Ode to California Part One

Watching the wildfires sweep through California and the Northwest breaks our hearts here in Michigan. As someone who loves California and the myriad landscapes, cities, people, culture, and food (to name a few things) to be savored, thought it might be nice to look back at a few treasured California dreamin' moments. My girlfriend Melanie and I had an Outstanding in the Field Big Sur experience on our list for quite sometime. We have been to other OITF events here in Michigan, but due to serendipitous circumstances, traveled to Big Sur in November of 2018 (where the weather was absolutely phenomenal) to finally attend one of the events overlooking the Pacific Ocean at a ranch in Big Sur. We also finally got to see the fantastically restored OITF bus, as it had thus far not made it to Michigan. We are about ready to board regular buses for the 45 minute ride on a winding ranch road to our hilltop for dinner. More on that later. Melanie and I are shown here with the founder of Outstanding in the Field, Jim Denevan. We are a tad overdressed for the weather as colder weather had originally been predicted but here we are....Jim in flip flops and us in layered black. Yep, pretty much shed the jacket and scarf after this photo!