Big Sur Coast, California

  Dogpile!! Elephant seals at Piedra Blancas Elephant Seal rookery, CA.
Copyright (c) 2013 Wendee Nicole

Sunday we drove to Big Sur for a couple of days of camping. First, we went to Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seals! This is a rookery where they mate and give birth, and later return to molt, so you can see the seals almost year-round. This is the time of year when subadults and females return to molt. This shot looks amazingly similar to Sonoma Coast State Beach where I camped with Paige and all of our kids a couple years back!

There were only 1 or 2 big daddy-o's (maybe none?) but there were some cantankerous guys who would rear up at one another and get in eachother's faces. It was quite entertaining to watch. I suspect they were subadult males "practicing" their fighting.

A video of the elephant seals. They made the funniest noises! I don't think the video actually captured the sounds they make, though... 

I have to say, I think the elephant seals were much cuter than I thought they would be! I have seen photos of them and always thought they were rather hideous, but had never seen elephant seals in the wild before. They have those big funky noses, but they are actually super cute! I had a permagrin and could have watched for hours.

When we first arrived, I looked over the cliff edge, and these ones were really close. This one in front was adorbs! Something about her just tickled me.

The seals were in various stages of molting. We stayed about an hour and watched. I could have stayed for hours!!

Wendee feels happy and peaceful  by the sea!! (And, she likes to talk about herself in third person)

This is a shot of the ocean from a random roadside stop. It was really gorgeous and dramatic. The ocean was incredibly blue, also.

A shot of the cliffside from a roadside turnout. By the way, all these are iPhone photos... I have a ton more on my Canon camera that I haven't even downloaded, but I'll upload the best ones when I get a chance.

The view from the Nepenthe restaurant.

We ate dinner here, a restaurant overlooking the Big Sur cliffside and ocean. From their website: "In Greek, Nepenthe means "isle of no care," a place to find surcease from sorrow. So it continues to be for travelers today. A place to stop, to dream, to lift a cup to kindness." 

Miranda and I at Nepenthe. I love this photo!

Bob and Miranda at Nepenthe.

I took this photo at Nepenthe of the ocean. There was a darker blue line on the horizon that made the sea look surreal. Then I instagrammed it, making it even more artsy!

We camped at the Riverside Big Sur campground (all the state parks around were already booked by the time we made our reservation). This is the cute little tent that I brought with me... it was a "Scout" tent and thought it "fits two" it actually was a bit too short for me - ha ha. But I managed. 

We had a site right next to the Big Sur River. It was very peaceful to hear the gurgling sounds of the gentle creek as I fell asleep.

On Monday, all three of us went to look for condors where we thought they may be hanging out. We stopped at Pfeiffer Beach, which was gorgeous!

It was really cool watching the waves crashing through this giant rock just offshore... it's called Keyhole Rock.

This isn't a great photo - the sky was cloudy and foggy until about 3pm - but I thought these trees were very cool looking. This was on the short hike to Pfeiffer Beach.

Another view of Pfeiffer Beach

We took Bob back to the campground and Miranda and I explored a little. We went back to Nepenthe for a latte and soup, and then went to another park to hike. We took a 1-mile hike to the beach at Andrew Molera State Park, which took us through this beautiful California chaparral.

A creek we passed on the way to the beach. In fact, right at the beginning of the hike we had to take our shoes off and cross the freezing-cold Big Sur River!

The skies cleared right as we started hiking, so we were able to enjoy the ocean waves with a clear blue sky... I sat on a rock for a while and just listened to the sea.

Another shot of the ocean from Andrew Molera State Park

We got back to the campground around 5pm, and made our camp dinner and then... Smores! Because it wouldn't be camping without S'mores!

And a blazing campfire! Miranda and I stayed up talking about life long after dark.

Peace out! Headed back home... hasta luego!

Exploring Sonoma & Stanford

Memorial church on the Stanford University campus.
Copyright (c) 2013 Wendee Nicole

I arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday evening, and have had a great time so far. Tomorrow we're headed to Big Sur to go camping. But first, a quick update on what has been happening!

An article I am proud of came out today... CAFOs and Environmental Justice: The Case of North Carolina (or the PDF here which looks even better). This feature article for Environmental Health Perspectives is about factory hog farms and how they are disproportionately located in low-income, minority neighborhoods. I am increasingly trying to write about topics that not only cover environmental issues, but also that touch on poverty and social issues.

The most important news, most dear to my heart, is that my sweet, amazing and smart daughter, Savannah, graduated from high school. I can scarcely believe it! I am so very proud of my girl. She was #9 in a class of 700-something, in National Honor Society & a National Merit Scholar Finalist!

The night before Savannah's graduation, my mom and stepdad came in town, and we took Savannah out to dinner at Jasper's in The Woodlands. This is all of us together at the restaurant.

I don't have a lot of photos of me and my two kids together, especially now that they're older, so I love the photos my parents took!

Sam and Savi being silly at dinner.

My sweet girl with my son, Sam, after graduation, the next morning.

Savi hugging Sam. She is going to school for neuroscience!

San Francisco baby! This is the Golden Gate bridge.... Before I left for SF, I turned in a feature article about EARTH University in Costa Rica, a sustainable ag school that is very impressive. It comes out July 1st. Then, I flew to SF, and the next day I had a few meetings at Stanford, and then Miranda and I drove north to Sonoma.

The first order of business involved stopping at Envolve's Tasting Room. For you Bachelor fans out there, this is the winery of Bachelor Ben Flajnik. Yes, I'm embarrassed to say that though I do not own a working TV (it only plays DVDs), I got addicted to The Bachelor at the gym. And I thought it would be cool to see Ben's winery. It actually is just the tasting room, not the vineyard. I interviewed Ben's partner Mike Benziger, but unfortunately we didn't get to see Ben. I was impressed that the wines are organically grown and they use biodynamic farming practices. Mike Benziger is the nephew of another Mike Benziger who started Benziger wines, which Mike Jr's father also works at, and which are also organic and biodynamically farmed. Because we couldnt see the Envolve vineyards (they just lease the vineyards to grow their grapes), we went on a tour of the Benziger winery but those are on my Canon camera, and I didn't bring the cord to download the photos, so... that will have to be another blog post. These photos are all iPhone pics.

Miranda and I being silly and taking pics at the Envolve tasting room.

This is the only iPhone ic I got at the Benziger vineyard. The land was gorgeous! California poppies are one of my all-time favorite flowers. They remind me of my early childhood!

At 7pm, we had an appointment at Golden Haven Spa in Calistoga for a mud bath! This was suggested by Miranda, who had never had one but heard of them, so I was all, yes let's! You soak - and float - in this giant vat of hot mud that smells somewhere between sulfurous volcanic ash and manure. After just having written an article on hog manure, I must say, it was a bit gross. Ha. But thats' ok, #YOLO right? I can now cross that off my bucket list. After a 15 minute soak in the mud poop stuff (just kidding), you shower off then soak in a hot tub, then you get wrapped up in a blanket and relax for 20 minutes. All in all it was a nice relaxing thing to do. Then we drove back down to Sonoma where we stayed with Miranda's cousin - whose son goes to school with my niece! Small world!

In the morning, my sweet friend Zofia (my niece's mom) picked me up early and we went to breakfast at Sunflower Caffé in Sonoma. I had a salted caramel latte. Um, two. Yum! And we caught up on all the things. :)

Zofia and I taking a self-portrait in the park in the middle of Sonoma.

She had a baby miniature goat in her car! Kira (my niece) is really into animals and these guys are the cutest!

And last but not least, inspired again by the article I just wrote about being carbon-neutral (I am Carbon Neutral. Are You?) and by my editor friend's Terrapass luggage tags, I offset my "lifestyle" again for the past year, and got these handy dandy luggage tags to prove it!

Revisiting Playa Grande, Costa Rica

Sunset at Playa Grande, Costa Rica - nesting site for the Pacific leatherback sea turtles!
Copyright (c) 2013 Wendee Nicole

I still have one more post yet to come from Costa Rica, but I first wanted to share the photos from our visit to Playa Grande, which is on the Pacific side of the small country in the Guanacaste region. We went here the last 2 days of our trip, and it was really poignant to go back to the place where, in 1999, I traveled to blog for The Discovery Channel for two weeks. The blog was called Love & Death on Turtle Beach and it was a wonderful moment in my life, right before a really bad part started!

Speaking of adventures, my next one begins this week! I will be headed to northern Cali again and staying with my friend Miranda Spencer and her hubster Bob Brulle who is doing a sabbatical at Stanford. We will be going to Sonoma where we will do a mud bath (naked!), hot springs, and wineries. We plan to visit Bachelor Ben Flajnik's winery, Envolve, which has its "tasting room" in Sonoma. I was interested that the wine is organic and raised using biodynamic techniques, though I so far have been unable to get a hold of them to possibly interview them for a story. I'm super excited to see my niece's mom and my friend Zofia, who I havent seen since I was en route to Dutch Harbor, Alaska! We spent the day together in San Fran! (and then I missed my flight, but it wasn't because I was late back to the airport, even!)

After Sonoma, Miranda, Bob & I plan to go camping in Big Sur. I've never been there, and it looks so gorgeous - very reminiscent of the Oregon coastline. I'm also applying to Stanford's EIPER PhD program for 2014... so will be meeting with some professors while there. Wish me luck! I am studying for the GRE lately... while writing and trying to get my house ready to sell next year. And without further adieu, here are the photos from one of the loveliest places in the world...

Seeing this hatchery again was so cool. I remember like it was yesterday sitting in the sand with Dana Drake, watching her sift through a nest, counting unhatched eggs and gathering turtles for release. You can read the blog post I wrote that day, The Hatchery.


A view of the beach through the palms.


Heidi strolling along the beach at sunset. We walked up and down the beach, taking photos and enjoying the sunset.


Another shot of the sunset. I am partial to sunset photos! And especially sunsets on the beach...

I was thinking this was Roca Bruja - Witch's Rock - a popular surf spot, but that is actually at Playa Naranjo. I don't know if this one has a name but it sure was a beautiful, peaceful evening. After the sunset, we ate at Hotel Las Tortugas, which was the place we ate at nightly during my two week stay there in 1999. They even had the same utterly delicious arroz con palmito dish (rice with hearts of palm) that I have been raving about for 14 years now! Then we walked out on the beach in the dark and looked at the stars, using the iPhone app on Gustavo's phone. It's funny because it ws a new moon yet the sky was not near as dark as I remember it back in Dec 1999. It was just utterly pitch dark then!


A shot of a wave as it crashes into the shore.


Me on the beach - a bit dark but there ya go! We stayed at the Hotel Tamarindo Diria, in neighboring Tamarindo, which was really nice but a massive 4-star resort/hotel with a golf course, etc.


On the long drive to Playa Grande from Heredia, where we stayed the nights before, we stopped at this roadside spot where Gustavo, our guide, knew that scarlet macaws were frequently spotted - Limonal. Sure enough, there was one!

Another shot. We only saw one macaw, but often there are several.
Another shot of the beautiful bird!

Last but not least, here are my latest articles:

*  I'm Carbon Neutral. Are You? Ensia Magazine, published online May 20, 2013. A closer look at the voluntary carbon offset market.

* Adventurers Collect Data for Biologists: A Natural Symbiosis. BioScience. May 2013.

A Writing Award!

Yours truly receiving the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) award for best article in the science/tech/biz category at the annual conference award ceremony. Thank you! Photo by Diana Pachecho, ASJA
All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. -Flannery O'Connor

I just returned from a quick trip to New York City where I attended the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) conference, and received my first national award for one of my articles. I feel very honored and blessed! It was for my article, Did Tap Water Kill Lou Gehrig? (the online title is slightly different). Here's a snapshop of the award itself:

I will post more photos from NYC soon, but I still need to finish posting my photos from the Costa Rica trip! But I wanted to post a quick update along with links to my latest article:

  Secret Ingredients (PDF): Who knows what's in your food? Environmental Health Perspectives April 2013 (online non-PDF version here).

This feature is all about food colorings, flavorings and other additives in our food, many apparently unregulated by the FDA... who knew? That's why it's called Secret Ingredients!

I have a feature coming up about environmental justice and the hog industry in North Carolina next month, which came out of my attending Professor Steve Wing's session at the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) conference in NC last October (which I blogged about here). And I finished a piece on carbon offsets for Ensia, that should be out fairly soon, and right now I'm working on a piece about EARTH University and its unique sustainable agriculture education for students from around the world.