LimeKiln State Park..

And now for the grand finale on the Route 1, Solvang series photo blogs..

Limekiln State park !!

We decided to go back on Route 1 (after stopping at several vista points along 101 and tossing and turning -- either go home before 6:00 to feed the kids or wing it and go back on Route 1 and catch some sites)

Finally route 1 it was.. the men pretty much voted for this. Balaji had already scoped out Limekiln, as a sure bet!

So, off we went without realizing that to get to the 100 foot falls, we had to cross the creek at four points, two of those without any sort of bridge.. just cross the rocks..


Needless to say, my shoes were wet after doing multiple trips across every crossing to ferrry the kids back and forth !


But it was all worth it..


There was this rock at the edge of the creek and baby wanted a break.. so I put her on the rock and stepped back to take a picture. I was reprimanded for the act (but it was deja vu for me...I had put Jr. on top of a wooden post at 8000 feet in Rainbow point, Bryce canyon two years ago). Luckily baby did not misbehave and was absorbed on some insect she found on the rock.

One "baby on the rocks" coming right up..


Finally, a picture of sunset on the way back ..


Being a metallurgist, I was disappointed that we never made it to the kilns, but that can always be done another day, when the kids can cross the creek on their own..

Here is a video of Dora the Explorer's at Limekiln state park..

I am working on a large video of the entire trip. Will post it later.

Morro Bay

Just before you reach Pismo Beach, you cross Morro bay. What appears to be a quiet little fishing town.

There is a huge rock that stands out, called the Morro Rock. There is an esturary and the calm sea water that stands between the sand bars and the highway are a treat to watch..


Here is the Morro rock from the viewpoint..


The smokestacks added another dimension to the backdrop..


There was also this weird looking plant on this corner house facing the bay which was worth capturing..


There is an anchor on display at the bay which weighs a few thousand tonnes. It was a gift to the city of Morro Bay.


We were there Christmas morning, so the town was pretty much shut down. We still managed to have fun with the kids. Stopped by a few vista points further down as well.

Another day, another time, we will visit Morro Bay and make a longer stay.

ps. This was part of a series of photoblogs on our Christmas long weekend trip to Solvang and other sites on Route 1 in California.

Mission at Santa Ynez

Continuing on the series of photo blogs on the Solvang trip...

Santa Ynez is right outside Solvang (you exit Solvang, enter Santa Ynez). The highlight of course is a Mission that is 200 years old! (not a big deal by Indian standards where old means 1000+ years!), but definitely historic considering how young the US of A is!

This mission has a museum of sorts which show earliest pictures (from 1800's and early 1900's), the clothes worn by the early clergy and a beautiful garden, not to mention the actual church itself or the 200+ year old paintings..

The corridor reminded me of Rameshwaram (a place I am yet to visit! and have seen only in pictures..) Extremely peaceful place..

There were actually two shrines, the big one where everyone worships and this little one which had only two chairs in front of it (maybe this was the original shrine?). Did not get a chance to ask anyone because they were closing pretty soon (we were there Christmas eve!). I am not a big church goer (maybe this is like having a Moolavar and Utsavar type thing in Indian temples ?)


Here is the main shrine. I actually had plans to sit there for a few minutes on the seats and soak in the atmosphere.. but they were vacuuming the carpet and that plan went nowhere..I could still visualize the place and the awe it would create when it was silent!


Now for the paintings, which are on an average 200 years old.. Flash photography was not allowed inside, so please bear with the quality of the images (this is the best I could get with 15 second exposures with F8.0)


Another large painting


There were lots of smaller paintings which were equally amazing, but you have go see them on the walls for yourself..


Then we visited the garden and courtyard, which apparently was the site of the very first educational instituion in California!!


The garden reminded me of Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicheri.. Very quiet in spite of lots of people milling around. For me, a person who is noisy by nature, More people always means more noise. The only deviations from this linearity are,

1. few people making too much noise (which does not surprise me anymore after seeing my two kids)
2. lots of people making no noise (that always puts me ill at ease at first and then suddenly slows my internal clock down. It is as though I start to move in slow motion). I experienced that in this garden..


On the whole a Christmas eve well spent!

That leaves Morro bay and Limekiln State park.. Considering I am going to be very very busy at work starting tonight, I will at least have those photo blogs ready before tonight and post them over the next week..

Lake Cachuma

Lake Cachuma is around 6-8 miles from Solvang. A very short drive with two or three spots on the way.

First you pass an Ostrich farm on your right,



then you pass the Mission at Santa Ynes and after you make a right to go towards the lake you cross the Bradbury Dam View point.

The lake itself is just your run of the mill State Park Lake. But we got to see some blue Heron's fly back and forth from their nest. But I spent the time taking pictures of the local ducks.

Here is one.


Here is another one..


Yet another variety (although I am not sure if this is a duck!)


You get the PICTURE right ?

Note : It was a tragedy that my 4 year old Canon S30 could not zoom enough or had enough Mega Pixels to catch the Heron's which were just a few hundred feet away!! If only I had Digital EOS at hand...

I still love my S30 .. look at these shots..(you have to click on the panorama shot to see the larger version).


or this shot of Jr.


And here is Bradbury dam. The vista point entrance hyped up the place. It was scenic, but to the extent of the hype..


Here is the panaromic view from the Vista point..


There is a grill right at the Lake Marina..The most interesting thing (at the grill) was that the girl at the counter was downright flirting with me inspite of me having one kid on my shoulder and another one holding my hand. I was pondering the "Why?" for a full 30 minutes after I finished eating my lunch!

Now, that leaves only two more posts on this trip..

Mission at Santa Ynes
The stops on the way back (Morro Bay, Limekiln State park and sunset at Carmel)!

Solvang et. al.

This is a continuation of the photoblog series..

Solvang is really beautiful. Cute shops that look like they are frozen in time. It is almost like visiting Denmark, with the addition of pedal carts, horse drawn carriages, no tto mention the cute shops..

It was a treat to take pictures of the kids in the Solvang park, which is right next to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum..



The statue in the park ..


The cutesy pedal carts in Solvang..



Window displays outside stores that are a treat to watch..


We came to Solvang pretty late, after spending the day at Lake Cachuma and the Mission at Santa Ynez. (I will post on those two places separately). So before we knew it, the town shut down and all the shops closed and it was just us and the lights..



The main street and two other streets were well lit (beyond that it was residential areas, just like any other city). Here is one of the side streets.



The Main street in Solvang, nicely lit.


The courtyard of a small mall with a fountain that had four horses in the four sides..



Statues at one end of the mall



After spending time in the few blocks of well lit Solvang, we realized that there was no place to eat!! The place where we stayed (the famous Pea Soup Andersons) closed down at 7:15 for Christmas eve. It was a pity that we stayed here but never drank the Pea Soup..


We were left scampering to find food. Thankfully, there were two options. A mexican place and a Chinese place. We choose Chinese. The Mandarin Touch restaurant, which I will never forget. Probably only place open in Solvang till 11:00 on X-mas eve !! We thanked Jesus for this restaurant ...


The fried rice was yum yum yummy delicious! It was either this or go cook Maggi noodles in the microwave in the Hotel room..

Will have two more posts on this local travel series. One on Lake Cachuma and one on the Mission at Santa Ynes, over the next two days..