Yes, Sir- We Like Big Sur

Big Sur Coast and Half Moon Bay, California, June 4-6, 2009

We are finding it difficult to get anywhere fast in this part of California, mostly due to the topography. We are continuing along the Pacific Coast Highway, which in addition to following every wrinkle and fold in the earth is one of the most beautiful stretches of road we have encountered! After our encounters with otters and sea lions in Morro Bay, we today encounter sea elephants. This is molting season for these large creatures, who instead of constantly shedding skin cells as we do, undergo what is known as a "catastrophic molt", meaning they lose all of their outer skin at once. They enter a near-narcoleptic state on the beach, waking only long enough to flip sand on their bodies as a form of sunscreen before falling back fast asleep. They spend two or three weeks on the beach until the molt is complete, not eating the whole time and only going into the shallow water at the beach to cool off. I don't think predation is much of a concern to these massive creatures as we found that when down wind, it would be very difficult to approach them- they stink!

We drove through the beginnings of the redwood forest that characterizes this part of California and came across the Henry Miller Library, tucked away in a beautiful grove right beside the highway. The author of "Tropic of Cancer" (a racy novel for its time) and consort of Anais Nin (a racy author for her time), he is the local favoured son.

I cannot for the life of me remember where it was we camped that night! We continued on the next day, with more beautiful vistas on the windy road. We pulled another long day's driving, thinking we would make it to San Francisco. We were waylaid, however, in Santa Cruz, where we rode an 85 year old roller coaster (still exciting after all those years) on the beachfront boardwalk. We wandered around town and did another Trader Joe's run.

We had been in touch with our new friends that we met in Mexico, Lon and Linda, whom we were planning on staying with in Glen Ellen, north of San Francisco. We had intended on seeing them days earlier, but our progress had been arrested by the beauty of the California coastline. On their advice, we elected to sit out the rush hour through SF and so did not leave Santa Cruz until well after supper time. We continued until dusk, only making it as far as Half Moon Bay. Arriving at dark on a Friday night was not good planning, and the "Campground Full" sign was not encouraging. Luckily, we got the last remaining site ( the small campervan comes through again!) and the boys were able to meet some fellow skateboarders, so we all settled in happily for the night. Tomorrow, San Francisco! 

-Remy