Friday, November 1, 2013

On a Bed of California Stars

Ahh, the morning after Halloween. Happy Day of the Dead everybody! Ben and I spent the evening in Santa Barbara with my childhood friend Rachel Wolfe, and her boyfriend Daniel. There were costumes, carefully selected from Rachel's ample supply. There was beer-battered cod and empanadas. There were trick-or-treaters. And there was at least one scary movie which may or may not have contributed to my dreams last night. We even took a little stroll to check out the houses that go all-out to lure in trick-or-treaters and marveled at all the kiddos whose costumes did not involve long underwear and rain gear, who will never know what it's like to battle hypothermia and potential snowstorms just to obtain a few pieces of candy. Suckers!

Here's a few tidbits from the last week or so:

-We got a late start leaving Santa Cruz because of an offer to go whale-watching on John's friend's sailboat. Such a life we live! We accepted, not realizing we had several bird-nerds aboard and were actually mostly bird-watching :). Saw many a bird, many a diving pelican, and even several humpback whales! Dan says they are not the same ones that come all the way to AK, but I like pretending that I was seeing old friends again.

-That night we stayed in Salinas with a warmshowers host, Jerry, who took good care of us. The next day he biked about 10 miles with us, to Marina. Then we proceeded to spend 3 hours in an REI taking care of a sheared-off bolt in Ben's front rack and drooling over the hundred-dollar smartwool pants that I would not let myself purchase. It's gotten pretty cold at night! California gets cold! I know, I was shocked.

-We camped at a city campground in Monterey, which turned out to be a bit of a homeless camp. Ben's reading Cannery Row, so we headed down to check it out, but it turned out to be nothing more than a California-themed downtown Juneau, complete with Del Sol and jewelery stores. I bought a caramel apple, and we watched some California sea lions grumble for a while. One can only wonder what Steinbeck would think.

-The next day we biked 35 hilly miles to Big Sur. Such a beautiful ride! We got there by 2pm and decided we were in the triathlon sort of mood, so we hiked 10 miles into the Ventana Wilderness, to Sykes Hot Springs. The hike was fairly easy, but long. Turns out 10 miles on a bicycle and 10 miles by foot are two very stories. We made it, but ended up hiking about 5 miles in the pitch black, making some food, and passing out with just our sleeping bags beneath an impossibly huge sky full of glittering stars.

-In the morning we made it down the creek to the hot springs, which was definitely worth the hike. We hiked the 10 miles back, and spent that night in the Big Sur state park, with about 12 other bicycle tourists in varying stages of their journeys. It also became quickly apparent that different muscles are used for bicycling than walking, and my calf muscles have just now recovered from our 20 mile detour hike 4 days later.

-We had a great ride out of Big Sur. 53 miles felt like 80, as it was so hilly, but the views made up for it. It was probably one of my best days of riding yet. Just as we got out of the mountains it started to get dark, and Ben discovered one of our best stealth camping spots yet. Through a hole in a barbed wire fence, there was a half-mile path through a field which opened up to one of the most glorious private beaches we could imagine. It was completely deserted, besides what we guessed were coyote tracks. We kept high-fiving about how lucky we were as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. Ben set up the tent and I made some ramen as it got dark. It was then that we realized we weren't alone.
    We had noticed the flies, swarming the massive ropes of kelp that littered the beach, though it took them a while to notice us. When they finally did, we were engulfed in swarms of them, covering our faces and necks and arms and committing suicide in our bowls of ramen. Then Ben's headlight caught the sand beneath us, and we saw them. Hundreds of them. Pill bug-like insects, ranging from quarter-size to Q-tip size. There were other ones too. Strange insects we had never seen before. And the entire beach was covered in them. They didn't seem to interested in us, but that wasn't the point. I immediately shut myself in the tent, killed the 50 flies or so that had found their way in, and made myself earplugs out of tissue so I wouldn't have to listen to the swarming insects that literally surrounded our tent. Guess beauty and solitude come at a price, right?

-The next day we biked to San Luis Obispo and were hosted by another fantastic host, Gary. The next day we were feeling frisky and biked 70 miles all the way to Buellton, a tiny town whose only claim to fame is supposedly inventing split pea soup. We splurged and stayed in a fancy RV park. The host tried to warn us that it was too cold for tent camping, but then saw that we were from Alaska and thought we should be okay. We had the whole tent field to ourselves, as well as the hot tub, and really the whole place as people seemed to be shut up in their RVs, watching TV. Pity that they missed the stars that night. They were beautiful. But the host was right about the cold--in the morning we woke to a frozen dewey sheet covering everything, soon to be melted by the warm October California sun.

 The Obligatory S.F. tourist picture. Ben never takes of his helmet.
 Lighthouse and grey skies on the California coast. Good thing Ben has a honey stick to take the edge off.
 We found this cool mural in Salinas, CA
 Then we found the real thing right before we biked over it! Bixby Bridge, built in 1938. Pretty incredible.
 Our top-secret bug-occupied beach about 20 miles north of Cambria. We're still smiling because we hadn't discovered the bugs yet.
 Halloweenies! Ben, being a creepy druid, me in the fish vest and peacock leggings and Rachel being an adorable wood fairy. A festive Halloween indeed.

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