California Journey Day 6 Afternoon

Since leaving

Cambria this morning we had stopped at Pismo Beach and enjoyed driving around the wine country amongst the vineyards and fields of red bell peppers, but I had found one more possibility for a quick stop...or so I thought. My California travel book mentioned the Chumash Painted Caves, original rock art attributed to the Chumash Indian people, eleven miles northwest of Santa Barbara. It was on our way so we thought we would "run by" to see it. Turns out this was the smallest Historic Park on the planet and NOT easy to get to, but very cool. We drove and drove up State Route 154 following the GPS and the printed map thinking surely we had missed the cutoff, but eventually a small two lane road called Painted Cave Road took off to the right; had to be it. After driving several miles of a narrow two lane road of hairpin curves straight up the side of this mountain we were sure we were lost when suddenly this questionable road turns into ONE lane. As usual, no guardrails are in sight as we look over the side of the mountain when around the corner comes a "late to dinner" FEDEX truck (one lane, remember). At last we find the "park". The parking consists of room for two cars one behind the other under a gigantic rock overhang. Up a few steps is a metal gate protecting the cave entrance and allowing viewing and photography where the thousand year old art is painted on the sandstone walls of the cave using mineral pigments. After a few photos we are standing in the middle of the muddy little road (overlooking the edge of the cliff) trying to figure out how we will turn the car around to go back down the mountain when sure enough we are almost plastered against the rock wall as a teenager driving 90 miles an hour and talking on a cell phone zoomed by us! (one tiny lane, remember, and using ONE hand). Turns out there are expensive houses further up the mountain (we were sure we were at the TOP of the world already) so we managed to find a steep driveway further up the mountain to borrow. It's dark by 4:45 pm there in December, so we were anxious to get off that mountain in the daylight. Who knew that would be an adventure. After working our way down the mountain we drove to Ventura for a restful night dreaming of flying off the cliffs of Southern California. MA