National Lighthouse Day

One of my favorite volunteer activities is being a tour guide at Piedras Blancas Light Station, just north of San Simeon, California.

On Saturday August 6, 2011 we celebrated National Lighthouse Day at Piedras Blancas Light Station. Volunteer reenactors portrayed PBLS personnel as they might have been in the 1890's; they dressed in period costume and did various activities of those times. We had well over 100 visitors and we ran 6 guided tours, starting at 9:45 AM. Guests and reenactor interacted at various points along the tour route. After a 2 hour tour our guests received a gift bag of several goodies commemorating their visit as they drove out the PBLS front gate. It was a great day for one and all!


Here's a little video of the day's activites:

Romper Room of the Pacific

I was giving a lighthouse tour at Piedras Blancas last week when we came across a bunch of elephant seal wieners romping in the cove on the south shore of the peninsula.  These little cuties (well, not so little at 125+ lbs.) have a merry time learning how to swim and hunt before they take the big step of following their parents to the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean. These guys were born in December and January and bulk up on their mother very rich milk for a month or so.  The mother abruptly leaves her baby to fend for itself and heads to the northern Pacific to finally feed after months on the beach. The wieners gradually learn the skills for survival by playing and trying things out in the relative safety of coves and the protection of rocks close to the beach where they were born.  Very soon now, they will begin their real life as an northern elephant seal out at sea.