Big Sur!

I celebrated President's Day by sleeping in, making crepes for breakfast, working for a few hours, and driving south to Big Sur.

Big Sur isn't a city or a geographical landmark; it's just a general area south of Monterey, California. The Santa Lucia Mountains run right along the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, and the juxtaposition of rock and water is mighty impressive. Just look at how beautiful it is!

(It kind of looks how I imagine Ireland looks. Look at that green, green grass!)

I wish I had taken a picnic with me. Or a book. Or anything to keep me lazily there, listening to those waves crash on the shore.

Do an image search on Big Sur, and you're likely to see at least a few of Bixby Bridge. What is it about bridges that captures our attentions so well?

At any rate, here you go. Bixby Bridge.

(I'm amazed that I get to see such places in real life. I'd only ever seen Big Sur in the movies before. I'd only ever seen most places in California in the movies before, and now I'm here. Here and posting pictures for you. It's still so strange to me.)

(Also, I'm pretty sure the last scene of Innerspace was shot on this stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway.)

A natural bridge!

(I went off the trail a bit for this picture, and that probably wasn't a good idea. I slipped and fell, and panicked a bit as I grabbed onto anything that would save me from falling to my death in a watery grave. Looking back, I was definitely not as close to the edge as I thought while I was falling, but it was still a little scary!)

It started to get foggy in the evening . . . You can barely tell where the sea ends and the sky begins!

So. If you visit me in California, I will take you for a drive along Highway 1, and we will see Big Sur. And I'll stop at every turnout so you can take as many pictures as you want.

Thing I'm thankful for: this beautiful, beautiful world