Big Sur

Thursday morning we headed north towards Monterey.  Just an hour after we left Palm Springs we started encountering LA traffic.  And….that traffic continued for the next four hours as we wove our way through downtown LA, past Hollywood and on to Oxnard. Sometimes going slow through LA isn’t bad as there are lots of sights to see!

Finally, we broke through and made our way to San Luis Obispo.  From there we quickly got on Highway 1 and headed north along the coast. Shortly after we got started we had to stop….saw this sign that said, “Elephant Seal Viewing Area” and we couldn’t pass that by!  Before we got to the seals we first had to deal with a couple of aggressive squirrels. They were cute, but they were insistent that we give them food, money or something!

We finally made our way to the cliff and looked down.  There were hundreds of huge seals!  The fe weigh in at 1600 pounds and the males top 5000 pounds!  They come to shore twice a year…once to breed and once to birth.  This was the birthing season, but we didn’t see any little ones.  Just seal after seal after seal…..laying on the beach and enjoying the sounds of the surf.

Big Sur is about 90 miles of rocks, trees, surf and twisting roads.  It seems as though every mile has yet another breath-taking view.  Mona drove the entire stretch so I could take pictures….and I couldn’t take enough! I couldn’t tell you how many times we pulled over to check out the views.  We’d pull over, hop out, and do our “ooos” and “ahhhhs” and then hop back in and continue north.  It takes a long time to drive this highway just because of all the stops.

One bit of advice for anyone taking this route:  Fill up your tank before you get on Highway 1.

Finally, the wild and fun ride had to end and we pulled into Monterey. Can’t wait for tomorrow!