| I keep telling myself I need to make time for this journal. But lately I�ve focused all my writing energy on my site�s daily blog. I write it every day and then post it monthly. Of course I COULD post it here too, but I�m lazy I guess. Stupid. Since the last time I wrote I went up to Carmel for four days, Nov. 7 through Nov. 10th. It was something I needed to do, but it was also strange. How?  Nov. 7th was travel day. I woke up tired, but exited to get going on this trip. As seems to be the custom these days, it took me so long to get out of bed. I didn't have a fixed schedule, but I did want to get to Carmel before sunset. I showered, ate something, told my aunt I'd see her in four days, and got going. After fueling up the car I made my way up the coast. I didn't hit open road until past Ventura. But, after that it was smooth sailing all the way up to SLO. I was in SLO by 11am for lunch. I thought I would eat in Cambria, but my stomach said different. I asked my buddy for food advice, but his advice leaned towards hot food. I was craving a sandwich. I found a sandwich shop called Giant Grinder thanks to the internet. The sandwich was tasty and big. I only finished half of it. My buddy loves SLO, and I can feel why. It has a nice feeling to it. I think I need to explore this nice town. On a future trip, of course. Once I was fueled up I gassed up the car and continued the drive. I stopped off at Cambria, where I ate a slice of pumpkin pie and visited Moonstone Beach.  Moonstone was quite pretty, but I didn't want to linger too much. I took some photos, one of which I later sent to TheDesire. Because of the time change the sun sets around 5pm these days, which meant I only had about five hours of sunlight at this point. A stop here and there along the highway can quickly add up, and like I said before, I didn't want to be driving in the dark.
 I arrived at my hotel around 4:30. The lady behind the counter was quite nice. She asked if I was single, and when I told her I was. She proceeded to tell me there was a single woman in one of the other rooms. She likes to play matchmaker, she said later. During the 5 o'clock hour the hotel serves port wine and sherry, and that's when I was able to see that the woman wasn't my type. But there was this Latina lady that checked in just as I was drinking my complimentary booze. She would have been a good time, but it wasn't meant to be. Before I went down for my free booze I downed a shot of booze in my room, so I was pretty much flying by the time I left the lobby. After all the free and not free booze I went to the place I have always gone to when visiting Carmel, Club Jalape�o. I later saw that they overcharged me, but the food was good. I went back to my room and had some more to drink, only to finally pass out. The long drive, and the copious amount of booze finally felled me. * * * * * *Nov 8th, the whole point of this trip was to photograph Point Lobos. I've been there before, with TheGirl. But we only explored a small part of the park. There was a whole section that demanded exploration. I started out in an area close to Whaler's Cove, but moved up to another area that let me be closer to where I wanted to explore, Allan Memorial Grove. This was one of the most beautiful spots I've experienced up in Big Sur/Carmel. A woman I bumped into on the trail mentioned that this place was her favorite in the park, and that it was sacred to her. I agree. There are few places with beauty so intense that they move you emotionally... at least I think so. The Cypress Grove trail at Point Lobos is such a place for me. I was brought to tears, tears of joy, when I walked there. I too so many photos with my new phone, some of which will definitely make it to the website. Here are a couple.  
I took my time, as best I could, knowing that there was a limit on my time here because of the impending crowds of people that arrive at the park after 11am. I lingered, tried to take every bit of it in. Tried to contemplate how such beauty can exist. There was a moment when I wondered if such a place could actually exist, or was I just dreaming. My dreams aren't this good though. This place does exist. It's relatively small, but its beauty is immense. I was emailing my buddy some of the pictures that I took as I walked the trail. He mentioned that this place was as beautiful as, "This city is horrid." Perhaps that's it. For all the hell that this town and its people inflict upon the world and each other, there must be an antithesis. The whole of Big Sur is that antithesis of our horrid lives. This is why it moves me so.
 Once the clocked neared 11am I knew I had to hurry, because that's when the park gets packed, and the beauty is tainted by the hordes of idiots. I didn't know what I was going to do after Point Lobos. My plans didn't go much past that. What I knew is that I was hungry. I drove down the coast to the Big Sur River Inn. I had lunch there. I wanted to hit another spot in Big Sur, but I was dead tired. These days I will eat a meal and I'll feel dead tired. So tried that I have to take a nap. Today's tired was so much that I didn't trust myself driving back North until after I had a nap. I wanted to take a short nap, but ended up sleeping for nearly an hour in my car parked outside the River Inn. That was OK, because it was still just 2pm by the time I finally got back on the road. I wanted to hit Garrapata on my way back to Carmel, but I could see that there were so many people on the trails. I did stop at this one trailhead, hoping to take some pictures. But the trail I wanted to walk on was closed. It's been closed for a while. I put up my hands and got back into the car. I went back to my room. I haven't had much luck photographing sunsets up here in Big Sur. But, the sky was clear, and I didn't see a fog bank in the distance. I figured I had a pretty good chance today. Sunset was going to be at 5:05pm. I figured that if I left my room twenty minutes before that I could reach Carmel beach with ten minutes to spare, and set-up my camera for the big event. But dummy, lethargic me didn't leave my room until fifteen minutes before sunset. I raced down there and barely had time to shoot one photo with my phone and two with my SLR. The shots I got with the SLR were totally anti-climatic. The sun was nearly set, and all I captured in those photos was a tiny sliver. On my way to the beach was the shot I wanted.. the sun, suspended above the horizon. Well, I didn't get that shot. This one below isn�t the shot I got, that you�ll find on my website.  Despite having so little energy after lunch, the morning at Point Lobos more than makes this trip a success. If I didn't get another picture out of this trip I already knew that I had the greatest of days this Saturday. * * * * * *Nov 9, On my itinerary I never gave much thought to what I would do with this extra day. In my original plan for this trip I was going to drive back today. But, since the Veteran's day holiday was going to butt up against the end of my trip, I figured I owed myself an extra day up here. But, sadly I didn't give this day much thought, and because of that I didn't really do much today. Also, for some reason I woke up feeling really tired. I just wanted to sit around all day, but I felt I couldn't waste a day on this trip like that. I figured that I would get some food, then explore downtown Monterey.  I drove out to Seaside to get some breakfast at a place that promised some really good food. Their online reviews sure made it sounds like it was going to be a good meal, and it was. The advantage of being alone is that I can just run up to a restaurant counter and get a seat. The food was great, and there was a ton of it. I filled up, and of course felt even more tired after that. I went back to downtown Monterey and parked the car. I took a nap for about forty minutes. Now rested I walked around downtown. I've walked around before, and really this didn't interested me too much. I decided to just return to my hotel room. I was tired, and not feeling well. I ended up watching the Sunday football games after getting a sandwich at a local Safeway. I didn't feel like spending too much any more. The guy behind the counter was a typical Surly Duff. I went back to my hotel and rested for the big drive. I drank the rest of my booze, and towards the end of the night I felt like I needed a little more booze, so I walked around Carmel looking for a bar. I found one, but I didn't feel like going in after all. * * * * * *Nov. 10th, travel day back was just me driving down. Nothing really major. I didn�t tell TheGirl that I went on this trip, since it�s really none of her business. But, because of that, and because it was a regular work day, I had to make an appearance at her place. I timed it near perfect. She was none the wiser. Since that day it�s been just work, work, work. I did go to Disneyland twice this month. Once with TheGirl, and once with the new library assistant. The Sunday I took off with TheGirl to Disneyland was kinda meh. I was tired, I was cranky, the parking situation sucked. I parked in a different lot, which wouldn�t have been so bad if we didn�t have to wait so long for the shuttle. TheGirl would normally be up for walking to the park, but her leg hurt. Fucking shit! The whole day was like that, little things just off.  We didn�t even stay long enough to see the lights come on. We were back in the car before 5pm, before sunset. Bullshit! Actually, I had zero energy on this particular day. I wanted to go home too. Still, we could have waited another half hour and to see the lights. For some reason this trip to Disneyland was just meh with TheGirl. Spending time with her isn�t as enjoyable as it used to be. We just don�t have a life together any more. She made her choices, and now that time and distance has separated us I find that I don�t have much to talk to her about outside of work. I�m sure not going to tell her I�ve been hanging out with TheDesire. TheGirl hates her, hates that I like TheDesire. In short, this trip to Disneyland fell way short of previous trips to the park with TheGirl. I think what it is at the end of the day, we have so few shared experiences now. My visit to Disneyland with the new library assistant finally allowed me to see the lights. I suspected that when I met this woman that there would be a point in our future when we would be sleeping together. Perhaps this is the first step towards that. I loved how Disneyland was all decked out for Christmas.  It�s a Small World is always so awesome. I always get so emotional when I see the lights turned on. It was a short trip to Disneyland with the new library assistant, but it was nice. We had dinner, walked around the park to see the lights, and went on the Storybook Land cruise. Yeah, I can imagine we�re going to sleep together at some point. If not, no big deal. That�s what�s been going on since I last wrote. End Communication. |
