Day 14 - Fri 08 May

Another long straight road
We left early this morning as we decided to head to the coast at Morro Bay, quite a way further down than we had originally planned to. It meant we could do more of the coast road, which sounded like a good idea at the time.
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Morro Rock
We had a good run to Morro Bay (no police cars in sight), and arrived at lunchtime. This is Morro Rock, one of a chain of 9 long extinct volcanoes that runs along the coast.
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The local power plant!

Not the usual seaside attraction, but it does have tall towers.
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Elaine & Elmo enjoy the sun
We stopped and had lunch (crab sandwiches), before a bit of shopping along the front.
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A local resident
Looking over the side we saw some seals, this big bruiser is a female elephant seal. She was very entertaining and kept winking at Peter ... maybe his XXL size was the attraction!

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A face only a mother could love
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OK, OK .. we hear you
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Elaine asking for directions
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Spot the seal on the dock
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A pier near Hearst castle
We left Morro Bay about 3:30pm and started up highway 1, the Pacifc coast road. We came across this pier and decided to stop and take a look.
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Elmooo come back
It was a very long pier and so gave us terrific views down into the sea
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A wild sea otter
Feeding just below the pier we spotted this sea otter. He was just constantly diving and bringing up clams.
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Enjoying lunch
After bringing the clams to the surface he lay on his back to eat them. All very civilised!
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Nice moustache
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Not fat German tourists ... just fat elephant seals
Further on we came across an elephant seal rookery. Basically they use these beaches when the molt and lose their winter fur. They come up onto the beaches and ... well just wallow in the sand.
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There are hundreds of them
These are all females and pups, the males with the big noses come up to molt at a different time.
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Ahhhh - cuddles
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Moving up the beach, trying to find the best spot
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The odd arguement
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But mostly it's friendly
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They love to just snuggle together :)

That's the life hey?
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A squadron of pelicans flying by
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Elmo says "Hi"
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Coastal scenery
We carried on up the coast, stopping to take in the fantastic views. Unfortunately we were driving into the sun, but looking back was good.
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Californian Poppies
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More great views
The views can be lovely, but the roads are REALLY twisty and turning.
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An unneccessary sign, unless you're stupid!
The Bixby bridge, built in 1932. Peter didn't actually see this in person as he was feeling a little odd (now getting to the bottom of what 'odd' meant took sometime, was Peter sick, headache or were we just going to go over the side as he fainted!!), anyway, at this point he stayed in the car whilst Elaine enjoyed the view.
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The sunset
We decided to stop and watch the sunset and let Peter recover a bit! It wasn't that impressive as it was very hazy with too much low cloud. Sorry about the crooked horizon...long day! We then drove on and found the hotel just as it was getting dark. Phew...made it. :)
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Driven today - 308 miles

Running total - 2,408 miles
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