Picture of the Day - Bowling Night

I have not bowled with my Cuesta College friends in quite some time, certainly not thus far this year.... until tonight. My dear sweet friend Krystal and her boyfriend Blake who is my history wingman at both Cuesta College and now CAL POLY as well as a couple of other fellas (Brennan and Jace) whom I know from previous get-togethers with Krystal and Blake got together tonight (along with another couple I don't know, to wit, Jon and Myriah) at our local bowling alley here in Paso Robles. This was due to the impetus and initiative of Krystal setting up an event and inviting us all. Above from left to right are Krystal, Blake, Brenan, and Jace. A wonderful time was had by all as our summer break from school winds down.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Bowling For Second Place

One of the things I did to unwind after working at the show today was bowl with friends from 9 p.m. to midnight while music videos played on a large projector set and the music throbbed from an audio system. There was also an ample accompanying light effects show. My friend Blake's girlfriend invited he and my friend Kameron and myself and two other friends to bowl at the "Rock N Bowl" event at Paso Bowl which happens each Friday and Saturday night.

Once we began to play it soon became abundantly clear that Blake sacrificed the rest of us to his girlfriend (who it turns out is a "Call of the Cthulhu" monster bowling goddess) who rapaciously devoured us. Apparently, we were sacrificial virgins! Actually, she graciously offered to give me a few pointers and I gratefully accepted. I came in second place in two out of three games played!

Note: given the optical effects on my camera that the bowling alley's light show generated I ended up liking the blurriness of the human figures contained in both and elected to use them here in spite of their technical flaws. 

My buddy Kameron... his name in the bowling lane is "Lurch".

My buddy Blake fed the rest of us to his girlfriend on the bowling lane.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Kameron's Birthday Bonfire

My friend Kameron turns 19 tomorrow and elected to celebrate his birthday with a beach bonfire at Cayucos with those friends of his whose schedules allowed. I had the honor of being a part of this celebration and below is my record of what transpired this past afternoon and evening. Note: I bare witness there was NO underage alcohol consumption or use of recreational pharmaceuticals at this event.

Cayucos State Beach at Cayucos Creek Inlet. This is the beach where we bivouacked for Kameron's bonfire.

Cayucos Pier at left and Morro Rock in the distance to the right of it.

The town of Cayucos, CA, showing the pier and Vet's Hall and a crowd of Mormons conducting a youth event.

Kameron's bonfire constructed by your's truly and ready to go.

The bonfire having just been lit and my little dog Tequila chillaxin' with her daddy.

The bonfire now fully-involved and we're grilling our friend Blake Burgess upon it.

The bonfire having burnt down a bit was now ready for cooking hot dogs. Note Tequila guarding her doggy bed.

The cute couple: Krystal Marie "The Squealer" Sprague and Blake "Mad Dog" Burgess

A second couple showed up (Brittany Wolfe and Lonnan McIntyre) and joined our party a bit later.

The other bonfire added to the ambience at this beach this night.

I surprised everybody with some flash just to check everybody was behaving.

Kameron received four thumbs up while I avoided any middle fingers.

Kameron holding court at his birthday bonfire.

I hate photos of myself but Kameron made me pose for this and who was I to deny the birthday boy.

A self-portrait by Kameron.

Say "hermaphrodite" and Krystal will involuntarily squeal for you.

Artistic image #1: no editing was done to this.

Artistic image #2: again, no editing here.

Artistic image #3: bonfire burning down.

All photos (but two by Kameron McMeekin) by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

San Simeon Point & Cove Trek

Today a contingent of El Ejercicios met up in Cambria, CA.  After walking the full length of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (formerly known as the East-West Ranch) bluff-top trail (and back) we proceeded to head up to William Randolph Hearst State Beach and park and walk out to the end of San Simeon Point. We saw no gray whales today but did see a seal. Below is what I saw.

A fog bank lurked just beyond the point.

San Simeon Pier

An old Hearst-era structure.

There is an idyllic and enchanted quality about this scenic and tranquil cove.

Trail out to the end of San Simeon Point.

This wave angled into the cove in precisely the correct angle such that it broke upon the beach simultaneously across the entire length of the shore within the cove.

A most remarkable cluster of eucalyptus trees such as I have never before seen.

From the main trail this appears as one giant tentacled tree but is actually four such trees with serpentine boughs.

An unposed image of Blake Burgess, Jonathan Garcia, Kameron McMeekin, and Tanner Smith.

I like the way the trees framed this scene with the pier in the background.

A posed image of Blake Burgess, Jonathan Garcia, Tanner Smith, and Kameron McMeekin.

This angle brings to my mind the mental image of a mythological kraken.

Perhaps the most scenic scene here.

San Simeon Point looks a lot like the coast further north in and around Carmel, CA.

Kameron (left) and one of today's guest hikers.

This rock formation is actually greatly undermined by the ocean which surges up under it creating cavernous explosive noises as water surges up into the caves it has carved out of this rock.

Half our party elected to watch from the bluff-top the other half whom climbed down onto the beach.

Blake and Kameron climbing atop one of the picturesque rock mini-seastacks.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Harmony Headlands Virgin Visit

Today the El Ejercicios (well, a small contingent of them anyway) conducted a couple of coast walks along the north coast of San Luis Obispo County. For various reasons most members were unable to join us so we looked at today as partly for us and partly a recon operation for future walks for the rest of the group. Our first walk of the day was a first-time visit to Harmony Headlands State Park, a newer state park on the Central Coast of California. In attendance were Kameron McMeekin, Sarah Masters and her beau Anthony and lastly, myself. Dogs are unwelcome in the state parks system (an outrage worthy of a future rant here) so I had to leave my dog at home. Upon parking our two cars in the parking lot adjacent to Highway 1 we headed out the main trail towards the coast a couple of miles away. The following images were taken in the order they appear below. *NOTE: my camera battery pooped out while visiting this park and I was unable to take any additional photos for the remainder of the day.  

Following our visit to Harmony Headlands State Park we headed up the coast to Cambria, CA, and had lunch at Sandy's Deli where I had my precious, yes, my presshhhhiooouuussss Nanner Nutty Smoothie which I washed down with a Big Sur Tuna Avocado Sandwich.

Following the ensuing foodgasm I achieved from that culinary indulgence I headed up the coast in a cloud of dopamine and endorphins with just Kameron at this point as Sarah and Anthony had to leave us for work.
We drove all the way up to Ragged Point as Kameron had not been that far up Hwy. 1 before. We then turned around and headed back down the coast to the elephant seal rookery and watched the show for a little while.

After that we drove down to the old San Simeon townsite and parked at Sebastian Store intending to walk out to the end of San Simeon Point. Parking outside William Randolph Hearst State Park proper in order to avoid paying the parking fee we walked down to the beach and walked west until we reached the start of the trail out to the end of San Simeon Point. From there we walked out to the end of the point where we saw a gray whale leaving the cove and headed out to sea around the point. After exploring the forest of blue gum eucalyptus and Monterey pine we headed back to the car and drove home.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).