Cambria to the Bay Area

The next day I had to rush past such a beautiful stretch of coastline that it made me wish I had decided to spend another night – but it’s a Drive Across America, not a drive up the California coast. I did make a couple of stops, first at a beach known for elephant seals. I don’t remember this from my 1982 drive down the coast – I guess it was the wrong season. Well, this was the right season and elephant seals are amazing creatures! They’re big and they’re called that because of the noise they make, and they sure are noisy! Mostly they were lying on the beach, but occasionally they would bark, and even more occasionally they would move.


Time for San Simeon? I had been there in 1982. No, no time, though I did go to the visitor center. I stopped at an all-yurt resort that the Cambria B&B proprietor had told me about. Cool to think about sleeping in a yurt (and, just to give you a preview of what is coming, I did have my chance, in the post-Philippines pre-Amtrak Across America drive up the coast).


And then up the Big Sur-proper coast – not realizing how long it would take! I stopped for some vistas, especially at the famed Bixby Bridge (always a student of my favorite civil engineering professor, David Billington, at heart) and at Julia Pfeffer Burns State Park, but at this point I was hustling (within the speed limit on the twisty-turny roads, of course) to get to the Monterey Peninsula for lunch with my friend Jeff.




Jeff lives in Pacific Grove, a very nice place to live. He grew up there and knows everyone. We went to a coffee shop down the street from where he lives, and he knew everyone. Good old American fare. Welcome back! Pacific Grove is known as a resting stop for migrating monarch butterflies, and I had never visited him in the right season – until now! We walked over to the grove, where the trees had lots of butterflies on them. I will admit I expected more – he’s sent me pictures of more – but it was still an impressive sight to see and more impressive to think about how far these butterflies have come and how they know to come back to these very trees. Not sure how well they photographed….



On, on up the coast to the East Bay, where I went to the office of my friend David. I watched him in action for a few minutes, and then we drove to his car and then I followed him to his home. His wife had just gotten a new job and I was there for the celebration. They are both up on the hot issues of the day and both very policy-oriented, so an evening with them is both interesting and educational. And they have a nice family with nice family dinners – I feel warm and fuzzy and full of love after being in their home, which is so full of love. Actually, this could be said for many of my friends, which makes it great to be a friend and house guest. The wine from Solvang was a big hit, too. Drove 230 miles this day.

I could have spent days in Big Sur, and I could have spent days in the Bay Area – but this wasn’t the Drive in California – this was the Drive Across America! The next morning, I went to my friend Leesy’s house for coffee – she always has words of wisdom, combined with a wonderful dose of spirituality. Then I had lunch in Oakland with my friend Paul and learned about some interesting things he is working on. How good to be with old friends! And then it was time to head east. I-80!