The Big Sur

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Down to the supermarket for more breakfast bars. We stumble across Nob Hill, which turns out to be the local supermarket that Penny used whilst living in Pacific Grove for a year. It's only a few streets away from her place in fact!

After another breakfast-in-a-packet we headed out to find Penny's old place, a blue house near the sea. After some confusion we found it - and according to Penny who saw our photos yersterday, it looks exactly the same. We wandered over to the water but there were no seals around today. Still, I can imagine it would be a very pleasant place to live! We also passed the military language institute where Che must've studied Spanish.

Time to head out to the Big Sur down Highway 1, the coastal highway. Quite spectacular scenery along the way, and we found ourselves stopping quite a few times to get out to take photos, along with a bunch of similarly-minded people. Between sheer coastal cliffs, rocky outcrops rising from the waves, stretches of sometimes white and sometimes black sand, and bridges spanning deep gorges, it was quite picturesque. The sun would shine between clouds more often than not, but a chilly bite to the wind meant we had to don 3 layers each time we left the car.

As we clocked up the miles we started to get hungry. One restaurant had amazing coastal views but was prohibitively expensive. Another, some 20 mins further on, was completely empty - we're guessing because the prices were absurd. We were starving by the time we reached Ragged Point mid-afternoon, which - finally - offered lunch for a decent price. Decent price, but crappy food. Oh well.

Driving along admiring the scenery, we suddenly glimpsed what appeared to be a beach with a few hundred seals lying on it! We slowed down to find somewhere to stop, but the roadside was all fenced off. Disappointed, we continued for a minute or so until another beach came into view - with even more seals on it - and a car park! We turned in, to find a fenced viewing area and a couple of "friends of the seals" volunteers overseeing the tourists.

There was a very strong wind blowing up from the beach as we got out of the car. The smell!!! I thought Felix (my cat) had bad fish breath - ugghh!!!! But the spectacle was not to be missed, so we tried to ignore it and ventured out onto the beach. There was a "bluff" a few metres above the sand that allowed you to get within a few metres of the seals below, running a few hundred meters along the beach. There must have been _thousands_ of seals!

Elephant Seals, it turns out. Coming in to rest and molt for 4-5 weeks before heading out again. Just lying on the beach in the afternoon sun, flicking sand on themselves (to keep _cool_ as it turns out!), and burping almost, but not quite, as loud as Karina after a glass of coke! It was uncanny how similar they sounded!

I'm guessing we spent at least 45 mins there, marvelling at the sheer numbers and how close we could get! Probably never get to see that again!?!

Back into the car and by now we just wanted to be in Morro Bay. As we got closer we could see "the rock" appear from the smog/fog, and the 3 really ugly chminey stacks. Apparently the locals don't think the stacks are that ugly - because they appear prominently on one of the magnets I saw in the souvenir shop!!! Yes, really!

We found our cheap accommodation and, true to tripadvisor.com, it really was a geat little hotel. Nothing fancy, but very neat and clean, great bed and TV, and more than adequate for a quick stop-over. We really ower tripadvisor, and Karina has vowed to write up all the places we stayed when we get home.

We ordered take-out pizza and I bought a small bottle of Southern Comfort. Not great, but we've eaten a lot worse. After dinner we planned our last night, and after deciding there'd be more to do on a final day in LA than Santa Barbera as first planned, we booked the same Holiday Inn Express in Hollywood using our points and got it for free!

Blogs, internet, and bed.

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