Cooling off at the coast

Its hot over hear Elephant seal near San Simeon

You may not have heard but it’s been all the news here in California, it’s hot!

With temperatures in Bakersfield exceeding 108 my parents decided to take a trip to the coast where cooler temps prevailed and I was happy to join them. Our goal was a visit to ‘gro’, a shop in Cambria specializing in rare and unusual succulents. Our first stop though was along the way near Cholame california is a memorial at the site of James Deans fatal car crash.

James Dean Memorial

We also had a delicious breakfast at the nearby Jack ranch cafe.

Gro was a little tricky to find you have to walk through a couple other stores to get to it but it did indeed have some unusual succulents as well as interesting minerals and ceramics.

Gro, Cambria

Then since it wasn’t much further up the coast to San Simeon I suggested a stop to see the Elephant seals.

Elephant seals

After an enjoyable time watching the elephant seals we had lunch at El Chorito and I had a great time taking pictures of the humming birds in their garden.

hummingbird

we even spotted the Hearst Castle zebra herd roaming across the street.

Hearst Castle Zebra

Next up we decided to stop at Morro Bay and take in the sights. I spotted a boat in the harbour with a hold full of Eels!

eels

I was told by the boat owner they sell in Korea for a good price.

We stopped to watch a chess match on the giant chess board.

giant chess, morro bay

The match wasn’t too exciting as at least one of the competitors was still learning all the rules but it was interesting trying to visualize the game from a different view.

We decided at the last minute to drive out to the end of the road and walk around the rock a bit and I was very glad we did as on the way back into town I spotted several sea Otters nursing pups in the bay. I took several pics but really for the best view check out the video I shot

 

Mother Otter and pup

 

Sea otters

Needless to say having the opportunity to watch these animals relaxing in the water with their young was truly a wonderful chance.

We also walked out on the pier and said hi to the sea lions.

sea lion

Along the way to our next stop in Arroyo Grande, dad spotted a small botanical garden and I had fun taking some more humming bird pictures and spotted this little guy on the way out.

rabbit

 

It was a wonderful couple of cool days and it was with reluctance we headed back towards the heat of the valley. Soon though I’ll be on a plane to different climes so at least I wont be in the heat too long.