remind myself i wasn’t back home and did need to pay attention so I didn’t get into any nasty accidents. And the grand finale of the drive is crossing a small stream, which in my little economy car was only slightly concerning… I have to admit it was a bit fun splashing through it!
So there are 2 things about Pfeiffer Beach that i wanted to see… the most widely known draw is the “Window to the World” rock… It has a pretty big, fairly square hole in the center of this massive rock right off the beach. On certain days of the year when the timing is right and the sun/clouds play friendly rays of light will shine through making an intense ray of light and it’s a sight to see. (Today was not that day).
The second thing about the beach is that it has purple sand, yes that’s right purple. While the whole beach isn’t purple you can see some pretty cool designs where the purple meets up with the normal sand. My morning visit had to do with trying to catch the cool designs in the sand before too many people trampled it. I lucked out and with the rainy random weather, and it being mid-week, I got some really cool designs with no tracks anywhere near them.
It had started raining a bit harder so I decided that would be a great time to go explore Big Sur State Park nearby, thinking the dreary weather might actually be an advantage. But by the time i got there and started my hike it got wonderfully sunny and warm, oddly not want i wanted. But i was there and was looking forward to doing a light hike and made my way up to Pfeiffer falls. The light wasn’t great but i enjoyed a snack, hung out with the family of a photographer who was off trying to get the perfect shot (not sure if he got anything worth bushwhacking for) and just took in the huge redwoods near the base of the falls. I love the wonderfully tall trees, so majestic…reminds you how small you are when you see them.
After my hike back I couldn’t decide what to do, more hiking or check out Nepenthe? I voted for food, its a bad habit but Lupper was calling and i’d heard great things… while this was one of my most expensive luppers ever, it was also one of the most tasty. I couldn’t break my habit Barb and I had started of wine and dessert with each meal … tho this time i didn’t have anyone to share it haha! I opted for a nice glass of local Lucia wine, the wonderful ambrosia burger, and a triple berry pie while enjoying my view of the ocean yet again. awesome.
I’d passed enough time to start thinking about sunset again, so i opted to head back to the beach just in case that ray of light might happen… I spent some time just enjoying the waves crashing and wonderful fresh sea air and then got to work trying to capture some cool images. There were just a few others on the beach with me- it seems everyone knew the ray of light wasn’t going to happen. To top it off the weather got even stranger and it even hailed at one point! I waited it out and got some fairly good color in the clouds, but mostly i wanted to enjoy my last sunset in big sur right on the ocean. another great day!
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04.06.11
Posted in photo at 10:39 pm by heidihoho7
My flight into San Jose went quickly and before i knew it I was back on the road heading south on the 101 going towards King City. My original plan was to head to Monterey for a day there then on to Big Sur, but fate had another plan. In mid March there was a slip out (read the road fell into the ocean) on Rt. 1 south of Monterey but north of Big Sur . This small detail meant you had to take the long way and come up from the south to get to Big Sur.. and in addition there had been a few mudslides including a big one that closes the road to the south from 7pm to 7am. Sooo that meant my plans had to change. I weighed my options and decided that Big Sur was higher priority to me than hitting Monterey. I did have a bucket list item to check off… so my decision was made down to King City, then west to the coast.
Two hours to KC and then 2 more hours of windy slow driving and I was on cliffs overlooking the ocean, what a view! I quickly checked into my hotel which was almost right where the little windy road came out onto Rt 1 and would be a perfect base for me. And while i was there i decided to have a late lunch, or on photo trips i refer to these as “Lupper” (lunch/supper). So after some really great fish and chips I dropped off my bags and went off to scout spots, take some grabshots, and drive all the way up to Bixby Bridge where the road was closed to the north.
The coastline was just spectacular, tall cliffs dropping into a blue ocean, waves crashing, sun shining… I started working my way north and couldn’t get enough of the coastline and dark blue ocean. After an hour or so i came upon my main mission for this part of the trip: McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I’d seen a picture of this waterfall when i was a little girl on a calendar my mom got for me one year for christmas. It was the cover of the calendar and I remember thinking it was one of the prettiest things I’d ever seen, and after all these years I still feel that way. When i found out it was in Cali’s Big Sur Coast and had super easy access i said “I MUST GO!” – thus this portion of the trip!
So I took the quick hike and it was just like i’d imagined, just beautiful to see a 80′ waterfall fall into the ocean of blue in a beautiful little cove. I spent some time taking some pics in the afternoon light, but knew i’d want to come back for sunset.
I continued on my way north and continued to stop in just about every pullout on the way 
I made it to Bixby and started working my way back with a stop at Hurricane Point. I found out why it’s called that- it was so insanely windy i almost got blown over just walking around. But what a view!
It was getting closer to sunset now so I made my way back to McWay Falls and spent the rest of the evening enjoying the view and taking way too many pictures of the falls. Only 1 other photog was there enjoying it with me, we didn’t say a word to each other but that was just fine… it was the perfect end to my first day in Big Sur.
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04.05.11
Posted in travel at 10:37 pm by heidihoho7
After so many days of flowers, both Barb and I decided to take the morning off on our last day to catch up on things before heading off in different directions. So Barb caught up on email while i finished editing and posting the blog up to that point. It was a nice last morning together…
We finally packed up an started our way back to LA, nothing grabbed our attention from the road so we made it in good time. We were gabbing so much on the way that we totally missed our exit, BUT as things turn out that worked out better for us. After a quick iPhone confirmation we determined we were even closer to her son’s new house and we’d wanted to do a driveby anyways… couldn’t have planned it much better So after checking out his cute new home we grabbed a nice little lunch near her son’s current house then continued on so i could meet the whole fam.
They all seemed so sweet, friendly, and a little bit nutty – just like Barb haha! I had a lovely time visiting and getting to know them all a bit better. Barb’s grandson was so full of energy and wit, reminding me a little of tom cruise when he jumped on the couch hehe… her granddaughter was a bit more shy but adorable and on the move as well… that family has their hands full
I knew i needed to get on the road to attempt to miss traffic, so i got on my way even though i probably could have just hung out most of the afternoon… I was glad i left when i did as i did hit some traffic, but nothing too overwhelming on my way to San Clemente to visit my boss Holly (and now friend) and her son. Her other son unfortunately had just gotten sick and was spending some time at the grandparents.
I arrived to her cute house that resides just a few blocks from the beach and got to meet her sister who doubles as the nanny/tutor for her little ones… just as nice as Holly
Just as i was getting my new credit card (yay!) her son comes in… a bit shy, but curious to see who was there… I was a little surprised as i thought he’d be in “face down” time (he recently incurred an eye injury, coupled with being sick which re-injured the eye a bit, means no running and attempting to let the eye heal which means – you guessed it lying face down a majority of the time). I remembered he does get breaks, thankfully, i can’t imagine trying to keep a 5-6 yr old face down 24/7, what a feat!
We decided to join him in FD time and headed back to his massage table to hang out… he watched some wiley coyote while Holly and I caught up a bit… eventually we decided to play some games and boy can that kid whoop my butt in mario cart! On the flip side i found out they had just gotten World of Goo and i got to flip the tables a bit and show him a few things about that game… but i’m sure in a few weeks he’ll have figured that out too
It was getting close to dinner time so we decided to give M a longer break to grab some pizza and check out SC’s beachfront real quickly. We timed it perfectly for sunset… M wanted to show me the mariner’s memorial, but really i think he wanted to show me his ” Sour Flower” I’m not sure how they found it, but it is sour and it is yummy! After enjoying a few of those we took in the lovely sunset right on the beach, then headed off to grab some artichoke pizza, YUM!
We finished off the night with some more racing once Holly’s hubby got home, yep i lost bigtime yet again. It was getting late so I got on the road yet again. I stayed near LAX for a very short night’s sleep to catch my early morning flight.
Another great day, this time meeting such great people and wonderful little ones that are living life to its fullest despite what life is throwing at them!
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