Tag: photography

Ode To The Rock

Each morning I’ve woken up in Cayucos, I have peaked out my bedroom window to see if I could see Morro Bay’s famous rock.  Here is today’s view:

Window Rock Watermark

Many go to Morro Bay to get a chance to “play” by Morro Rock.  You can enjoy surfing and beach activities on the ocean side of  Morro Rock or enjoy kayaking and paddle boarding on the bay side of Morro Rock.

Rock 2 watermark

Rock3 Watermark

rock web watermark

As you can see from the pictures, I tend to stay away from shopping areas while traveling.  Not because I don’t like shopping, gosh no, I would never say that, but because more and more, I am seeing chains and tourist shops which seem to be selling the same things over and over. Boring!   Now Embarcadero, which runs right along the Morro Bay’s recreational and fishing port is an interesting place to visit. (Great people watching)  Yes, it has tons of tourist type shops, but if you can get past those you will find the real gem, Suite 1.  Bill and Tracy greet you like you are old friends and treat you like gold.   I loved the variety of unique creative items you can buy there.  What will stand out the most is BIll’s photography.  He is a truly gifted photographer, has a great eye and sense of humor as well.   Kind and helpful are two more adjectives to describe Bill.  He gave me so many tips and helped me with my ailing lens. I wish I lived here so I could learn more from him.  I can’t wait to attend his Business for Artists class in the Fall!  So, if you are in Morro Bay, go by Suite 1 and tell Tracy and Bill, “Hi!” from me.

Rock2 watermark

Impressions of Avila Beach

My name is Celia Argabright, I write, I travel and I am hungry for more…  Sound familiar?  I don’t know why but I keep having the Anthony Bourdain intro. repeating in my mind this morning.  The only difference (besides funds for traveling) is that he explores the art of cuisine and I search for inspiring subjects to capture in photographs and paintings.  What do we have in common?  In each of our own ways, we strive to connect to the places we explore and share our experiences.

Avila Stores web

Each year my sister, Dana, and her family and friends escape to Avila Beach, California.  This week was my lucky week because my sister Dana is staying with me at the beach house I rented in Cayucos, CA.  I was eager to see one of her favorite family vacation spots so we set off on an excursion to Avila Beach.

We packed our beach essentials: water, towels, beach chairs, our scrabble game and we were off!  It was an easy drive from Highway 1 to Highway 101 and then off to Avila Beach.

The first thing I noticed was that there was plenty of cute places to rent while staying here. The main street lines the upper section of the beach like a beach boardwalk of sorts. It is full of shops, restaurants, and goodies galore.

Dana and I headed straight for the beach, found the perfect spot and set-up the Scrabble game. Yes, confession time is in order, there is no denying that we are Scrabble nerds.  However, while cute kids were playing in the sand around us, I did overhear a woman say that she and her friend had just been playing scrabble on the beach as well as she passed us.  Confirmation that we are not so nerdy after all perhaps? (My sister Cathy, who “does not do games,”  is probably shaking her head at me right now.)

After a glorious afternoon of being completely demolished in 2 games of Scrabble by my sister, I realized that this fair skinned gal forgot the sunscreen as part of her essentials. It was time to move on but we did not need to go far. We went to  Custom House and enjoyed sharing a huge plate of nachos. Yum! I enjoyed a nice refreshing diet coke with lemon while my sister enjoyed what she calls her “Happy Mama” drink.  It is made with blueberry Stoli, Sprite, orange juice and a splash of grenadine.  Both perfect seaside drinks depending on your preference.

We ended the day trip by walking the beautiful Avila Pier observing true happiness in everyone’s faces as they enjoyed the seaside.

Avila Pier web

Today’s photo’s are my  impressions of Avila Beach.  Yes, I am still taking the pictures but I sometimes I feel a painting conveys more emotional feelings and/or connections.  I have a strong emotional connection to all beaches.  It is what they represent to me: family, friends, good times.  When I arrive at a beach, I am flooded with childhood memories of playing in the sand and water with cousins, siblings and friends. I could go on and on about the memories of building sandcastles, body surfing in the waves, collecting shells in the early hours of the morning and bonfires on the beach at night.   A beach equals freedom and relaxation; the perfect vacation in my book.

So today, I am presenting some pictures I took, manipulated with photoshop and later will be printing and painting on. For those of you new to my Travel/Art blog, I am currently experimenting with combining all my artistic hobbies (technology, photography, acrylic painting, watercolor pencils, and ink drawings-can you tell I am ADD?). My hope is that you will feel the same emotional connection to the beach  I have as you view these pictures.

Faily Beach web

Love at Avila web

Busy Beach web

Perhaps, these will inspire you to gather your family and friends and make your own wonderful memories at the beach as well. I hope you will!  Avila Beach would be a perfect place to make those memories happen.

If you enjoy reading about places people travel to, after 7:00 pm on the 25th, check-out: Screen Shot 2013-07-24 at 5.11.54 PM

Beach Retreat

You may have noticed that I disappeared for a few days from my blog. Not because the travels do not continue but this traveler’s home base is currently in Cayucos, California. It is a small beach town nestled between Morro Bay and Cambria along Highway 1. I don’t know why, nor wish to understand, but when I arrived at the beach and breathed deeply the ocean air, I fell into a meditative state with no wish to return.

I’ve rented a home for 3 weeks, which is a long stay for this summer traveler. The photo opportunities abound here. I can take pictures of all my favorite places, from the farms to the beaches.

* Click on photo’s to view larger versions.

I’ve known this coastline for most of my life but each time I come the new is intertwining with the familiar beaches and older homes and businesses. My great Aunt Dot and Uncle Bob owned a home in Cambria long ago. My fond memories include everything from Hearst Castle, beach combing, yummy olallieberry pie, and Uncle Bob patiently driving my mom, my sisters and I to each antique store and then greeting us with pastries between shops. Good memories…

Lying in bed my first night, I listened to the crashing of the waves, barking sea lions in the distance along with the soft ringing of a wind chime next door. I cannot think of a better way to fall asleep.

My favorite thing to do on the beach as a little girl was to wake up early and collect shells. Each shell is a little treasure. (Perhaps this explains my love for garage sales as well. I used to tell my son when he was little, that we were hunting for treasures.) Along the Morro, Bay Beach is a lovely section I call “Sand Dollar Beach.”  Each morning the beach has sand dollars scattered everywhere. Knowing these are such a wonderful little treasure, I have been collecting one for each of my third-grade students for when school starts in the Fall. Each one of my students is a little treasure just like these sand dollars. I want them to know this as they start the new school year.

Speaking of students, they are the reason I decided to rent a beach house for three weeks. My after school art students have requested that I create a website and sell my art. They wonder why I am not already selling my art. I do not want to tell them that my self-confidence in my art is low and fear holds me back. I would never want them to feel fear in expressing themselves and showing the world their creations. I am constantly repeating to them that their art is unique and that they should not hesitate to be proud to show everyone their art. There are “no mistakes in art,” “we each have our own unique style,” etc…

Realizing I am all talk and no action, I have decided it is time to get over my fear and think of my art journey really like an opportunity to share what I have seen during my travels and share my impressions of those moments I have captured in time. I have set-up my art table overlooking the ocean and am now spending time combining my love of photography, painting, and sketching with colored watercolor pencils. My hope is to create a website for others to enjoy, but most importantly, to be a role model to my students to not fear to put your art out there.

Here is a piece I am going to continue to work on today:

IMG_3157

A big thanks to Mary Ann Pickett for mentioning my blog on her blog!  Mary Anne is a very talented interior designer who is fun to know and work with! Read her latest blog about how she helped my sister decorate her home at      http://www.classiccasualhome.com

Takin the side road…

My friend Pam has been telling me all about this beautiful back road she takes from Antioch to Brooks. So, getting up with the roosters, she took me along this wonderful country back road starting at 5 am. Here are some pics we took along the way:

We saw beautiful sunflowers:

We enjoyed California’s golden hills:

Here are a few pics that I am playing with via multi-medium technique:
IMG_2799

kiloki

Thank you Pam for showing me this beautiful area! If anyone out there wants to suggest other places I should travel to take photo’s, I would love to hear from you!

A quick trip…

to the mountains.

My mom wanted to take a trip up to Yosemite so of course, I agreed that we should go right away. 🙂

Look familiar?

We decided to go up, up, up along Highway 120. We stuck to the upper ridge above the valley floor on the Tioga Pass.

We visited Mono Lake. If you ever go to Mono Lake, you must visit Whoa Nellie Deli! Be sure not to drive past the Mobil gas station or you’ve missed it. This lovely yummy gem is inside the gas station! The food is delish and you get to eat it outside looking at the beautiful Mono Lake and listening to a local band.

Mono Lake View:

We visited the Tufa along Mono Lake just in time for sunset. The word Tufa may sound like a name out of a Dr. Seuss book but these beautiful looking sculptures are formed from alkaline waters, supersaturated with calcite.

We stayed at a motel in Lee Vining…won’t give mention of motel here due to no air conditioner in the middle of summer….lol I will give mention to the attached coffee shop, Latte Da Cafe, because they had my two favorite things, baked gluten free items and organic coffee. Yum! It was a great start to start our adventure to the Bodie ghost town!

Only an eighth of the town remains but the rangers there are doing a great job conserving the past. I can’t imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been to live there during it’s violent heyday. A murder a day and -30 degrees in the winter was no place for families, yet young children did live and go to school here right beside the miners.

As I end this post, here are a few pics of what those brave souls saw during the summer.

IMG_2765

IMG_2766

IMG_2767

Farewell Oregon

The last KOA I stayed at had a beach, Clatsop Beach, just down the road. On it was part of a ship that had gone aground when the captain offered his crew bonuses if they could make it to Portland 5 days early. (Guess that crew never got their bonuses.) While most of the ship was dismantled for parts, the front was left for people view a bit of history.

Oregon-A trip worth taking! Here are a few parting pics I took. I hope you visit this amazing place.

I left Oregon with a few things learned:

* Oregon leaves curly hair soft and not frizzy. The soft water here is a curly haired girl’s dream come true.
IMG_2270

* If you think Duck and Beaver decals for your home might be the next big trend, “you might be a redneck.”
IMG_2390

* Highway 101 is safer than Interstate 5 (Saw many near misses on 5)

* KOA’s Kampgrounds are great but read the reviews first because they are individually owned.

* Scheduling a nice hotel after camping (or what we called “glamping,” glamour camping) for six days was a smart thing to do.

* Oregon beaches seem to stretch forever. You do not see many people this time of year exploring the beaches, however, don’t be surprised if you see a truck.
IMG_2514

* Beachside homes are way cheaper than in California. You could get a nice place for 2 million verses the 8 million range on the sea shore. Definitely a good place to think about retiring. If not by the sea shore here is another option:
IMG_2393

IMG_2394

Next stop, Yosemite..see you soon!

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is a cute little town with a few shops to visit on main street. A few movies have been filmed there (Kindergarten Cop, to mention just one) Here, in Astoria, I found my dream shop. Seriously, it is called Vintage Hardware at the Astor Hotel. I love looking at salvage materials from old homes, antiques, art, and incredibly old architecture. This shop had all this inside one big old hotel. Here are a few pics from the internet:

One of our KOA staffers suggested that we go to Astoria’s Column. The Astoria Column has served for over 80 years as a beacon on the Pacific Northwest Coast. It sits in a wooded area 600 feet above sea level on Coxcomb Hill, Astoria, Oregon’s highest point. To be honest, not knowing anything about it, we thought it was strange to be going to see what looked like a big poll. Many may pass this up thinking the same thing we did, but don’t. You arrive at the top of the hill to what is an amazing view. I would have taken pics of it except it was raining. The Column is not just a poll but instead a work of art that is a summary of triumphs, conflicts and turning points of the frontier. It is beautifully crafted. You can even go inside of it and climb to the top.

Oregon Sights

If you are thinking of bringing your kids up 101 and need a fun car game? They can play count the Dairy Queens along the way. I know you Californians think DQ’s were a thing of the past but you will be amazed as your hear your child count well above 100. Or, if you prefer to mess with your kids on a summer trip, have them look for Oregon’s State flower, The Oregon Grape. No need to tell them that the yellow flowering plants they are seeing everywhere is the state flower. Let them keep looking for grapes. This may keep them busy looking for quite some time and give you peace from hearing the “Are we there yet?” question.

The weather was a bit better today. IMG_2406

I stopped for a short hike to a waterfall.

I stopped by a few beaches.

I stopped by the side of the road to take pictures.

I found a fantastic antique/collaborative store along the way! Couldn’t resist buying a few things at this store and would love to visit it again.
IMG_2481

Cheese anyone? Tillamook is halfway between Lincoln and Astoria. A factory is a factory is all I am sayin, however, a factory with cheese and ice cream is well worth the stop! Yum!
IMG_2455

IMG_2458

 

Who could resist….

A cute furry little baby even if it does spend it’s life in a cage.
I really have a hard time visiting places that have animals in cages. I really feel bad for them. However, put a sign-up that says you can hold a baby bear, how could I resist?

Yvonne and I visited the West Coast Game Park petting zoo. Many of the animals had been rescued (which made me feel better), but still some are being bred there as well. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to take some pics of animals that my students may study during the school year. I figure what better attention grabber at the beginning of a lesson than showing yourself petting a bear, right?

We really lucked out the morning we saw the animals. The weather was cloudy but not rainy. It was the perfect day to travel to our next kampin Kabin. (I am getting in the KOA campground mode and making all my c’s be k’s now.) Our next site was only a few hours away. Highway 101 takes you along tree hugging roads to cliffs next to the ocean. The views are amazing.

We arrived at our next KOA in Lincoln. It was ok. The bathrooms were not as clean as the first KOA and the room a bit dusty. Boy, did I sneeze a ton. Anyway, by this time it was raining. We expected this on this trip due to the early timing in the season. We felt a bit timid about going hiking in the weather so what do these California girls do best? Shop!

Antiques here we come! Or so we thought… they were more like over priced garage sales taking place in buildings. Oh, well. The highlight of the day was visiting a glass blowing studio and ceramics shop. Both had unique items. Lincoln has beautiful beaches and hike possibilities, however the weather really affected these plans.

After very little thought, we decided that staying four days in Lincoln was too long and changed our next two camp nights to a KOA 2 ½ hours up the road.

Oregon or Bust!

IMG_2240

Thelma and Louise are at it again…aka…Celia and her BFF, Yvonne Hyatt. Have you ever had a friend that you can talk and laugh with for hours on end and never tire of their friendship? Well, Yvonne and I have been friends for over 21 years and still make each other laugh those belly ache laughs that just won’t quit.
My first trip this summer is up the Oregon Coast. Yes, away from the farmland of last summer and keeping it coastal this year. (Don’t be surprised if I can’t resist taking a picture of an old barn or two along the way however.) Yvonne and I took off in a car packed to the brim with camping gear. Of course, I we had the trusty essentials in the front seat: GPS, Pandora and homemade granola. It was Oregon or Bust!

But then…things distracted us along the way. First, we just had to stop at Pour Girls Coffee. Great little country coffee shop owned by some sisters. Then, because I am often confused half the time, we had to stop at Confusion Hill. (Don’t ask-just someone trying to make a buck.) No need to stop at if you are traveling up Highway 101.

BUT DON’T MISS THE REDWOODS! Yvonne and I stopped and with my trusty hiking shoes, we walked a little trail while surrounded by these great giants. (What? You don’t hike in flip-flops?)
IMG_2226

This was a great spot to have lunch, and a healthy one at that. YUM, Mango Salsa Chicken Salad! It really was like having a “fiesta” in my mouth. Thanks Yvonne!

Back on the road again and low and behold we were going over a hill and came across the most beautiful site! Clam Beach! We just had to stop and roll around in the sand for a while. The sand dunes were so amazing that you could hide between them.


But we were on a schedule, or so we thought, so we only stayed for a short visit. Elk, did I mention you have to watch for elk along 101? As you get closer to Oregon you definitely hit Elk Country. Yvonne yelled, “ELK!” and I pulled over to a lovely area that consisted of a drift wood carving store, campground area, an old schoolhouse with an old fire truck in front of it, someone selling hot dogs and of course, elk. Yes, elk lounging around looking like they were waiting for someone to feed them one of those hot dogs.


A few pictures here and there and we were off to experience a tall tale. It was at the Trees of Mystery that I got to visit my old friend Paul, yes, Paul Bunyan and his beloved ox Babe. It was great to see and talk to him. Yes, I said talk to him. It is easy to confuse the statue verses the real Paul sometimes but don’t be fooled. There Yvonne and I were just casually taking pictures reminiscing Paul’s great Tall Tale. I commented that Paul sure had a hairy chest and to my surprise he assured me (loudly) that it was ok because the hair kept him warm at night.
(Ok, this is where I just have to say, “Wouldn’t that be an awesome summer job?”)

WELCOME TO OREGON!

IMG_2258

Camping, camping comes in many forms. Before my forties, I would scowl at the wimps not roughing it. A tent and only a tent meant you were camping. Bathroom and shower? Those were for softies!

Then I hit the forties, ok I’ll admit I am forty-six. Yikes, that is hard to say. You know you are getting old when your birthday rolls around and you think you are turning the age your were last year. Sadly, that is exactly what I experienced this past May.

Anyway, imagine you are hearing angels sing from the heavens now. Ok, that is what I heard when we drove-up to our cabin at the KOA campground. You can see by the pics how cute it was. I know, that is a girlie thing to say, but seriously, it had hanging flowers and a swing on the porch! Cabins had nice beds, WIFI and electricity-need I say more? Oh yes, I have never been in a cleaner bathroom and shower facility in my life. It was perfect!

We were “home”.