an extra day in Big Sur
I was supposed to stay with friends who live in Big Sur, but….. right around Xmas time, their road slid down onto the highway. The video clip shows the work being done to clear the rubble to keep it from sliding down onto the Coast Highway while folks were driving down there. The only way my friends could get in and out was to take an ATV on some dubious dirt backroad. I didn’t want to create any extra problems for them, so we met for lunch at the Big Sur River Inn instead. I understand their road has since been rebuilt. If it heads straight up that nearly vertical mountainside, I’m not so sure I’d want to drive up there to visit anyway. Though I bet the views are simply breathtaking.
My friends were delayed by the dynamiting, so I hung out taking some pictures while waiting for them.
so peaceful and serene…
the Big Sur River
A relic from the hippy days…
Finally… some last glimpses of that awesome coastline…..
Here I came to the very edge
where nothing at all needs saying,
everything is absorbed through weather and the sea,
and the moon swam back,
its rays all silvered,
and time and again the darkness would be broken
by the crash of a wave,
and every day on the balcony of the sea,
wings open, fire is born,
and everything is blue again like morning.
― Pablo Neruda
Those rocks rolling down the mountain, are really huge. I love the pic of the two chairs by the river. You certainly were so spoilt for choice, when looking for photo opportunities, Gunta. That last quote and pic were made for one another.
Definitely spoiled for choice. It’s such a magical place. I don’t know why it took me so very long to return.
Neruda and your photos. Lovely.
Thanks Elisabeth. I thought it a good combination.
I wasn’t familiar with the chairs in the river, but I do admire the view…and the rest, too. Wonderful little corner of paradise there…very well captured, Miss Gunta.
A corner of paradise indeed!
Yep.
I love that bus!
It’s rather unique.
Great shame you didn’t get to see their place but you don’t argue with dynamite
A bus as a child might see one!
I was supposed to stay the night, but with all their troubles it didn’t seem the right time. I do plan to return. The bus… yes, as a child or a hippy sees it.
Looks like you had a blast while waiting for your friends who were delayed by the dynamiting. (Sorry, couldn’t resist)
Very, very funny!
Loooooove that bus… it deserved its own post
Well, you’re not all that far from it. You could do a post. I just took that one quick snap. In case you hadn’t noticed I’m more into the natural scenics.
The coast-line really is beautiful and you know exactly how to capture the scenery that I just keep being in awe. Pablo Neruda has said it better than me
Perhaps my love for the area shows?
Absolutely! In such a wonderful way!
I really love these images Gunta. The picture of the stream through the woods is simply gorgeous!
Not good when your road disappears down a mountainside. I hope nobody was on it at the time.
That bus is great!
As someone once put it, it’s the chance you take living on the edge of a mountain… or could be the price you pay for the stupendous scenery.
Just love that picnic spot in the river maybe not quite so much if there was heavy rain though!
I got a chuckle out of some guy mentioning how much he enjoyed his beer while sitting in the river over at TripAdvisor. Bring poncho of umbrella for the rain…
That coastline has such jaw-dropping beauty but I’m with you Gunta, I would not want to be traveling in an area where the road had just slid away.
Best to stay away in the rainy season then. I’m sorry to tell you that portions of the highway have been known to drop off up here, too.
Beautiful scenes here, Gunta. Thank you again. Our most west, the continent’s edge, and I love
hearing your fresh/again/memoried admiration. You remind me that I wanted forever to do a painting
of the River Inn chairs, one of the world’s most brilliant ideas. Maybe now. I think you should add
‘River Inn’s Chairs in Big Sur River’ to tags, they are a delight to everyone who sees and sits in them.
So glad Partington is revived.That was a monumental slide.
I’m so happy you enjoyed my take on this utterly magical corner of our planet. I have such an itch to return again soon, but there’s mundane business to settle first.
Adventourace as I am I think I would give that road a miss.
Back in the day when I first hung out at Big Sur in the 60s and 70s, I wouldn’t have given a road like that a second thought. These days…. not so much.
What a great bus pic! Love Neruda.
The bus seems to be part of the hippy chic of Big Sur. Ditto to Neruda.