Dale Matson
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Moonstone Beach Cambria CA
Ok, so we just had to get away from
weeks of triple-digit-bad-air in Fresno so we headed to the central CA coast
for a couple of days. It’s about 150 miles and 2.5 hours of driving to get to
Cambria taking Highway 41 South and Highway 46 West to Highway One. It’s been
about 5 years for me and I had forgotten the huge contrast.
Would Highway One be built today
with all the environmental implications, lack of fresh water and frequent
landslide closures? Probably not but that is a moot point since the buildings
and infrastructure have been in place for years creating a lovely place to
entice tourists.
We left Fresno where the
temperature that day would reach 106 degrees and arrived in Cambria for lunch.
We sat outside for lunch, needing to quickly find a place where we could sit in
the sun to stay warm in the 63-degree weather. Much of the language around us
was European. At our Fresno Costco most of the many languages are not European.
The rule of thumb is fog on the
coast translates to heat in Fresno. And that is what we had much of the time.
Note to self, ALWAYS bring a jacket to the coast. Our beach walks along
Moonstone Beach required even more clothing than I brought with me. It was an
onshore breeze and I was cold with long pants, a long-sleeved wool shirt and a
hooded sweatshirt over that! I forgot to bring a hat and my face was bright red
after one day. I am unaccustomed to noise of the surf which is continuous with
alternating crescendos and pianissimos.
After two occasions of walking
(with our shoes off), Sharon sat down near more serious rock hounds and began
sifting through the piles of pebbles for Moonstones. She used a Glucerna bottle
from my travel breakfast for her rocks but the serious folks had two gallon
pails. I eventually tired of sitting and watching and headed back to the motel
for a nap.
Driving up the coast near Cambria
is much different than the Monterey and Big Sur area where there are large
cliffs along the ocean. I twice ran the Big Sur Marathon before it became so
popular that they began using a lottery system.
We went past the Randolph Hearst
Castle set far east of the highway on a hilltop. At one time Hearst owned 50
miles of oceanfront property. We took the tour years ago. There are still zebras on the fenced property not far from the highway.
There is an area near there where elephant seals congregate on the beach. They are impressive in size and noisy.
They remind me of the fictional Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.
Since I spend 95% of my “away” time
in the mountains, it was quite a contrast to go from 11,053’ on top of Mammoth
Mountain last week to 10’ below sea level at low tide on Moonstone Beach. It
was also about 15 degrees warmer on
top of Mammoth Mountain.
We were however, happy to be on the
coast and liked being chilly for a spell. The air had an ocean scent to it but
it was easy breathing air without the cumulative impurities the wind brings to
the central valley. There is also the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite that is
adding smoke to a vast area of central California. We had a great time and the
salt water taffy tasted super. The central coast is popular with Fresno folks.
This was also a break from big cameras to only my Sony RX100m3. It is a great little camera that is also easy
to video with.
zebras
Video Clips in addition to photos can be found on YouTube Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owfXOhvX_iY
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