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(more details later, as time permits) ****************************** Forty years after I first stumbled onto Sand Dollar Beach, during wandering drive through the Big Sur region in the summer of 1969, I decided to come back and see if things were still the same... I'm glad to report that there are no fast-food outlets up in the parking area, or down on the beach: KFC, McDonalds, and Burger King haven't discovered the place yet. But it's now a state park with a $5/day parking fee, a collection of non-functioning outhouses, and a graded walkway to an observation area looking out over the expanse of the mile-long beach. Down on the beach itself, the rock formations remain the same as they were 40 years ago ... and 40 thousand years ago ... and probably 40 million years ago. The beach was deserted when I arrived half an hour before dawn, and it was deserted when I left half an hour after sunset. This is good; this is how it should be ... But during the main part of the day -- from roughly 10 AM until 6 PM -- it's a lot more crowded than it used to be. I didn't do a precise count, but I'd estimate there were 50-100 people stretched along the beach, with various groups arriving and leaving throughout the day. Most were surfers, some were fishermen, some were families out for a picnic in the sunshine. I saw a couple of photographers like me, and I met a retired couple from Skagway, Alaska that had first pitched a tent here five years ago, up in the campsite area, and who had decided to come back, like me, to see if it was still just as beautiful as it used to be. I'm no Ansel Adams or Edward Weston, and I have no idea if those two photographic giants ever visited this particuar spot in Big Sur. In their absence, I can make only a modest attempt to convey the beauty and the peacefulness of this beach. To truly appreciate it, you'll have to come see it for yourself. On second though, please don't; I'd like to come back again in another 40 years without finding it overrun by strangers...
Shutters These colorful shutters were found on the island of Tortolla in the British West Indies.
Shutters II More colorful architectural elements found in the tropics.
Snow? What Snow?
Exploring The Rocks
Shutters II

More colorful architectural elements found in the tropics.
Shutters II More colorful architectural elements found in the tropics.
Shutters II

More colorful architectural elements found in the tropics.
See photo in original gallery.
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