America Through My Eyes – MORRO BAY (PART-1)

America Through My Eyes

MORRO BAY (PART-1)

Telugu Original : Dr K.Geeta 

English Translation: V.Vijaya Kumar

William Hearst Memorial Beach:

The evening light was still shining brightly when we stepped out of Hearst’s Castle. Instead of turning onto the beach road at the Castle turn, I steered the car directly to “William Hearst Memorial Beach”.  There is a wooden bridge that spans some distance into the sea.  There are no signs of former glories. The glittering sea that William saw from the top of Hearst Castle is here with the roar of the waves and is telling the forbidden stories of the past.  The castle is not visible from here.  But the forgotten memories make the heart pulsating.  Beyond the bridge on either side of the wide sea, taking emotionally into both of my hands, I took a silent farewell.

Morro Bay: 

From there we headed towards our accommodation “Morro Bay” which is another thirty miles away.  The town of Cambria is worth a visit on the way. A highway runs all along the coastline.

          The town of Cayucos came before it.  We stopped there for petrol.  Many people were already there to see the sun set in the sea. We waited ten minutes there for something incredible to see and preserved it in our memories. The small hill extended into the sea looked beautiful like a big stone bowl upside down into the sky.  When we went to this town again, we wanted to spend more time.  Cayucos and Morro Bay are close together.  In five minutes we reached Morro Bay where our hotel is located. When we were looking out of the window of the hotel room, the hill seen from somewhere is right in front.  My joy knew no bounds.

          That is Saturday.  Usually on Saturdays nights we look for Indian restaurants.  There are no Indian restaurants anywhere nearby.  We went to a pizza place as we thought it would be better for a vegetarian meal.  Kids love pizza.  All day long we were very hungry.  After our order arrived, we hurriedly got to devour the pizza.

          After reaching back to the hotel, we go to bathe in the hot water jacuzzi and have fun playing in the warm water until the pool is closed.

          We opened the window early in the morning, and looked at the hill glistening in the morning light. The day was bright and happy.

          We stepped out eagerly to reach the foot of the mountain and run in the seafoam as early as possible.

          Near Morro Bay the land is rifted and some of the sea recedes.  A mountain on one side and a small peninsula formed like this on the other side have turned the town into a most beautiful beach.

          While driving on the beach road below the hotels, the water coming in next to the town on the left side is calm without waves.

Morro Rock:

Visitors are wandering along the seashore and various shops, aquariums, and many other places along the roadside. It is very fun to walk along the beautifully designed path, watching those shops, the small boats, seagulls and sea lions.

          We have reached the mountain location that has been alluring us for a long while, the “Morro Rock”.

          The mountain, which looked smooth from a distance, is fierce with its rocks that may seem rolled at any moment. Even though the sun is warm on the beach, the water is still very cold, as if it could not let off the coldness of the Pacific coast.

          We came to the left side of the front mountain. I took Siri with me and started playing in the warm sand next to the rippling water, while Satya took Varu to the end of the mountain to see around there.  But he turned back, when he saw the ” Do not Climb” board there.

          But we may go a little further on the stone bridge built into the sea.  They went on that bridge and returned in another half hour.

 Three fingers:

Three long tubes are visible along the shore.  These three pillars are called “three fingers” here. A power plant that was commissioned in the 1950s and closed in February 2014.  At one time, electricity was supplied to the Fresno and BakersField areas of California’s Central Valley.

          We saw only one side of Morro Rock and the other side of the raging sea for the evening and came back to the village.  As parking was very difficult, we parked the car wherever we had found a place and walked around the entire coastal area.

Boat Tour:

We have taken a boat tour to go to the land of sand dunes that are alluring in the opposite direction.  Everyone liked the tour very much.  All in all, it takes about an hour, but we can go to the shore by taking a small boat.  There at the sand dunes, we spent ten minutes and came back.  Memories of going to Papikondalu on the Godavari suddenly swarmed my mind.

          We ran up as soon as we trod upon the sand dunes. We became little kids walking  in the soft, white, beautiful sand and wished to spend more hours there. After ten minutes, we stopped running, reposed on the solid rock sand at a little height, dipped our feet in the water enjoying the moments and turned back when the guide called us. On the way back, we saw the sea lions sleeping lazily by the bridges.

 Surrey:

One of the beach shops is a “Skateboard” museum where we see the “World’s largest skateboard” on display.

          After a leisurely lunch at a local seafood restaurant, we hired a Surrey (cycle rickshaw) on the beach and started riding all together.  We  walked along the beach again for about an hour to Morro Rock.  When Siri started crying demanding that she would drive it herself, while coming back, Satya got off midway with Siri. Until we returned it,  we both Varu and I struggled greatly to drive it.

          Around three and a half to four hours we went to the other side of the mountain.

*****

(to be continued…)