Today included a very lazy afternoon at the beach. This was the view from where I settled. Followed by dinner at a restaurant in Morro Bay overlooking the sunset and Morro Rock.
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After the seal adventure, we stopped in Harmony, CA on our way back to Cayucos. It began as a dairy farm in the mid 1800's and now boasts a population of 18. If you enjoy glass art and/or pottery, it's worth a stop. There is also a beautiful garden outside the pottery shop, and a patio with a notable fireplace.
A thick fog rolled in over night, which lent a somewhat eerie feeling to our visit with the Elephant Seals. Thousands of them gather on the beach about 15 miles north of here to establish dominance, mate, give birth, wean their young, and molt at various times throughout the year. As luck would have it, January and February are the months for many of these activities. I will provide some visuals, but for those of you who want to know more here's a link: www.elephantseal.org. However, for the sake of perspective while viewing the pics below, I will offer this: males can reach 5,000 lbs, females 1,800, and pups are between 60 and 80 lbs at birth while reaching 250-350 when they are weaned (28 days later!). For those of you who have lots of time, patience, or are just curious, here's a few minutes of Elephant Seal shenanigans. This morning we all packed up and headed for the beach at Cayucos. It's north of Morro Bay and south of San Simeon. So four months ago, Doug and I were in Cape Cod, and now we will be spending the next four days by the Pacific Ocean. It hardly seems possible, especially because we drove to each coast!
Yesterday, we left Palm Springs and headed north to meet up with my brother, Dave, and his husband, Geoff, at their home in Parkfield, CA. We stopped north of L.A. and spent the night in Castaic. Probably should have just kept going, but Sunday we went the rest of the way to Parkfield. We took Interstate 5 up the San Joaquin (or Central) Valley. It's known as the 'Food Basket of the World' because of the diversity and volume of crops that are grown there. It's a strange and interesting place. As soon as you enter the valley, the sky goes from brilliant blue to a pervasive haze. The valley floor is flat so you can see for miles in all directions. The fields are vast, but they are not all there is to see. Entering from the south, one of the first things you see is the 1.7+ million square foot IKEA distribution center. Not what you might expect to be greeted with in the 'World's Food Basket'. There are huge dairy operations; sheep farms; orchards; and fields, both fallow and planted with crops I didn't recognize. We also passed oil wells, irrigation canals, vast strings of electrical towers, and construction and industrial sites. Turning west, the valley gives way to rolling hills and ranches. About 15 miles outside of Parkfield, we stopped for lunch at the Jack Ranch Cafe where you can find good food and a memorial to James Dean in the parking lot. He died in an auto accident nearby in 1955. We arrived at Dave and Geoff's in plenty of time to watch the Super Bowl.
I became aware of Noah Purifoy's work thanks to a 2016 exhibit at the Wexner. I was so excited when I realized we are less than an hour from his former studio and collection of outdoor sculptures. When he was in his early 70's, he moved from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree and spent the last fifteen years of his life creating assemblage sculptures and installations that cover 10 acres of the high desert. His works are created from found objects he collected. Thankfully, the Noah Purifoy Foundation was created to preserve and maintain this outdoor museum as an art space open to the public and promote public recognition and appreciation of his work and values. I can be a little obsessive at times, but not at all in a creative way. Perhaps that's why I am fascinated by how much drive and focus are evident in the work of artists and the amazing results that come from that degree of obsession. This man was in the final years of his life, working in a harsh environment with a huge collection of often large and cumbersome objects. Purifoy was an activist, arts educator, and advocate. Walking through and around these installations, I could almost see him working in solitude, completely focused on his work, having so much to create in the time he had left. Here is a small taste of what is there. These don't begin to represent the number of bowling balls, TV's, washing machines, water heaters, toilets, clothing, and less identifiable objects he worked with. And Joshua trees at the Joshua Tree National Park. Our last stop was the Aerial Tram. On our way through the valley, we passed a number of wind and solar farms. Massive moving sculpture in the desert. The tram goes up Mount San Jacinto to about 8,000 feet. The climate changed from 80 degree desert to 50 degree alpine on the 10 minute trip. Enjoy the ride! |
AuthorAnn, Doug, Moose, Darla, Sunny, and with gratitude, Winnie and Chinny. Archives
February 2021
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