Pongo Goes to Pebble Beach
September 8, 2013
Soundtrack:
- Engine 88 -- Clean Your Room
Pongo has been driving everybody crazy at home. It's not his fault, really. Dalmatians were born to be watchdogs. They would live in stables with horses and make a lot of racket if things weren't right. Pongo is three quarters dalmatian. He's also one eighth besenji, making him ninety percent crazy. He's very alert, though. That's the main problem. He's a light sleeper and he reacts when he hears noises outside. The last week or two has been warm at night, and folks have been a bit loud across the estuary in Oakland. He hasn't been sleeping much, nor has anyone else. He was in need of a long, physical adventure. I figured nothing would wear him out like a walk on the beach, especially one with a lot of birds. Pongo has never met a bird he didn't want to chase.
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| Pacific Grove, CA |
I decided to take Pongo on one of my favorite drives. It starts near the Monterey Bay Aquarium and follows the shoreline to the entrance of Seventeen Mile Drive. It then continues along the shoreline of Seventeen Mile Drive and ends at Pebble Beach. Sometimes I'll stop in the bar there for a drink and a walk down to the eighteenth green, but that would be out of the question with Pongo tagging along. There are a lot of little stops along the way, as well as a nice big dog-friendly beach at Spanish Bay. Just what the doctor ordered.
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| Brown Pelican -- Pacific Grove, CA |
It was sunny when we got to Pacific Grove, but we could see the fog rolling in so it wouldn't stay that way for long. Having grown up in Oregon, I've always associated the ocean with cold, gray weather, so I don't mind seeing the fog. I like it when the air is misty and wet. This fog wasn't thick enough for that. We stopped at Berwick Park and walked around a bit. The usual suspects were in attendance: pelicans, cormorants, gulls, sea otters and harbor seals. I never seem to tire of watching these animals. Pelicans are the goofiest birds but I get the impression they take themselves very seriously.
We were back in the car and had just passed Lovers' Point when I saw the gray dorsal fin in the water. Shark! It was in very calm water maybe twenty yards offshore. Somehow I avoided crashing into anything and found a parking spot. I grabbed my camera and hopped out. It had gone underwater. I waited. When it reappeared, I immediately recognized I'd made a big mistake. This wasn't a shark at all, it was a bottlenose dolphin. Shoot, that's even cooler than a shark! The dolphin wasn't alone, either. There were two of them. I snapped a bunch of pictures, but I didn't want to stay too long because I'd left Pongo in the car. Don't worry, we were into the fog by that point, he wasn't going to cook in that motorized toaster of mine.
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| Bottlenose Dolphins -- Pacific Grove, CA |
I am amazed at how much wildlife there is to see in California, as well as how easily accessible these natural habitats are. My plan for the day had been to go for a long hike in the tule elk reserve at Point Reyes, but I had to postpone that hike to give Pongo a chance to have an adventure. That would have been a great day. It couldn't have beaten seeing dolphins up close though, or at least relatively close, so changing my plans definitely paid off for both me and the dog.
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| Point Pinos Lighthouse |
I haven't been golfing much these days. I've played all of the public courses on this drive, including the Seventeen Mile Drive courses Spyglass Hill, Spanish Bay, Poppy Hills and Pebble Beach. There's another public course on this drive before Seventeen Mile Drive that's a lot cheaper to play. Pacific Grove Golf Links' back nine surround the lighthouse on Point Pinos, which is the Southwest tip of Monterey Bay. There's a very different vibe to this little course. It doesn't beat you up the way those more famous courses to the South do, it's like somebody decided the area needed a course just to relax and enjoy the day on. I haven't played it in a few years. I need to change that.
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| Kelp covering a good bit of the beach at Spanish Bay |
Last month when I was at Point Lobos I noticed that the kelp beds seemed to be especially thick. I'm guessing that was the peak of the season. A good portion of the beach at Spanish Bay was covered in kelp. As you'd expect, it had a bit of a smell to it. Some folks might find it unpleasant, but I don't know, there's something a little comforting about it to me. I guess that like the gray sky and the chilly weather it's just part of the ocean experience. This beach is one of my favorites to walk on. It's usually not too crowded and when the surf isn't too big there are tide pools that require less scrambling to reach than most of the other areas on the drive. For Pongo, there are always plenty of birds on this beach. We spent a lot of time exploring the pools and trying to get the birds. I don't know what Pongo would do if he ever caught one.
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| Cormorants and Sea Lions -- Bird Rock, Seventeen Mile Drive, CA |
Spanish Bay pretty much wiped out Pongo. I think it's a mental thing for him. We were just walking around, but I could tell he was tired when we got back to the car. We didn't leave right away. I opened the tailgate and we drank some water. Pongo is a chick magnet. Women who like dogs seem to find him irresistible. He worked his magic in the parking lot, somehow coaxing a belly rub out of yet another beautiful woman who couldn't resist his charms. If I was a single I couldn't ask for a better wing man. Anyway, Pongo is so alert on his adventures I think it just wears him out. That's what's fun about taking him, it's very clear that he's consuming and processing everything that he sees, hears and smells. It reminds me of what it was like to take Sam to places like this, I'd experience it through his eyes and these things would seem new and magical all over again.
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| Cormorants and Sea Lions -- Bird Rock, Seventeen Mile Drive, CA |
We made one more stop before heading home. Bird Rock was covered with sea lions, I'm sure it wouldn't be an exaggeration to put their number in the hundreds. They were very loud and they smelled. I've never seen Pongo act the way he did there. I think he was a little scared. He's not a skittish dog by any means. I've seen videos of dogs standing up to moose and grizzly bears to protect their families and their homes, and I have no doubt Pongo is that kind of dog. I think it was the sheer number of animals out there barking their heads off. I suspect the barking sounded wrong to him as well. You know, similar to a dog's bark but different. He didn't back down or try to hide behind me or anything, but he was looking to me for assurance. I told him it was OK and he settled into it after a couple of minutes.
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| Cypress Point in the distance |
After that we headed home. Pongo crashed. He slept the entire way, only getting up once to move from the front seat to the dog pillow I set up for him in the back. I'd been looking forward to the hike in the tule elk reserve, but this turned out to be a pretty nice alternative.
Wild geese have built a couple of nests near the trails on the rocks at Point Pinos.
Our next stop was Seal Rock. Pongo wasn't scared of the sea lions this time. Last time we were here he was overwhelmed by the noise they made. It was smelly that time, too. He seemed more curious than scared. I don't know if he can actually see the sea lions out on the rocks. He'd give the rocks a good hard stare every time one of the sea lions got worked up out there.
