Day 35-Mon, 2 Feb 09-Morro Bay, Calif

Photos: (1) The main house and outdoor pool at Hearst Castle. (2) Elephant Seals. Wow!! We've had a couple of fabulous days. We left Malibu on Saturday and drove to Santa Barbara where we stopped at the pier, had lunch and wandered the boardwalk. There was a huge craft show and we only saw a small portion of it. I was particularly interested in some of the photo exhibits...lots of very talented people. There was also a display by Veterans Against War. Every Sunday, for the past 5 years, they put 3000 small crosses on the beach to signify the number of soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. and dismantle it in the evening. A little sobering.

It was a beautiful day and we drove the coastline wherever possible. The hills are so lovely and covered in grass--it makes them look as though they are covered in velvet. Cattle are scattered over the hills and it is very picturesque. We stayed at a remote KOA in Santa Margarita, way up in the hills. There was supposed to be a lake there...we never did see it...and not too many RVs. The oak trees were huge and gnarled like old men. I thought it would be interesting to take photos of these trees and attach a 'tree thought' for each of them..some were quite obvious..but we wanted to get on the road so it's another project for 'next time'. Because we were up so high it got quite cold last night which resulted in another frozen water line this morning...nothing serious but we would have been very uncomfortable without our little heater.

We had two destinations in mind for today...The Hearst Castle and the elephant seal colony at Seal Point. We did both and each one was memorable.

The Hearst Castle belonged to William Randolph Hearst...newspaper magnet and Hollywood film maker. It took him 15 years to build and sits on one of the highest peaks overlooking the ocean. There really aren't any words to describe it other than opulent outside, a bit gothic inside, breathtaking, etc. etc. I'm not going to give his life story here but he was beyond interesting and had a love for history and collecting which is evident in this particular residence. He entertained so many famous people--Churchill, Lindberg, movie stars, etc.--and his family turned the residence over to the California gov't about 30 years ago so it's now a State Park. Point of interest...Patty Hearst is his granddaughter; she turns 55 this year!

The first time we drove this coast a few years ago, we stopped to see the seals but it was later in the year and while there were many of them, they were pretty sedentary. It was certainly a different story this year! They come back to this stretch of beach every year to have their pups, mate and head back out to sea. The pups are being born now and although some of them look quite large, they are from 1 month to hours old (females milk is 65% fat so they grow really big very quickly). You can tell which pups are newborn as the seagulls gather to eat the afterbirth. The males are GINORMOUS!! They are 2 1/2 tons of bad temper and ugly to boot! The prime male has one busy job trying to keep the interlopers away from his harem and we saw some pretty intense battles between these giants. While they are anxious to mate, the females are still nursing and don't want to be bothered so it's noisy. I could have watched them forever and we ended up spending about 3 hours there. It was exciting to see nature at its best and other than a wire fence, the seals are right there in front of you. This was definitely the one of the major trip highlights so far.

We've come back 30 miles to stay in Morro Bay. It's a lovely spot and we may wander downtown tomorrow and stay another night. We had thought about going up to Big Sur but I think we've seen as much of the coastline as we wanted. The weather is supposed to turn rainy on Thurs and I'd still like to visit a couple of parks and then we will head back to Arizona. There are some wonderful small towns along here. We'd stopped for gas in Cayucos and while it's a resort town, it has a really nice feel about it. Of course, the beaches all along this highway make any town attractive but some resist the t-shirt kitch for bakery's, small diners, and little houses along main street. Very attractive.

There's a 3-hour time difference which is why we haven't call this week kids. By the time we get settled in a site and get supper it's after 7 pm here and everyone at home is in bed. Internet service is excellent here so we'll try calling early (for us) tomorrow if we stay here another night.

Until then, love and hugs to all. xx