by Lorna Harris on July 29, 2009
I had a frantic call from my friend Thelma this morning. Her daughter, who is a Junior Lifeguard, was doing the Pier Jump. I rushed down to Balboa Pier to see her jump and off she went, no hesitation, straight into the water.
The Junior Lifeguard program runs for eight weeks during the summer. As soon as school ends, the kids start the program, dressed in their distinctive red bathing suits. The program runs up and down the coast, if you live in a beach community, the Guards are a familiar sight each morning cycling along the boardwalk ready for the 9am start.
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by Lorna Harris on July 28, 2009
We toured Hearst Castle last week during a drive up the coast. It sits up in the hills above San Simeon, near Cambria. It’s a fascinating place to stop and a good place to break your journey as you travel along Highway 1 between San Luis Obispo and Monterey.
William Randolph Hearst created the estate during the 1920s and 30s. It is filled with antiquities from Spain and Italy, some of them over 1,000 years old. Hearst wanted to create a feeling of the Mediterranean from over 500 years ago.
There are a number of different tours you can take. The house and grounds are so vast it would be impossible to take it all in in one go. The best option is to start with tour Number One. It’s a basic tour; you see the main rooms in Casa Grande including the movie theater and one of the guesthouses. You also see the two swimming pools. The remaining tours take you on other sections of the house, or the garden during the summer. There’s also an evening tour, which features people dressed up in period costume bringing the house to life. [read the rest…]
