Point Lobos

I’m not sure when we made our first trip to Point Lobos, or how we learned of it, but I’m guessing Mom read about it somewhere. What a fortunate discovery as the family has had so many good times here.


I remember an annual family picnic on a Sunday in February. Dad could usually take Sundays off in the winter, during the spring and summer months he would be at the shop working. Mom always planned these outings, but Dad always willingly got behind the wheel and join in.

Point Lobos is a ninety minute drive from Santa Clara, near Carmel. It is a state park with evergreen forests pushed up against the sea. After making the drive to the park, we would have our fried chicken and potato salad picnic in a wooded area, designed like a cul-de-sac. The trees were climbable, and the outhouse was always worthy of a thorough exploration, the real attraction for me were always the tide pools.

The tide pools were full of starfish, abalone and sea urchins. At low tide a whole new world was reveled. Park rules prevented the taking of anything away from the tide pools, so the fascination was all in the looking. Another part of the park is Whaler’s Cove, and I remember once running in and out of the ribs bones of a whale that had washed up there.

Then, we’d take a short walk to China Cove, and descend a long flight of rickety wooden steps down to the white sand of the cove. Even though the trip was always made in February, we always ended up in the water. And, even though we always ended up in the water, Mom never had a change of clothes for us, just towels, and so we would get stripped out of our clothes in the parking lot, and we traveled home wrapped in a towel – which, of course, made it a real adventure.

Another regular feature of the trip was a stop in Castroville to buy artichokes. Often, they would be our dinner once we got home. Feathered apples, Dad called them…Yum!

Over the years Point Lobos has been the place the family will gather for picnics and holidays, hikes and family reunions and four generation have seen the magic of the tide pools.

http://www.pointlobos.org/