Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Road to Maker Faire, part I

Our first night was spent camping at El Capitan State Beach. "The windiest night of the year," according to Dave, the park host who came to check on us in the morning. We felt it, and the guys "sleeping" in the tent really felt it! The next morning, Alex, Eli, and Cameron described the suspense and agony of waiting to be slapped and pinned by tent parts, all through the night. At least dinner, the stars, the campfire, and the beautiful ocean view made it a worthwhile stop.

Now that Grant, Suki, and Cameron were caught up with the rest of us who rode in the RV, we were ready to begin our caravan in earnest. We turned our wheels north, and hit the road.
So... what makes a girl leap like this?
Answer: Pinnipeds! Which is exactly what Suki squealed when we arrived at this beach, just north of San Simeon. Specifically, elephant seals big ones, noisy ones, beached ones, and swimming ones. All the many ones.
The elephant seals are such an amazing sight. There they are sunning themselves and living their pinniped lives in this beautiful coastal stretch. It's always a worthwhile stop to make, to see them, to contemplate their sealness.
I love all those colors, silvery, grey, black, shadow, browns. They look, at once, huggable and formidable. We opted to consider them mostly formidable. Rumor has it that they are fast, even on land.
Up on the bluff, the wind milder than the night before, we stood in awe of all those seals, the low tide, the flowers in the fields. We felt far from home, at the beginning of our adventure.
Have I mentioned? This trip to Maker Faire was taken in lieu of senior prom. Instead of rented tuxes, and limo rides, Alex, Bambi, Suki, Grant, and Eli chose what we called Maker Prom: a weekend with thousands of artists, scientists, makers, thinkers, tinkerers, celebrating and sharing all that is made, created, clever and innovative. It really was a brilliant choice.
I only ever heard of one possible regret, that there would be no corsages, but that turned out rather nicely, too.
It's quite refreshing to know young people happy to follow their own paths, make their own traditions, and who can make roadside corsages.
Every road trip should include a stop among the wild flowers.
These lupines were abundant, and had a beautiful fragrance.
Two years. That's how long it's been since our last visit. We were due. Maria was pouring out adjectives, and long, admiring sighs of appreciation for everything she saw.
We all were... sighing and appreciating.

Have you had a chance to practice your seal stance, lately?

We didn't get tired of watching the seals, but we had miles ahead of us, and thoughts of lunch, too...
A lot of captions come to mind. I promise: no one rode to Nepenthe hanging on to the back of the RV.
Well, almost no one. At least he's strapped in. Brave, Sir Robin.
Stopping here was Alex's idea. Every Maker Prom should include a memorable meal with friends. And what better place to enjoy this than Nepenthe?
There's more to come. After all this is just the beginning.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish I had Maker Prom when I was high school. What a wonderful adventure!

Kate said...

Love.

Kim said...

Oooh, I would have loved to have gone to a Maker Prom instead also. It would have been so much more fun!

Tami @ Lemon Tree Tales said...

El Capitan is such a great beach. I remember camping there with my high school way back when. My biggest tip from that trip was to not let your friends bury you in sand and then let you nap for an hour with just your face exposed to the lovely sun. I woke up the next morning with a huge swollen face. Other than that I have fond memories of camping in a tent there. Glad you had fun on your Maker Prom trip!