Unfoggin Believable!

Fog on Father's Day?!  How could it be possible?  We had envisioned this drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and through Big Sur for months.  Clear blue skies striking against the sparkling water below.  While I remembered from my first trip to this region (with my parents and Clay, when I was Maddie's age) that fog occasionally rolls in and out, my memory (cemented by old polaroid photos) suggested that the fog might make the vistas less colorful and more dramatic but certainly wouldn't ruin the experience.  Of course, I wasn't expecting the pea soup thick fog that greeted us for the majority of our drive.  With the top up (as it was 55 degrees outside), the kids snoozing in the back seat, Dana masterfully handling the usually exhilirating twisting highway, and me quietly seething that there was no one to whom I could address a strongly worded e-mail about this disappointment, we made our way from San Simeon (where our visit to the Hearst Castle and the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas was a wonderful way to start the day!) up the PCH to Monterey Bay, where we will spend our final California days.

 

As disappointed as I was by the fog, I fell in love with my husband all over again, as I was once again treated to his indefatigable spirit and ability to go with the flow and find the best in any situation.  "It's so dramatic," he would say, when we'd stop at a "Vista Point" in hopes that we could peer through the gray mass to see some division between sea and sky.  Since this was his first trip down this coast, I was even more disappointed for him, but he refused to let the "June gloom" (as one guide at the Hearst castle called it) affect his mood.  Indeed, his mood - and the impact it had on the kids when they awoke from their nap - seemed to lift (or at least momentarily shift) the fog, so that we were treated to a few minutes of the glorious spectacle we had expected.  Just as Daniel was promising to make sure that Dana got to see the Big Sur as intended, regardless of how long that might take, we entered Monterey, blue skies became visible, and we were able to get a taste of the awe-inspiring drive about which people always rave.

We arrived to our wonderful Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa, which sits at 4 Cannery Row, in the middle of Monterey Bay.  A wonderful Father's Day dinner and yet another game of Shanghai (which found the girls finally taking the first and second places!) ended what turned out to be a pretty perfect day after all.  Our waiter (aka Robert California - fans of The Office will understand why Maddie's recognition of his uncanny resemblance to this James Spader character was more than a little bit creepy - but quite hilarious) suggested that a call to one of the inns sitting on the PCH is the best way to determine whether there might be better conditions over the next couple of days, as we intend to go into Carmel by the Sea one of the days we are here - and might just continue down the coast a bit if the fog decides to lift (though with cold water temperatures and warm air, these conditions are typical of the time of year).

The view from our room of the bay and Cannery Row

Other than getting to experience my family's wonderfully resilient spirit, my favorite part of the day was watching the elephant seals swat sand on themselves using first one fin, then the next.  While the experts say there is no clear understanding as to why they do this (perhaps as a sort of "sunscreen," perhaps to calm themselves if they are anxious - though it's hard to imagine anything could make these seals anxious), there is no denying that it is at once amusing and adorable.  I'll include a bit of video, so you can enjoy it, too!

Kissing or fighting?  No idea.

A still of the "sand swap"

Daniel contemplates the Roman pool, the single most expensive "room" in the castle

The Neptune pool was what I remembered most from my first visit to the Hearst Castle

The kids could get used to this castle life :)

Dana and Daniel check out Hearst's view

The blue skies sure fooled us!