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September 5-6-7 (Not done...a few more to add.)
Nestled in the middle of the far right edge are most of the residences of The Ranch. Ahhh.
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The entry drive is lined with these olive trees, part of the groves that contribute to their boutique organic cold-pressed olive oil business, Oils of Paicines.
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It IS The Ranch.
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Here is the front door of the main house. There are many other houses on the property as well including a home for the caretaker family, a home for the man who runs the horse and cattle operation, a big guest house, a barn converted into an 18 bed dorm and game palace when the kids come, and more more more.
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Look what showed up at the door picked this morning directly from the gardens here.
And more came a few hours later!
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Lynn at the kitchen in the big house. Usually there are at least five people dancing around in here all working in the measures of some cosmic ballet to produce meal after meal day after day.
There is a kitchen in the pool house, in the guest house, in the houses where all the other people live, and extra storage and refrigeration scattered around in the other buildings. We are talking f.o.o.d.
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Sandy was our make-it-from-scratch Dessert Queen, here with a neighbor who stopped by for the good eats. He was an excellent helper too.
In years past, when everyone's kids were younger, there would be dozens of them around so this basically adults only weekend was an unusual and not entirely unwelcome change of pace for the regular guests.
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Setting up the luncheon buffet in the pool house.
That watermelon is from the garden as are the tomatoes, onions, herbs, salad greens, and ETC!
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And then a nice afternoon loll at the pool.
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There is a large flock of peacocks living on The Ranch (too bad this is my best shot) and their feathers make up a lively decor in many a room.
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This bouquet is in the sitting room.
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And they even decorate around outside!
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Here is an albino peacock that was abandoned by his mother and that Barbara is raising in a cage in the family room.
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And llamas. The llamas are all rescue animals and are basically some among Barbara's innumerable pets. Not to forget the donkeys, the chickens, and I never did get a picture of the pet African Pigmy Goat.
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There are a couple of dogs that live here this being the newest, a full Border Collie.
I've always wanted to meet one of these guys who top all the smart-dog lists and Ringo here is quite the model, utterly devoted to Barbara yet still willing to play fetch with anyone over and over and over and over and over and...
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...and over and over and over and...
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John is the man who has a cutting horse operation and is in charge of the cows, buffaloes, horses, and colts.
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And speaking of which.
If you've ever been to Yellowstone you know that this is how perfectly healthy buffaloes look, all raggedy and lumbering and deeply unintelligent. John uses them to train his cutting horses because they, unlike their much smarter brethren, The Cow (and that's saying something), never learn.
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And the cows. John keeps them for a year or two and then trades them back, big and fat, for younger ones.
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Bob and Carl communing with the spirit of the river. We had to climb under some barbed wire to get here, and well worth it it was.
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I was wandering down the road with Lynn just chatting and looking here and there and Jerry, husband of Barbara, called out, pointing to a clearing high high up on one of the surrounding hills 'Look--a Deer'.
Wow, a full-on buck deer, so I snapped a dozen quick shots sure he'd bolt in a flat second, but no, he just stood there. And stood there. Oh you Jerry, what a card. Then he sent one of the workers up to get the deer and off they went in the truck to find a new Jerry-inspired placement.
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Barbara's sister made that sculpture.
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The guys out for a walk. Lew-Ben-Carl-Bob. Jerry was off engaged in some one of the innumerable chores around The Ranch or else he was off plotting a new prank.
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You can see some of the olive grove in the distance. There are many of these groves scattered around the property.
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Barbara and Jerry's son Ian and Ian's friend Johan have been around so Barbara wanted to jump on this chance to get a picture. All the moms know how that goes.
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We four, me-Carl-Bob-Jerry, took an early evening outing to the local rodeo for some bull ridin'.
We just sat down here in what turned out to be the best box seats in the house, right behind the announcer. You can see folks in the bleachers silhouetted against the sky where we were supposed to be sitting. By the time we got kicked out we were pretty much done with bull riding anyway.
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What a bone crushing sport. Yikes.
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More.
They had it all - the horsemen, the handlers, the clowns. You can see here when I went to a rodeo in Honduras. It's down toward the middle of the chapter and wow, the difference in Everything is most evident. Just have a look at what the stands are like there for some third world excitement.
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And then at intermission - Cowboy Poker. Four guys are sitting at the table with a loose bull and the clowns egging that bull into action. Last man sitting is the winner. Boys will be...
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It's our last morning and we walk up for the view. Lynn-Carl-Bonnie.
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Another one of the many vegetable gardens. We all took home a bucket load.
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Happy Trails to YOU, 'till we Meet Again!
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September 2 The Beginning of Our Trip
Here I am with Bonnie at the Fogcatcher Inn on Moonstone Beach in Cambria. Took plenty of prepositions to set that scene.
We're out for an adventure along the California Central Coast, one night in Cambria, one night in Big Sur, and three nights about an hour inland from Santa Cruz.
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Our room is down that walkway.
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First order after arriving is a stroll along the very gorgeous boardwalk on the cliffs above Moonstone Beach, and then a return on the sand.
Bonnie's first steps on the sand were met with delight at the colorful and interesting rocks so easily at hand.
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The rocks were above the water line and also brought in by the surf. She ended up with a fanny pack full!
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We punked out on going into town, leaving that for the morning, and decided to have a nice long delicious dinner at a seafood place we could walk to, down the boardwalk from our hotel...
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...and just enjoy...
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...The Sunset!
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Oh that sky, what an a-one treat. Then back to our cozy room for a relatively early and mighty comfy good night.
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September 3
We woke up this morning and enjoyed a lazy free breakfast at the hotel...
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...a lazy walk along the boardwalk at Moonstone (the boardwalk goes on much farther than we had time to explore - a must for next time)...
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...and a lazy stroll through the town of Cambria where Bonnie bought a number of items all with which she is entirely delighted.
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On the road north we stopped off at the Elephant Seal Beach at Piedras Blancas State Park.
That's most of the group pulled up on the beach in the far middle distance where there are no viewing stations available.
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Here, where you can see, there were a few scattered around almost perfectly still and totally silent. The ranger said the best time to visit was mid-January but that you can almost always find some Elephant Seals around.
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Continuing on up the road, we later pulled in for lunch at Ragged Point.
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It's all just too cool.
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Next stop, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where we had a good walk to the legendary...
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...dramatic, and one of a kind McWay Falls, the only California waterfall to end in the Pacific, or so I read on the internet.
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It's so exiting when one of these shots is even near focus.
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We checked into our accommodation at the Big Sur Lodge and on the way to our cabin, on the lawns Just There, Deer!
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We ate dinner on the balcony at Napenthe and were treated to both the sunset...
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...and the moon rise. What a fantastic day!
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September 4
This morning, after Another lazy lay-about, we ate breakfast at Bonnie's favorite place on earth - the Big Sur River Inn and Restaurant.
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Following breakfast we enjoyed a visit to Andrew Molera State Park, a real winner. We took a beautiful walk through forest and meadow to reach this stunning beach.
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I especially love the parts of Big Sur where fresh and salt water meet.
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More views of Andrew Molera. And then we drove on to The Ranch...details above.
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