Playing Hooky

Recently I was driving on the freeway, after doing something I had to do, and on my way to do something I needed to do. Blah, blah, blah. My life seemed so monotone and filled with have-to-dos. Driving south on the 101, I noticed a sign above the freeway that said "Los Angeles" (which is 6 ½ hours south of where we live). I knew Disneyland and carefree times were down that road. It took all my mental energy to make my responsible self take the next exit off the freeway—to my home—where my “Have-To-Do” list would continue. Even after taking the exit, I longed for that imaginary day at Disneyland—away from cares, worries, and responsibilities.

Spent. Yes spent is how I felt. That is when life becomes all have-to-dos with no want-to-dos. A shiver of panic rattled me, a panic that my days may begin to blur into “sameness” and the sameness may melt into years. Dramatic, I know, but spent days have a tendency to be that way. I think it was just my heart saying, “Wake up and don’t let life pass you by!”

The cure? I decided to play hooky (Merriam-Webster’s definition: one who shirks duty :-D). No, I didn’t get back on the freeway and head to Disneyland, but a couple of days later I took the day off to go to the Monterey Peninsula. You may have found a theme to my blog posts; I often go to the coast when I feel emotionally bankrupt. Something about the ocean air and the beauty of the sea is medicine to my soul. It reminds me there is more--wonderful and inspiring more--just outside my routine-driven life.

So, the following Monday, after dropping the kids off at school, my hubby and I headed to Monterey. This is a place where famous people like John Steinbeck and Robert Louis Stevenson lived, and probably played a bit of hooky themselves. The beautiful Monterey Peninsula. It was easy to imagine Steinbeck’s words echoing from the past as we drove down Cannery Row, “Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, . . . a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." (John Steinbeck, opening sentence, Cannery Row. 1945). Come along with me, as I share some of the sights we saw that day.

Monterey has enchanting trees. The one above is by Dennis the Menace Park. The exotic Monterey Cypress trees below are at Lover's Point.

To put the size of the trees in perspective, my hubby is almost 6' 6" tall. The above 3 photos were taken at Lover's Point where we parked our car, then walked west along the coastal trail.

Memorial benches are scattered along the path, allowing one to rest as well as to sit and drink in the view of the ocean. A bench that we passed on our walk (below) had an engraved saying that perfectly fit our day of escape. It read, "May the beauty of the sea give peace". Yes, thank you, it has!

Above and below: Large bushes of aloe vera plants garnished the trail.

Above: Remember those large Monterey Cypress tress my husband was standing by earlier? Those trees are now the small trees you see in the distance, in the center of the photo.

There is so much to do and see on the peninsula! Our time was limited to just a few hours while the kids were in school. So we jumped in the car and headed over to Pacific Grove's Butterfly Trees, only a few blocks away. The weather was in the low 70s, so we knew it would be a great day for viewing the migrating butterflies. I know I just made a blog post about the Natural Bridges State Beach monarchs, but there are actually three main areas to view the migrating monarchs in California, the two places I have mentioned here, as well as an area farther south in Pismo Beach. After being so amazed by the butterflies in Natural Bridges, we couldn't pass up checking out this monarch refuge, located by the Butterfly Inn on Ridge Road in Pacific Grove.

How incredible it was to be able to view the migrating monarch butterflies in two different locations, both on days they were active and flying around. How blessed we are to live so close to such amazing places!

The few hours we had passed by too quickly. We brought our trip to a close by eating lunch at a quaint outdoor restaurant on Lighthouse Avenue before heading back home.

Ahhh, how nice—to play hooky for the day—to re-group, to re-fill, to re-generate . . . to re-fall–in-love with life!

A Beach Lovers Paradise, Yet No Footprints In The Sand?

That’s right, McWay Cove located in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, is one of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen, but it's actually illegal to go onto the beach. That’s okay. It adds to the mysterious grandeur knowing it is forbidden. And there is a peacefulness knowing it will go unharmed by humans. As you can see, the view is accentuated by a rare coastal waterfall, making it one of the most photographed waterfalls in California.


Why hadn't we been here before? Well it is a bit out of the way. We just happened to be heading south on Highway One to Cambria last summer, and my hubby said we had to stop on our way to see some waterfalls.

I thought, “If these waterfalls were worth seeing, we wouldn't we have done so in the past 18 years we have lived in this area?”
Boy, was I happily wrong!


Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is located 37 miles south of Carmel along Highway One. The parking lot is on the eastside of the highway, and the parking fee is $10. There are other hikes you can take from here, but to see the McWay Falls you take the signed trail toward the Overlook Trail. The path leads through a tunnel under the Highway.


Veering to the right, the trail leads you to a gorgeous view of the Big Sur Coast.


As you are hiking you will come upon the first overlook of the McWay Falls, cascading 80 feet below into McWay Cove (this is where most people take photos of the Falls).


But my favorite vista of the falls was further down the trail, towards the former site of the Waterfall House. I loved the huge palm tree framing the view of the cove.

Just a short distance from the waterfall are the ruins of an old stone "waterfall house", owned by Lathrop and Helen Hooper Brown back in the 1940s. Not much is left of the house, but it is an interesting site. It is amazing to think that someone actually lived here, surrounded by such beauty. What a life! The park was named after Brown’s friend, Julia Pfeiffer Burns, who was a respected resident and rancher in the Big Sur region in the early 20th century.

This is where the trail ends, at the site of the old Waterfall House. The Big Sur Coastline to the north was again, breathtaking.

The easy hike to view the falls and to the site of the old Waterfall House was only about 10 minutes one way. Well worth the while! What a fun tasty treat on our way to Cambria, it was as though we had taken a sidetrip to a tropical island!

(Below: Video of the view from the Waterfall House and a peak at the McWay Falls--enjoy!)

Shhhh, the well kept secret of Elkhorn Slough

When I was growing up, my father disliked going anywhere he couldn't return home to his front porch by sundown. It makes me smile, knowing he would have approved of the summer we've been having this year. Instead of going on "vacat-ions", we have gone on "stay-cations"--day trips to places in our area we have never been to before.

Yesterday’s backyard adventure took us to nearby Elkhorn Slough, an ecological treasure, tucked secretly between the two popular tourist destinations of Monterey and Santa Cruz. These other two flashy destinations attract tourists like magnets, while sleepy little Moss Landing, where the Elkhorn Slough resides, goes relatively unnoticed—except by those who know what they are looking for. And yesterday we knew exactly what we wanted to see: an amazing wildlife ecosystem filled with sea birds, California sea otters, California sea lions, harbor seals, and other interesting creatures!

Since this was our first visit to the Slough, we decided to book a three hour kayaking tour through Kayak Connection:

http://www.kayakconnection.com/tours_page.php?id=12&keywords=3-hour_Tour

That way, if one of us over-turned, there would be someone that knew what they were doing to rescue us! It was also nice to have someone narrate what we were looking at, as well as point out the varying wildlife.

Since we were rowing most of the time, it was a bit hard to take too many photos, but here are a few from our trip.

Above: Our first sighting of wildlife was along a beach we paddled past. On the left are California sea lions, and on the right, harbor seals.

Our guide pointed out the differences between the sea lions and the seals. The California sea lions (above) are brown, have ear flaps, and their faces are similar to that of a dog. They are more active than harbor seals.

The harbor seals (above) are multi colored, lack ear flaps, and look like giant slugs! But, once either get in the water, they are equally fluid and graceful. They came right by our boats-- popping their heads up to watch us, or jumping in small arches from the water.

Above: harbor seals on the left and brown pelicans on the right (click on photo to enlarge).

Our kids were troopers; they more agilely paddled around in their kayak than we did in ours! (Kids above, old people below!)

Below: Elaine with the sea lions and seals.

More California sea lions (below).


Here are just a few other things we saw on our trip through the Slough: brown pelicans diving for food, a group of white pelicans floating by, double-crested cormorants skimming across the water, a snowy white egret standing as still as a statue, and giant red jellies pulsing by under the kayaks. We also saw numerous sea otters floating on their backs--breaking open shellfish by pounding them into the rocks resting on their tummies. An incredible display of nature at its best!


Ahhhh, three hours with squadrons of pelicans soaring above, rafts of sea otters floating by our sides—the engaging magic of Elkhorn Slough! It was sad to see the tour come to an end, but my aching arms told me it was time. Being such a well kept secret has probably enabled the Slough to remain the rare, vibrant wildlife ecosystem it is today.

After spending the rest of our magical day in Monterey, we headed back home . . . to my front porch . . . before sundown.

For more information on Elkhorn Slough, go to:

http://www.elkhornslough.org/