Santa Barbara Courthouse and Hearst Castle

Sometimes the photo gods do not smile on you like when I traveled to California recently.  I attended a wedding in Santa Barbara and then headed up the coast to Monterey to do some awesome nature photography–or not.  A forest fire had enveloped the coastal areas in a smoky haze and forced closures of most of the area attractions.  Old Post Road?  Garrapata State Park?  Pfeiffer Burns State Park?  No, no, and no.  So I was left with visiting the aquarium and some other places on my trip.  I did enjoy the architecture of the Santa Barbara Courthouse.  The mosaic tiles, murals, and view from the tower were exceptional.  I also visited Hearst Castle near San Simeon.  The Neptune Pool was under construction but the rest of the house was amazing.  It was a beautiful day for a tour of the 1920’s era mansion.

I also saw some wildlife on the trip.  The elephant seal overlook near San Simeon had plenty of seals on the beach and of course tide pools had little crabs and the like to take in.  The coolest sighting were sea otters at one of the overlooks on the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach.  So while I didn’t come home with any amazing seascapes like I had planned, I still had an enjoyable time doing photography.