Beach Time

I just spent a wonderful three days with my sister Lori in Rio Del Mar. We started with a stop at Filoli, where there was an exhibit of six trolls by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. I have been fascinated with the trolls that he has built all over the world from the time I encountered Mama Mimi in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on a trip there with one of my other sisters. The six trolls at Filoli were spread out along a 1 mile trail in the woods. They all have their own personalities and were fascinating to look at both from far away and up close. They each represented some aspect of caring for the environment, whether it was recycling or creating houses for birds and other animals or gardening. After that, we wandered through the beautiful gardens, it was a lovely warm but not too hot summers day. 

After that we stopped I got some lunch then headed over Highway 17 to the beach. We were staying at a condo owned by one of Lori‘s employers located one block from Rio Del Mar beach. It was a fantastic place with both a deck outside of the master bedroom upstairs and a fenced in patio downstairs, lovely spots to enjoy the sun and listen to the waves and birds when we weren’t on the beach. We went for a long wander on the beach, marveling at the huge flocks of birds on the beach and thousands of them circling further out in the ocean. It was a very cool sight to see. Later when we went back to watch the sunset we saw that the birds had come much closer to shore. Everybody was fascinated as large groups of them circled overhead. We commented that if we were in Bodega Bay we’d be feeling a little freaked out by all the birds, but it seemed pretty harmless in Rio Del Mar, lol. There was a beautiful sunset that night. I introduced Lori to Skip Bo, we met the neighbor’s cat and had a great evening playing cards and catching up.

The next day we headed to the Forest of Nisene Marks. We hiked on a loop trail that included an extra out and back to some waterfalls, but found that the original trail was washed out and the improvised one was very challenging. We had to haul ourselves up and down several steep and slippery slopes, and finally decided when the terrain got rougher and the falls were still not in sight, that it was better to turn around. I wasn’t that disappointed as the scenery around us was just gorgeous. The loop back consisted of quite a bit of uphill to start with so we were even more glad we decided not to push ourselves to get to the falls. Lori might have done a little pole dancing. We were very happy to get back to our place for lunch and a bit of recuperation.

Later, we went back to the beach, this time heading a different way. We blew bubbles and saw a playful seal near the shore. At one point we heard somebody playing the trumpet on the cliff above us. We investigated and found a guy standing halfway up the beach steps playing a trumpet to music from a boombox! He also had a pair of bongo drums. It was really cool to listen and dance to live jazz. We picked up pizza for dinner then went out to the beach again for sunset. We didn’t stay up very long since we were both pretty wiped out from the hike.

On Thursday I was up early for a wander around the neighborhood, checking out free little libraries and the views. Lori went out whale spotting, then we hopped in the car and headed towards Monterey for our adventure that day – riding rail bikes! This was Lori‘s third time on a rail bike, she has done other ones in Sacramento and Amador. We had perfect coastal weather, sunny but not too warm, no fog and no wind. There were about 20 other people on our tour including a group of three using the old school hand pump carts. Before our group took off we watched a video about the history of the railroad in California and what rail hand cars were used for. The video included clips from Buster Keaton movies and various TV shows that featured rail cars including several from our childhood – Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and Ma & Pa  Kettle. We received our instructions on using the bike brakes and then we were off. The bikes all had electric assist if we needed it – there was 100° foot elevation rise on the way out. I don’t think we ended up needing it at all, it was a very comfortable ride and used different muscles from the previous days hike, thank goodness! We had views of the sand dunes and the ocean. The sound of the rail cars drowned out sounds of cars on nearby Highway One. The halfway point where we stopped provided a gorgeous view over Monterey Bay. We could also see where they are starting to create a huge campground at Fort Ord Dunes State Park. As always, the trip back seemed much faster than the trip out. It was a wonderful way to explore the area, I definitely want to do more rail bike excursions. Unfortunately, this particular rail bike tour may not be available for much longer as the government wants to take back the rail tracks, even though they been unused for over a quarter of a century. It’s too bad because it’s such a fun way to explore an area. 

We picked up delicious burritos and quesadillas and a local hole in the wall place and went to the local beach to eat.  There was a lifeguard on duty, even though they were probably only 10 people at the beach and no one in the water. We headed back to the condo and spent time reading at the beach before it was time to pack up and head home. We entertained each other by singing along to 80s songs at the top of our lungs – lots of Night Ranger, Journey, Survivor, John Waite, etc. Totally awesome!