We had planned to travel the Hwy1, the Pacific Highway, after two weeks of desert.
But after the gorgeous heat of the desert the cold winds and the fog of the sea were a bit of a shock.
We went to Pismo Beach and couldn't even see the place, but watched in amazement the massive clouds roll in from the ocean, filling the valleys behind the dunes and the coastal towns, chilling the air and leaving us grabbing for warm clothes.
We went back to the sea two days later to visit Cayucos: a lovely little coastal town, very much for the better endowed, this time no fog - that lay waiting as a white band of cloud on the ocean, see my pics! But the wind - living in the Hague and walking often along the seashore I'm quite used to some wind, but this was nono: we fled into a cafe and left soon after - yep, just before the fog rolled in again.
On our way up the coast we tried to visit Hearst Castle, another must see.
Spring break: we weren't the only ones that wanted to go there.
The place is only accessible via a tour - you can't even properly see the castle from the visitors centre - and the next available tour would be a whopping three hours later.
This you only find out by queing for 10 mins. Duh!
But we were rewarded afterwards.
Who of you reading this blog has ever seen a large colony of elephant seals in the wild?
Right. But we did. CA Hwy1, San Simeon, almost exactly between LA and SF.
Imagine a sort of sea lions but much larger: a sea elephant bull can reach 6 m. and weigh 2500 kg. They sunbathe on the beach. Every now and then they get itchy and start to scratch themselves. That is a tiring business so after a while the scratching fin slowly falls back and the animal is motionless again.
With these strange, fingered fins they also whip up sand to cover their bodies against the heat.
Again, picture this. A 3 to 6 m. long tube of solid blubber with a tiny fin scooping up sand.
It's hilarious.
But after the gorgeous heat of the desert the cold winds and the fog of the sea were a bit of a shock.
We went to Pismo Beach and couldn't even see the place, but watched in amazement the massive clouds roll in from the ocean, filling the valleys behind the dunes and the coastal towns, chilling the air and leaving us grabbing for warm clothes.
We went back to the sea two days later to visit Cayucos: a lovely little coastal town, very much for the better endowed, this time no fog - that lay waiting as a white band of cloud on the ocean, see my pics! But the wind - living in the Hague and walking often along the seashore I'm quite used to some wind, but this was nono: we fled into a cafe and left soon after - yep, just before the fog rolled in again.
On our way up the coast we tried to visit Hearst Castle, another must see.
Spring break: we weren't the only ones that wanted to go there.
The place is only accessible via a tour - you can't even properly see the castle from the visitors centre - and the next available tour would be a whopping three hours later.
This you only find out by queing for 10 mins. Duh!
But we were rewarded afterwards.
Who of you reading this blog has ever seen a large colony of elephant seals in the wild?
Right. But we did. CA Hwy1, San Simeon, almost exactly between LA and SF.
Imagine a sort of sea lions but much larger: a sea elephant bull can reach 6 m. and weigh 2500 kg. They sunbathe on the beach. Every now and then they get itchy and start to scratch themselves. That is a tiring business so after a while the scratching fin slowly falls back and the animal is motionless again.
With these strange, fingered fins they also whip up sand to cover their bodies against the heat.
Again, picture this. A 3 to 6 m. long tube of solid blubber with a tiny fin scooping up sand.
It's hilarious.
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