Share The Road

May 23, 2010May 24, 2010 / coastroad / 2 Comments

Matthew walked bow-legged with quick, northbound jerky strides up the hill above Pescadero State Beach. His blue nose female kept up alongside, but her grey head hung lowered, shoulders hustling, tongue panting. Matthew's back, young and strong, held his yellow backpack upright. It's top peeked high above Matthew's head. It's bottom strapped snug around Matthew's … Continue reading Share The Road

Meridian

June 23, 2009July 21, 2009 / coastroad / Leave a comment

Hot dog Buns First day of Summer arrives bittersweet, for it marks the beginning of dwindling hours of daylight, until the solstice reaches its low, its demise, if you will, the blackout which signifies winter's begin. First day of Winter, hopeful. Days getting longer. First Day of Summer, full of regret over time wasted. "After … Continue reading Meridian

Can I buy your Magic Bus?

May 23, 2009January 25, 2012 / coastroad / Leave a comment

Used to be that psychedelic magic buses drove the Coast Highway. They've long disappeared now. A few are still around, parked long ago under the tree canopy of the redwood and oak forests. Aging and decaying. Now dusty, dirty, and grey, their faded swirls of paint across the nose, sides, and top. I've seen one between … Continue reading Can I buy your Magic Bus?

Share The Road

May 2, 2009January 24, 2012 / coastroad / 6 Comments

Just John caught my eye when I was driving south on Cabrillo Highway and I thought, "What an interesting person he must be, out here riding his bike, a tri-bike, loaded with gear for camping and extended touring, I'd like to talk to him." But I whizzed right on by his narrow hold of California … Continue reading Share The Road

Olfactory 1

April 13, 2009May 2, 2009 / coastroad / Leave a comment

The creek smells of damp leaves and dirt. The creek that runs through town carries the rich mix. The waterflow pushes the earth to sea. Deposits of rich soil line its banks, deepen its bed. Pacific wind blows creek scent through town mixed with bakeries baking and coffee roasteries burning beans. It was a town … Continue reading Olfactory 1

Beautiful Day Situation

March 27, 2009April 1, 2009 / coastroad / Leave a comment

Weather today, feverish Spring Fever Welcome relief from a slew of flus. The kind of day that makes people leave work early head west, to go driving in the sun. A warm, round huggy sun reminding us why we're so glad to be alive. [[[[Silent Moment.]]]] On my way home, away from the crowds, the … Continue reading Beautiful Day Situation

Coast Road & the ARRA of 2009

March 13, 2009April 1, 2009 / coastroad / Leave a comment

State Route 1 has received funding for 3 Maintenance Projects through the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009. Project #15 EA: 0L800 CalTrans District 5 County: Monterey Pacific Grove to Castroville, south of Route 1 to Tembladero Slough; also on Route 68 east of Fairground road. Upgrade guard rail, crash cushion and end treatment. $ … Continue reading Coast Road & the ARRA of 2009

Light Noise on Coast Highway

February 12, 2009August 11, 2010 / coastroad / 9 Comments

El Morro, North Laguna. When I was a kid, I traveled this portion of the Coast Road often, as my grandparents had a place in El Morro Trailer Park and I attended El Morro Elementary, just to the right of the stoplight, at the top of the rise there in the photo. Back then, there … Continue reading Light Noise on Coast Highway

9 responses to “Light Noise on Coast Highway”

coastroad

July 4, 2009

Hey webbiepebble, did you know the McCrystals up top? Did you know the Agrens down below (I think sp. 58)? So many names that are escaping me right this minute and my grandparents are no longer alive to call and ask them. Lee & Jules were prominent residents with their kids Craig and Vanessa (am I remembering that right?).

anyway, we must know the same people, yeah?
webbiepebble

July 2, 2009

and the sand building contests we had on the beach in the 70’s, 80′, and 90’s

I was married up on the green to D. Neuman. We had two fake pink flamingos standing in the ‘lil creeky water out front of our mobile, which ran through the tunnel and out onto the sand, where there was always a large puddle of water where are toddlers played all day, we called it “The Pucky Water”.

S. Neuman
Space 41
coastroad

May 16, 2009

You and I might know the same people if you lived there in late 80s? That was a great little affordable place to live at the beach and have community.
elmorron

May 15, 2009

I’m pretty sure the state changed the spelling and removed one “r” simply to demonstrate their power. I was at El Morro from the late 80’s to the day they shut it down. And now it sits as a wasteland, chained and fenced up. Progress??? I think not.
LagunaKid

May 3, 2009

Maudlin you say! Well then I’m the King of Maudlin! It’s not that I don’t like change or anything…I just do not like change for the worse.

Interesting bit of information on the Morro/Moro names coastroad. Perhaps the State is using only one Spanish translation source for the names, since you found that El Morro can translate as The Nose and I also had found that it can also mean the Forehead as well.

Could the State be concerned they just might be naming the new State beach, Nose Park? 😮

This is a definition on El Morro from Wikipedia;

“A Morro is a rocky outcrop in the shallow waters of a harbor, often round in shape and sometimes very high. They are commonly made from hard granite or quartz.”

…Now that sounds reasonable.

Yet, they chose El Moro that can mean many things in Spanish that have absolutely nothing to do with prominent points, beaches or bay’s. As you suggested it can mean Moor’s as in The Moorish as well as meaning a Male Sexist and even a Drug Dealer. Well we certainly have come along way from Nose here!

And all this phooey nonsense just to keep from writing an extra “r”! 🙂
coastroad

May 2, 2009

Thanks for weighing in LagunaKid. I worried that I may come across maudlin, but it’s so nice to meet others who miss the good old wide open spaces. We were 10 years apart at El Morro. (By the way, I meant to put on my original post:

Morro = Nose
Moro – Moor

So the entire meaning is changed from The Nose to The Moor, by dropping that one “r.”

Perhaps when there are two “r’s,” it seems like an extra and unnecessary. 😉

Check back anytime for us to cruise down memory road…
LagunaKid

May 1, 2009

Coastroad,

It was just as you wrote back then. I had went to El Morro Elementary from 1964 until 1967. I can remember, very vividly just day dreaming out the window out of Mrs. Marshall’s 2nd grade’s classroom looking out and up at the Irvine Ranch hills behind the school, watching a couple stray cows feeding dry grasses up a little ways beyond wood post after wood post, stretched with barbed wire, climbing up the steep hill. This view gave me countless minutes to preoccupy myself went the subject became dull. Okay, so I wasn’t an “A” student in school.
I have really good memories of my parents taking us to the many beaches around the area for “beach parties” with family friends that went into the night with dinner and bonfires. The Grunion runs were a special treat during those beach outings. We particularly went to Aliso Beach.
My Dad and me went driving the dirt roads and hiking all over the sage, prickly pear cactus and oak tree (and poison oak) covered back hills of Laguna, mostly on Irvine Ranch.
Your right about the mis-spelling of El Morro. I was just down there to visit in April this year and while approaching El Morro in the Southbound lanes on PCH, I noticed a sign that read “El Moro”. My first thought was “Hey, someone doesn’t know how to spell it right!! Then it just suddenly left me feeling a bit sad, as it occured to me that it could be the way they spell it now. Funny how a just a spelling of the name of something that your familiar with would leave you feeling this way. Oh, by the way everyone else, it’s EL MORRO and don’t forget it! 🙂

That was a great account on your experiences back then…Thank you!
coastroad

February 14, 2009

Hi Kate. So I was 70s and 80s down there and can imagine that you definitely experience that confused feeling doubly more than I!

Exactly that, I’ll be on a street whose name I know, MacArthur Blvd. or even Laguna Canyon Road, but there is so much change that I know longer no where I am, and I begin to forget how I remember it used to look.
bigsurkate

February 12, 2009

Yeah, I grew up down there in the 50’s and 60’s. I watched the orange groves and strawberry fields disappear, and Laguna Beach go from a sleepy artists beach community to wall-to-wall people, cars, and buildings.

I was down in September, and I got lost, over and over again. Even though some of the street names were the same, the landmarks of my childhood were gone. It is so sad to me.

The Coast Road

An odology of the California coast.

Rhetoric

Share The Road

Meridian

Can I buy your Magic Bus?

Share The Road

Olfactory 1

Beautiful Day Situation

Coast Road & the ARRA of 2009

Light Noise on Coast Highway