A surfer at Jules Fiepher (sic) private beach, Grande Monsieur.
This area was made famous by many a movie filming...
Two above photos by Que
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... including the Brand'oh film, Una-Ojo Jacks, (1961)
More pictures of the 94 year old National Landmark, The Julie Morgan (sic) State Park Retreat, where Que and I stay for one week---
...where my mother spent her summers as a young girl of the Y-Dubya-CA in the 1940's, and where my father spent his summers in the 1970's training as president of *his* union.
The central meeting area in the Friendship Hall--complete with grande piano, pool tables, and ping pong. I cream Que in ping pong, btw. (I can't help it, it's in my DNA.)
It's also the one room in the entire retreat that provides wi-fi. Rooms include wood burning fireplaces...gorgeous balconies overlooking the grounds...
...but have no televisions and absolutely no telephones.
People watching is primo for my roving eye. Besides the interesting cross section of Que's good union folk, the retreat attracts family reunions, upper crust history buffs, middle aged ludites, and the lot of new agey California stereotypes.
The architect's signiature style has strong influences on the surrounding homes in the area, not to mention every new strip mall across the NorthWestern United States. (Stay tuned for my post on this very subject alone!)
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While Que fights for health benefits along side the West Coast's finest 2007 teachers at the role playing bargaining sessions at the training conference...
... I gleefully sneak away for a dream drawing and painting date at the stunning coastal St Park reserve, Whale Bay, Pacifico G Reserve- dry ink brush pen on paper
(Things such as this sign remind me why I still love California.)
I want capture it all before returning to El Big, so I find myself taking more pictures than I expected...
Native yellow lupin on the dunes.
Wooden signs and literature pamphlets near the sand dunes notify beach combers of complex native plant restoration projects. Every time we go out, we see groups of deer grazing on the plantings.
Boardwalks gracefully snake around the new plantings and dunes, creating protective walkways to the beach.
The usual patches of barren sand with pretty but invasive iceplant have been replaced with pre-european native plant species. Each plant was grown in the resort's nursery and planted by hand.
Enormous progressive projects such as this remind me what a very special area it is.
Sun drenched, celadon beaches at the famous Grande Monsieur.
