I'd been wanting to drive down to Big Sur for a while now, ever since I wrote
Sea, Land, Sky for my Fairytales and Contemporary Retellings class. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on that coastline--we'd gone camping near Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park when I was little, but all the camping trips from past summers have sort of melted into a blur, so I couldn't remember anything with much clarity. To research for my short story, I had to rely on Google Images and Wikipedia articles in order to capture the Northern California coastline where the fictional water horses dwell.
So when S contacted me about making a day trip down the coast, I readily agreed. We made no set plans for a destination, other than to drive down Highway 1 and stop whenever something caught our eye. Two things came out of this trip. One, I'd been fearful of finding out that I'd completely butchered my descriptions in the short story. Turns out the setting was
perfect. The cliffs, the beaches, the clear water, the forests and ranches--I could picture the story unfolding all around this area. Even the rearing waves, dark with tumbling kelp, reminded me of horses.
Two, I can't
believe I'm lucky enough to have grown up in Northern California. While I was in Europe, I kept thinking,
Why doesn't the States have gorgeous architecture like this? Why is everything so beautiful here? Yesterday, I realized that there's beauty all around in the States--you just have to get off your lazy ass and get out of the city to find it.
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| Monterey, Fisherman's Wharf |
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| Carmel, Garrapata State Park |
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| Carmel, Garrapata State Park |
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| Carmel, Garrapata State Park |
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| Big Sur |
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| Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park |
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| Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park |
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