Gold Coast Tour

  California’s Golden Coast

By Bill Thomas

     Our Association has been exploring various educational touring experiences for our members. It is hoped that such visits to various park and recreation sites to evaluate their benefits and study significant problems, issues, and proven solutions will broaden our individual knowledge, providing insights to assist us in decision-making in our own community circumstances. We first looked at a one-week tour of national parks close to California but found that registration fees collected would not be reimbursed unless 20 or more participants were enrolled and fully paid. We looked at other alternatives. Because of Paul Romero’s position as Executive Deputy Director of the State Park system before becoming the CAPRCBM Executive Director, we prevailed upon him to design a tour of exemplary park facilities along the California Coast and formed a seven-person task force for our preliminary endeavor. In August, 2010, our small group set off on a seven-day excursion to explore the proposed sites. Our lodging experiences were comfortable and convenient. Concurrent with our daily travels, Romero and Jim Steelquist, both exceptional photographers, provided nature photography lessons on an individual basis.  Each day welcomed a new adventure, entirely different from the proceeding one. Park rangers and directors, docents and volunteers greeted, guided, and taught us park ways and means we had never imaged.  

    The first day, we visited El Presidio Santa Barbara, the last Spanish fortress and one of four Spanish-built military presidios in Alta California. These presidios played a significant part of the creation of New Spain, protecting the missions and settlers from unfriendly attack and providing a seat of government.   Next, we spent a morning at La Purisima Mission, the most well-preserved of California’s 21 Spanish missions, touring the entire complex, from the inspirational church to tallow vats where the fat from slaughtered cattle became soap; into the former living quarters of priests, soldiers, and native Americans; demonstrating some of the crafts practiced by native Americans who had been blacksmiths, carpenters, stone masons, master weavers, and leather makers. Morro Bay SB was our next stop, with everything from hiking trails and campsites to a resort, 250 species of shore birds, and an expansive golf course.  After photographing the animals at Sea Lion Beach, we spent almost a full day at Hearst Castle, exploring the main house, La Casa Grande,  along with three spacious guest houses, 127 acres of gardens, and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, including the exotic Neptune Pool. Day four found us at Point Sur Lighthouse, which is being restored and where the ancient stone lighthouse still provides horn and lighting guides to passing ships. We drove further north to Julia Pfeifer Burns SP where California’s only waterfall flows into the Pacific Ocean is located. Spending the night at Pfeifer Big Sur SP, we saw outstanding examples of a multi-use park for camping, hiking, rafting, inner-tubing, and wildlife viewing, relaxing set amongst redwoods, conifers, oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods, maples, elders, and willows. The next day, Friday, we stopped at Point Lobos SR with both its sandy and pebbled  beaches, tide pools, rocky coves, cypress groves, varied plant communities, and picnic areas. Sea otters, seals and sea lions were playing as we walked through Monterey Cypress.  Moving north, we arrived at Monterey SHP, which features numerous historical structures, including both California’s first theatre and the Monterey Customs House, which we toured, where the American flag was first raised over California. Monterey also served as both Spain’s and Mexico’s capitals as was the site of the state’s first constitutional convention.  We also spent time at the Asilomar Conference Center, cradled by pine forests and white-sand beaches. The attractive grounds contain 30 rustic structures, including hotel lodges, a huge dining room and auditorium, including the original 11 buildings comprising the original YWCA conference center, designed by Julia Morgan of Hearst Castle design fame. On Saturday, we bussed through Angel Island SP. With its spectacular views of Marin County, San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge, Angel Island has had a colorful history through the ages as a Miwok fishing and hunting site, a Civil War U.S. Army post and garrison for infantry companies campaigning against American Indians, a discharge destination during the Spanish-American War, a recruitment and replacement depot for troops returning from World War I, and embarkation site for Second WW troops heading to the Pacific war zone, a processing facility for prisoners of war, a Nike missile battery, and, is now a popular tourist attraction. Our interesting final morning was spent at Sacramento’s California State Railroad Museum. Here, there are six reconstructed and new buildings covering 225,000 square feet, housing 21 meticulously restored locomotives and cars illustrating how railroads, especially in the West, shaped the entire country. In the afternoon, we headed back to our starting point in Manhattan Beach.

            
    Our collective task force learned far more than we anticipated from our week long journey. We especially noted the enormous differences in maintaining such a facility as a railroad museum and Hearst Castle to a reserve like Pt. Lobos or an Elephant Sea Lion habitat or a campsite along the beach. We were enthralled by the professionalism and diplomacy we were shown by the state park personal who hosted us. We were surprised at how resourceful they had been in raising funds and collecting fees from numerous creative endeavors such as church services, weddings, gift shops, sporting events, and leasing out grounds and buildings to television and motion picture companies. Additionally, we had no idea at the beginning of our trip, how each and every entity of the state park system benefited from their volunteers, many of them members of park support organizations, many serving as guides, docents, and curators. As Paul Romero said, “My most enjoyable moments were viewing the awe in the eyes of the tour participants, their smiles and glee when we entered a site or natural area. It’s always more fun sharing the beautiful views, landscapes, and historical structures with people who appreciate them as much as I.” He also enjoyed reuniting with friends from his fruitful park career.

    If we have an overall message to deliver, please support your state park system by an investment in time, money, as well as Proposition 21. Soon, we will also be announcing opportunities through Caprcbm of various educational tours within the state.