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Paul, at the famous Big Creek Bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Somewhere near Big Sur.

Seals sunbathing near Cambria.

A Harbor Seal at low tide. Is that not one of the cutest things you've ever seen? I think he looks like a puppy.

The Sun setting into the Pacific as seen from Moonstone Beach.

My friend Abner, who lives at a garden store in Cambria.

The Big Sur coast shot from Nepenthe, a cool restaurant and shop set high above the ocean. The Stellar's Jay looks like he's enjoying the view.

Ranch land along the PCH near the Hearst Castle. Thousands of acres of ranch land in this area still belong to the Hearst family. Still wielding power many years after W.R. Hearst's death. He'd be proud.

Turquoise waters. My mind always goes to metals and gems, doesn't it?

The McWay waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, near Big Sur. I'm so happy such place exist in our country.

We had a great trip to California, though it wasn't long enough. I'm back to work, getting ready for a trunk show at Bead Haven and a show in Fairfield and finishing up a piece that I'm submitting to a competition. I need to take new photos for my Etsy store and I'm teaching a bunch of classes at Bead Haven in the next couple of weeks, so there's a lot to do! Can I please go back to California? No? I thought not.

We flew into San Francisco and drove to Monterey, then onto Big Sur the next day. We spent most of the week in Cambria, a cute little town along the Central Coast. We picked up jade and moonstones (they're not true moonstones, but they are beautiful pebbles of glowing white Chalcedony) off of Moonstone Beach in Cambria. The jade is actual jade and I think I may polish some of it and try my hand at some elementary lapidary skills. I haven't done any stone polishing so if anyone reading has any advice for me on polishing jade, I'd appreciate it! Once, I actually found a big chunk of Malachite on that very same beach. I'd love to polish that!

Along with beach combing we saw lots of Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals, Sea Otters, And even a couple of the impossibly large California Condors. I thought I'd post some pictures of the lovely scenery from along the way.