'Caching down the coast, III

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After we descended from the hilltop, emmett_the_sane and I decided to drive up to the sweet coastal towns of Cambria and San Simeon. The first order of business after such a climb was, of course, lunch.




We found a beautiful open-air restaurant that was designed to look like a wooded garden hut.



And the food was as hearty as the decor. We got a wonderful roasted garlic tomato soup, a salad of snap peas and fresh mozzerella, herbed red potatoes, and a creamy bread pudding dessert.

Happily stuffed, we set our coordinates to take use to a geocache near Nitt Witt Ridge.



Known as the "poor man's Hearst Castle," this house is one of "inspired eccentricity. The three-level house, its foundations carved into a steep hillside, was constructed almost entirely of salvaged materials, beachcombed treasures, and artfully arranged junk. Beal, who was garbage collector for the town of Cambria in the 1940s and '50s, made good use of what other Cambrians were throwing away, as well as of the natural materials on the property, in the nearby pine forests, and on the area's beaches."

It is definitely worth seeing if you are in the neighborhood!

We found the local geocache easily, as the cache hider wanted more to draw people to the attraction than to have people mucking about its property. So, he made the clues explicit.

Next up on our geocaching agenda was the well-beloved San Simeon Seal Spot, a handful of miles up the coast. Many seals come to rest on the shore here, and we saw hundreds of them. I posted another photo of some of the seal cuddle piles earlier, and here's another favorite from the day:



This cache was another rock-pile hide, but easier than the hilltop one to spot.



Emmett got to open this one:



We were supposed to leave something seaside themed, so I left a Coastal Highways postcard and took a little seashell for Emmett's mother, who wanted one. Here's Emmett writing in the cache log:



There were other lovely things to see in San Simeon as well. We stopped at an exotic plant nursery, and I photographed these lovely fuschia buds:



Which become in turn these lovely fuschia blooms:



There was a silvery coastal sunset:



And a cool lagoon...



...with beautiful fiery iceplants that contrasted nicely with the coolness of the waves.



We found one more cache after that, and then it was dark and time to head home. We drove across quiet Route 46, and headed up the 101 again to home.