Tour d'Tim
Yes, weak (very weak) title based on all the car weekend's other tours, I felt I should name one after me (yes, totally weak!!). The tour began by heading down Highway 1 (also known as The Pacific Coast Highway). As regular readers of this blog and my other diatribes will realize, at this time of year, this route is plagued by Ford Mustang convertibles rented from all the best rental car companies. Basically, that means patience is a virtue as you make your way down the sinewy piece of tarmac known as 1.
Second major stop on the tour (after the mission at Carmel) was the Bixby Creek Bridge - as seen in practically every tourist guide to this part of the world. Today however, a heavy overcast (ie fog) meant that the light was nice and even, showing the bridgework off to its best advantage - the bridge was built in 1932 and is still awe inspiring today.
The tour continued down the coast, dippng in and out of the fog as the road's altitude changed. At one stage, just south of Big Sur, a Condor appeared out of the mist and circled next to the road as we drove past, its radio antenna obvious on its left wing (and its markings clearly indicating it was a Condor and not a Turkey Vulture) - my closest Condor encounter so far.
The next stop on the tour was the waterfall on to the beach at McWay Falls - which has appeared in this blog before, no need to repeat. Again the overcast was down low. After the falls, we stopped for lunch.
After lunch, the only vague in the first place plan changed to head inland to go check out the San Antonio Mission in Fort Hunter Ligget and get some sunshine.
The photo below shows that almost as soon as we climbed up the hills inland from 1, we were soon above the marine layer (yes, yet another term for the coastal fog).
The road we were on was one of the many that were closed for the recent forest fires in the area. Once into the fort itself, it was soon apparent where had burned and where had been spared.
We made our way to Mission San Antonio (the second mission on the tour - as previously mentioned, we did start at the Carmel mission). Mission San Antonio is definitely my favorite mission I've visited so far, it's isolated at the end of the military fort and is totally devoid of any obvious modern trappings.
Even though the tour had only moved 20 miles inland or so, the temperature had climbed from the around 60 degrees farenheit at the coast to 80 plus. This is the normal variance for this area, but it's always a bit of a shock to experience the change so quickly.
The mission's buildings and gardens are in great condition. In the photo below, Wella is sitting on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the gardens (yes, she is the one who had to suffer the Tour d'Tim). Sitting in the middle of the gardens, it was easy to transport yourself back to when the mission was originally built.
After we'd evaded the kittens (don't ask), the tour continued back to Monterey via Carmel Valley Road - this part of the tour is tarantula country. Unfortunately, the only one seen crossing the road appeared from between the wheels of the pickup truck the tour was currently following too late for the tour guide to take evasive action - yes, this tour killed a tarantula.
That and the rather weak performance of the tour vehicle's AC were the only blemishes on an otherwise successful adventure.
Second major stop on the tour (after the mission at Carmel) was the Bixby Creek Bridge - as seen in practically every tourist guide to this part of the world. Today however, a heavy overcast (ie fog) meant that the light was nice and even, showing the bridgework off to its best advantage - the bridge was built in 1932 and is still awe inspiring today.
The tour continued down the coast, dippng in and out of the fog as the road's altitude changed. At one stage, just south of Big Sur, a Condor appeared out of the mist and circled next to the road as we drove past, its radio antenna obvious on its left wing (and its markings clearly indicating it was a Condor and not a Turkey Vulture) - my closest Condor encounter so far.The next stop on the tour was the waterfall on to the beach at McWay Falls - which has appeared in this blog before, no need to repeat. Again the overcast was down low. After the falls, we stopped for lunch.
After lunch, the only vague in the first place plan changed to head inland to go check out the San Antonio Mission in Fort Hunter Ligget and get some sunshine.
The photo below shows that almost as soon as we climbed up the hills inland from 1, we were soon above the marine layer (yes, yet another term for the coastal fog).
The road we were on was one of the many that were closed for the recent forest fires in the area. Once into the fort itself, it was soon apparent where had burned and where had been spared.
We made our way to Mission San Antonio (the second mission on the tour - as previously mentioned, we did start at the Carmel mission). Mission San Antonio is definitely my favorite mission I've visited so far, it's isolated at the end of the military fort and is totally devoid of any obvious modern trappings.
Even though the tour had only moved 20 miles inland or so, the temperature had climbed from the around 60 degrees farenheit at the coast to 80 plus. This is the normal variance for this area, but it's always a bit of a shock to experience the change so quickly.The mission's buildings and gardens are in great condition. In the photo below, Wella is sitting on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the gardens (yes, she is the one who had to suffer the Tour d'Tim). Sitting in the middle of the gardens, it was easy to transport yourself back to when the mission was originally built.
After we'd evaded the kittens (don't ask), the tour continued back to Monterey via Carmel Valley Road - this part of the tour is tarantula country. Unfortunately, the only one seen crossing the road appeared from between the wheels of the pickup truck the tour was currently following too late for the tour guide to take evasive action - yes, this tour killed a tarantula.That and the rather weak performance of the tour vehicle's AC were the only blemishes on an otherwise successful adventure.
posted by Tim H at 10:45 PM
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