Little Thoughts: April 29, 30 and May 1

I’ve been meaning to tell a bit about Santa Maria. Most mornings we have fog or clouds, then sun and 70’s in daytime. Flowers and blooming bushes abound. Landscaping is key here and very beautiful. Even Walmart has small porticos (whatever you call structures with horizontal planks above to let sunlight in) with plants climbing all over it for their cart corrals. Birds of paradise and thousands of roses are everywhere along with ice plants, daisies and lots of plants I’m not familiar with.

Monday we ran errands and relaxed. I walked in the morning and we at a yummy chicken dinner in at the Elks. Half a chicken barbequed with their special Santa Maria seasoning, pinquinto beans, salad, maraconi salad, garlic toast. $9 – brought most of my beans, macaroni salad and half the chicken home for lunch tomorrow. Love that Santa Maria BBQ rub!

April 30 we drove about 1/2 hour north to San Luis Obispo.

Checked in at the Elks and enjoyed happy hour visiting with some folks who will be going to Morro Bay for a huge car show over the weekend. One couple was from Prescott, AZ. Both couples had lots of suggestions for things to do/see up the coast.

Wed., May 1, – Happy May Day. After an early lunch we drove north to Morro Bay.

Stopped at Morro Bay State Park and got some info on their campground. Just a half block or so from the beach.

Morro Bay and Morro Rock. Morro Rock is a 581-foot volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay, California, at the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morro_Rock. Morro Rock was first charted in 1542 by Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who called it El Morro, because of the similarity to the Moors and their head-wraps. The Salinan and Chumash tribes considered Morro Rock to be a sacred site. Morro Rock is the best known of the Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo County, a series of ancient volcanic plugs that line the Los Osos Valley between the cities of Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. It was one of many local landmarks to be mentioned in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1978 song "Take Me Down."

Lots of surfers enjoying the beautiful day and the wave action.

Further north, we drove around some residences with awesome views of the ocean. Some were perched on the edge and others were away from the view but in beautiful forested settings. Bet it is very quiet there with lots of birds!

In town, Cambria.

Below is Nitt Witt Ridge is a house on two-and-a-half-acres in Cambria, California, United States. Artist/recluse Arthur "Art" Harold Beal (d. 1992) bought his hillside lot in 1928, and spent most of the next 50 years carving out the terraces with only a pick and shovel, and creating his own "castle on a hill." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitt_Witt_Ridge

Arthur Harold Beal is known as Der Tinkerpaw or Captain Nitt Witt. Beal was garbage collector for the town of Cambria in the 1940s and '50s, and made good use of what Cambrians were throwing away, as well as the natural materials on the property, in the nearby pine forests, and on the area's beaches. Some parts are also reportedly remnants from Hearst Castle where he reportedly worked for a time. Other common building materials are beer cans, abalone shells, and concrete.^[2] There are also washer drums, car rims, tile, car parts, and old stoves.

After Art died in 1992 at the age of 96, his ashes were spread around his favorite redwood on Nitt Witt Ridge. The house still is full of knicknacks and architectural uniqueness, despite the deterioration and ransacking it suffered after Art's death.

In 1999 Michael and Stacey O'Malley became the owners of Nitt Witt Ridge. They have repaired some of the house and cleaned up the gardens. Their enthusiasm for Nitt Witt Ridge is apparent in Michael's guided tours of the property. Tours are available by reservation only and include a four-minute video.

Nitt Witt Ridge is California Historical Landmark No. 939. It is considered a thematic landmark, in connection with the Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments

Next we traveled to the Elephant Seal Viewing area.

The Friends of the Elephant Seal support the seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, on California highway 1 at the southern end of Big Sur on the California coast, twelve miles north of Cambria and four miles north of the entrance to the Hearst Castle. The location is ideal for the seals: it is protected by the Piedras Blancas point from storms from the northwest; it has wide, sandy beaches offering pups protection from high water; and it is protected from predators by a kelp forest.

Also important to the seals are the shallow rocky areas just off the beach. These areas are protected by the rocks from breaking waves and provide an ideal location for recently weaned pups to learn how to swim and for the males - from juvenile to adult - to spar. April through August is the catastrophic molt with each seal returning for 4-6 weeks to grow a new skin and shed the one acquired the year before. We saw lots of evidence of this molt. Could have stayed and watched for a lot longer.

We were starting to get hungry so didn’t go further north to see the lighthouse.

We finally had our anniversary dinner – better late than never – and so well worth the delay. The Galley Seafood Grill and Bar in Morro Bay. Picked it out from many listed in TripAdvisor and it was #1 rated. And it was perfect in every way! My meal is below – Blackened fresh-caught Rock Fish over garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagras and mango salsa. Garnished with a strip of squash seasoned and sauted in brown sugar and butter! Egads – lots of calories but so delicious. Really special. Jerry had steak which he said was the best he ever had. We shared Molten Lava Cake for dessert! A feast – expensive but it was our special treat!