So, after ‘receiving some messages from the universe’ about Carpinteria, I decided to fly out to Cali, do a little road trip down Rt 1, and head ultimately to Carpinteria to check it out. I booked the flights a few months ago.
As it turns out, our parental home, which had been undergoing renovations in order to sell it, was completed and the realtor had an open house, after which we received an offer we accepted, and the timing worked out that I would actually be in California at the time of escrow signing. What a case of serendipity!
Here’s the view from the escrow officer’s office:
And a photo of the drawing that I did on the front of the card that we left for the buyers, along with a couple bottles of wine.
It was both a relief and sad to sell the home I grew up in, but, it was time, so all good.
I also stayed with my cousin for a few days – here are some scenes from Half Moon Bay:
My cousin found a four-leaf clover!
A few weeks before I left on this trip, I went to a bookstore and came across this book, actually written for people from the UK. Had a lot of good stuff in it though, so I picked it up to get some ideas for my road trip. After a couple days in Half Moon Bay it was time to head out. Lots of good stuff in this book! And really great photos too!
I was looking for a place to stay between the Bay Area and Carpinteria, and landed on Big Sur, having not ever stayed there before. And, I decided to stay at a posh resort, to kind of celebrate the selling of the parental home.
Here are some photos from the beautiful drive.
I stopped for gas in Monterey and to get back on Rt 1 the GPS took me on a little windy mountain road. I was a little worried about where it was taking me, but it worked out fine!
More beautiful scenery! I took a lot of photo breaks because driving Rt 1 is not for the faint of heart! Many turns, high drop offs, not that many guard rails. But, beautiful and definitely something everybody should do!
One of my goals was to take a photo of the Bixby Bridge. I stupidly thought this was it (yes, even though the sign says Rocky Creek Bridge) and took a bunch of photos
Then, a few more miles down the road, I realized that THIS was Bixby Bridge. But there wasn’t any room to park. Luckily, after I passed it I was able find a place to stop and take a photo back up the coast. Bixby Bridge is right in the center of this photo. Look hard!
In this photo Bixby Bridge is on the right hand side:
After a little bit more time I made it to Ventana Resort.
Infinity hot tub. I actually didn’t get in this one.
Complimentary cheese and wine hour. Ventana is cool because they have a social area with pool table, chess, checkers, turntable. And a nice porch with rocking chairs. People made use of all of those things.
And here’s my room. I opted to get a room with my own hot tub!
The floors are really cool!
My porch! Private hammock and hot tub!
Next day I went for a morning walk and saw some wild turkeys
Also went for a guided walk around the resort.
The resort hike guide, Patrice Ward, really knew his stuff. And he was doing the off-premise optional hike that guests could go on, so I signed up. As it turns out, I was the only one who signed up, so, I got a private guided hike! We hiked on the Tanbark Trail on the inland side and then on the Partington Cove trail on the sea side.
But first, Patrice showed me a spot where a spring feeds into this pipe under Rt 1 – it’s a natural shower that the surfers use to rinse off. They planted ginger plants there about 20 years ago. Really beautiful!
Here are some photos from the Tanbark Trail. Patrice wanted to harvest some ladybugs for his garden. Who knew that they clustered like this??
See if you can see the hawk on this burned tree.
We did an out and back, picked up some ladybugs on the way out and then crossed the street to the Partington Cove trailhead. This is a cattle chute. Yes, a cattle chute. You’ll see why it was here in a few more photos …
Patrice is a (big time) professional photographer. He wanted to take this silhouette of me – kind of cool!
So, Partington Cove is a natural cove. You can see from the map below, and you can see where the cattle chute is. Ships used to use this as a port and then transfer their goods (cattle) through the chute. This was way before Rt 1 was built.
And here’s the cove. The cattle chute is up and on the left side of this photo (you can’t see it here though)
Beautiful! We ate lunch here.
Here are a couple of photos of the trail heading down to the cove. Pretty decent hill climb to get back up.
While Patrice was getting my paperwork ready before the hike, I asked the person in the lobby about whether I could catch a shuttle to the Henry Miller Library, which is now a bookstore. They said yes, no problem. But Patrice kindly stopped there on our way back. Cool! When you buy a book there you get a special stamp. Here’s mine:
It’s a very small building which I unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of. But here are some photos from the surrounding area. Kind of an outdoor art gallery! Here’s me tickling the ivories for a headless audience.
Old computer monitors!
Then, back to the resort where I had a dip in the hot tub and then went to look at the views and the sunset.
After that I had a great dinner at the Ventana Restaurant – The Sur House. Raw oysters, eggplant toast and a great pasta. Yum.
Next morning another walk around the premises
Saw the wild turkeys again – much closer this time. They didn’t seem bothered.
Then it was time to get back on the road. Here are some more beautiful photos:
I think this was at Ragged Point:
A little later I stopped at the Elephant Seal Vista Point – they were pretty close!
Then, I finally made it to my VRBO in Carpinteria. Small and cozy. Just right!
After settling in, I walked the two blocks to the beach and watched the sunset, for the first time in Carpinteria. I went subsequent times, as you’ll see …
This is the harbor seal ‘monument’ near the beach. Looks pretty real!
Then it was time to head over to Island Brewing (named for the Channel Islands that you can see from the beach). Back in August when I went to the Bethlehem Musikfest, I saw a band called Secret American. In the program book for the fest, it said the band was from Carpinteria and Philadelphia. After their set, I went up to the band and asked who is the person from Carpinteria. Derek, the lead singer, was the one. I talked to him a bit and he said “when you come to Carpinteria, come see me at Island Brewing – I work there!” So, I did!
I had a yummy Avo IPA, made especially for the Avocado Fest which was the weekend before I got there.
I bought their CD at the fest, “Warmth and Shelter” and my favorite song is “amen, California.” Here is a link to their website: https://www.secretamericanmusic.com/video
Check him/them out – lots of talent there. Derek told me it was just pretty much him on the CD. Buy it!
So, I stopped in to Island Brewing every night of my stay in Carpinteria but one. And one of the nights, there was a drunk camper sitting at the bar by me who wasn’t exactly hassling me, but, he was engaging me in conversation. So, Derek said “hey, I have some friends of mine for you to meet – grab your beer.”
So then, I met new friends Julie, Lisa and Karen. Lisa had seen what was going on at the bar and told Derek to ‘rescue’ me and bring me to them to hang out. How cool is that?? Thanks ladies!
Yet another sunset …
Next day I walked a trail to and through Tar Pits Park. Here are some views
I think the below is the dock where people working on the oil rigs catch a boat out to do their 2-week shifts. It is also a seal sanctuary. Didn’t see any seals though. I think I wasn’t there quite early enough.
Too bad – I tried to get a good photo – I think I saw a bald eagle in the tree to the right, where the longer part sticks out near the top.
On this trip I also reconnected with my friend Ellen from college. One day we went to Ojai (not too far) to have lunch. We had lunch at The Farmer and the Cook. Great organic food. This art was in the restroom:
We learned of and went to this really cool outdoor bookstore!
https://www.bartsbooksojai.com/about/
Ellen and her husband are working on re-releasing this film that her husband made years ago. This is the cover for the box set that is not quite available for purchase yet
And this is the Salt Marsh Park – I walked through it the next morning.
Then, another day went by and sadly it was time to head back to the Bay Area to catch my flight home. Here are some photos from the rest stop I stopped at.
And, that is the end of my photos. It was a very cool and interesting trip. Learned about a lot of things, met a lot of cool people.
Amen, California …