The Martin's Blog

9/29/2015 – Visited our friends Amir and Afsaneh in Campbell CA, had a wonderful Persian meal and reminisced about our time in Iran.  9/30/2015 – it was about an hour drive to Monterey, where we began our day by visiting Colton Hall.

The Bear is the state mascot

CA became the thirty-first state in 1850 and Monterey was its first capital

State Seal

A remote Spanish outpost became an agrarian Mexican province (Alta California) and then a U.S. state.   Colton Hall was the site of the state’s first constitutional convention in 1849.

Result of Helen buying an 8’ x 11’ – 70 lb Persian carpet!  How are we going to get it home?!!!

We did the historic town walk – this is the Royal Presidio Chapel, now known as the San Carlos Cathedral.  It was the church of all Spanish and Mexican governors and is the oldest building (1794) in Monterey.

 

We then walked to the waterfront, rented bikes and pedaled the coastal trail through Monterey

The trail runs over the old Southern Pacific railroad lines that serviced Cannery Row and the sardine canneries. The Monterey Peninsula has a year-round average temperature of 57 degrees.

We pedaled past the Monterey Aquarium and along the coast with great views of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary including dolphins, seals and birds.  We then continued along much of the famous 17-Mile Drive – Lighthouse Golf Course

This guy is for the birds!

I liked this statue

10/1/2015 – Took the famous coastal Rt 1 south toward LA, first driving through Carmel and then stopping at one of our favorite places – Pfeiffer Beach

Rock balancing is something we have seen many places in the world

Helen on the Rocks

Oooo – that felt Good!

Big Sur Coast

 

Our next stop was the Elephant Seal beach four miles north of the Hearst Castle.  October is when the juveniles and yearlings are primarily on the beach

Two sub-adult males engaging in jousting behavior

 10/2/2015 – Dinner and car show at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank (BBBB) – say that out loud three times!   Jay Leno is known to frequent this place with one of his many cars.

Chandelier Tree – private home about a mile from Kate’s

Cash, Credit or Debit Card donation meter – to keep the lights on!

10/3/2015 – Horseback riding at Paramount Ranch in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.  The ranch was a filming site for Paramount Pictures.

Wooo – “Rarin to Go”

Not so Wild West

Movie Set

 

“Headin Out of Town”

Nice Ride Cowgirl (with purse and sunglasses?) –

Quick change – then lunch at Geoffrey’s on the coast in Malibu – $9 bottle of tap water!

Getty Villa – J. Paul Getty was an oil tycoon who reveled in Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities.  He first opened the J. Paul Getty Museum in his home.  In 1968 he decided to build the Getty Villa on 54 acres he had purchased in Malibu in 1945.  The Villa is modeled after the Villa Dei Papiri, a Roman country house in Herculaneum buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D.79.  The Getty Villa opened in 1974.

Inner Peristyle –

Outer Peristyle –

East Garden –

Good Audio Tour

Men in Antiquity

Vessels and Jewelry from a Burial

Boxers Mosaic in the Athletes in Competition Room

10/4/2015 – attended mass at St Francis of Assisi, breakfast at Millie’s and then spent the rest of our Sunday buying and potting plants for Kate’s patio

Succulents –

Patio Power