Andrea's Birthday Weekend in Cambria - May 31 - June 2

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May 31: Arrival in Cambria

This had been a whirlwind week and a half. The previous weekend was our extended Memorial Day weekend in Kauai and then we were back at work on Wednesday. Thursday, we went out for dinner (Postrio) and a show (Les Miserables) and then Friday, it's off to Cambria! This was actually a semi-surprise weekend for Andrea (she knew we were going somewhere, but didn't know where we were going). She had never been and I knew she'd enjoy a small coastal town.

We finally left the city at about 4:30pm and hit some major rush hour traffic. In fact, it took us about 30 minutes to do our first 3 miles just trying to get to the freeway. Eventually, things opened up and we had a nice drive (about 3 hours 45 minutes). Along the 46 before getting to PCH, we witnessed a gorgeous sunset. The sky was awash in an array of sunset colors, setting over the hills, with some fog to add some more interest.

We finally arrived in Cambria at about 8:30pm We stayed in the White Water Inn on Moonstone Beach Dr. where we had a nice room with a little fireplace (gas) and a jacuzzi. They also bring a continental breakfast in the morning and even wash the windows on your car. Nice touch!

We were fairly hungry so we went over to a restaurant on Moonstone Beach Dr. called Sea Chest. This was a nice friendly place. Not very crowded that late in the day (a lot of restaurants in Cambria close up at 9, but also the Laker/Sacramento playoff game 6 was going). We had a nice dinner starting off with some oysters, garlic bread, green salad, broiled fish (Andrea had swordfish and I had sea bass), a bottle of 2000 Chalone Pinot Grigio, and dessert.

June 1: Hearst Castle, Elephant Seals

We drove up to Hearst Castle. We wanted to take Tour 2, but it was booked for the day so we took Tour 3, which also visited some of the bathrooms (Andrea has a fondness for bathrooms and not just for using the can). They have new "security" procedures where they require taking pictures of you before getting on a tour which seemed rather annoying (or at least the way the young photographers handled it when we first mentioned our disinterest in being photographed. They may also resell these photos to you as souveniers, but that wasn't of any interest to us). In any case, it was overcast that day so lighting was muted. Hard to take photos anyway with a tour group, esp. when people stand right in front of the primary view and then you have to wait until everybody leaves and then you fall way behind the group and almost get lost from the group (hmmm, sounds like I'm speaking from experience...).

 
 
 

I loved the ceilings in the place, so I took a several different ceiling shots. It was tough to do so inside since no flash is permitted. Had to use a fast lens (f1.8) and a high ISO speed (1000 ISO. Nice to be able to switch this on the fly with digital).

 
 
 

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