RSS Feed (xml)
Grab the kids and travel for cheap to one of California's most beautiful State Parks, Pt. Lobos, the place that inspired one of the greatest pirate stories of all time, "Treasure Island".
Aye! In 1879 Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Pt Lobos area (near Carmel, California) and was so inspired by the beauty of the landscape that he used it as the setting for his story of adventure, treachery and blatant skullduggery.
The original name of Pt Lobos was Punta de los Lobos Marinos, named for the California sea lion often seen (and heard!) on the offshore islands. The area is unique because just offshore the ocean floor drops and gives rise to unusual tidal effects with high levels of oxygen in the water; this attracts a variety of plant and animal life ranging from high plankton concentrations to mammals. The area was established as a state park in 1933, and currently is a state reserve containing almost 400 land acres and 750 underwater acres which in 1992 became part of the Monterey Bay National Marine sanctuary.
Hollywood discovered Pt. Lobos early in the century. The first movie filmed here was "Valley of the Moon" directed by Hobart Bosworth in 1914 followed by another fifty-five films "shot" here and in the immediate environs including Victor Fleming's "Treasure Island" in 1934, Hitchcock's "Rebeccah" in 1940 and Minelli's "The Sandpiper" in 1964.
As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in his novel, "I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun might blaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth and blue, but still these great rollers would be running along all the external coast, thundering and thundering by day and night; and I scarce believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of earshot of their noise".
Take the kids and camp, hike the area, take a few photos, and save a little money to boot. And if you listen carefully, maybe you'll hear a sea chantey or two.
c by Melanie Martin, June 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment