Jeremy has done a good job of blogging our adventures the last 2 days in California, but I'll attempt to give my side. Plus some more pictures.Thursday was a long day of driving, for Jeremy. I dozed on and off through Arizona and a little in California. The landscape wasn't too exciting, mostly desert and more desert. I was surprised at the size and number of hills around Los Angeles. My only previous experience in LA is a layover at LAX, and besides the smog I had very little in the way of impressions of it. I still don't really, since we circumnavigated it and headed to Santa Clarita to stay overnight.
As J mentioned, it got hot in the desert, but hot and dry, so one of the first things I noticed upon exiting the air conditioned car in Santa Clarita was the humidity. My hair immediately curled back up to its usual humid look. It's been a while. The second thing I noticed was how cold it was. Wow, I thought it was June.
Friday we drove inland up I-5 through farms growing strawberries, cherries, some type of greens, onions, garlic, cherries, nuts, and many unidentifiable (to me, while speeding along) fruits and vegetables. Off the interstate for a piece on a winding country road, we passed a farm stand selling cherries every quarter mile it seemed. Heaven! That's what heaven will have, fruit stands everywhere you look.
Finally we made it to the ocean at Half Moon Bay State Park.
Overcast and gray, we noticed the temperature was about 58F so we put plenty of clothing on and headed south on our bikes along Hwy 1. The shoulder was wide and smooth, and for most of the 28 miles down, right along the coast. It was lined with yellow flowers, some tiny dots, some large bulbs that contrasted the grayness of the sky and water. A few splashes of purple and white flowers were thrown around in the mix as well.
At a few points on the road, the shoulder we were on was as far as the cliff extended. Just beyond the pavement, a few feet from my tires, I could see many dozen feet down to the rocky shoreline. It was dizzying, so I did my best to look away. Past many beaches, more farmland, and a lighthouse at Pigeon Point,
we arrived at Ano Nuevo State Park, where we parked the bikes and did a short trail run to the beach. We knew we were on the right path when we heard the barking seals from the shore.
It was a spectacular sight to see dozens of elephant seals lounging on the sea grass just 30 feet away from us. They couldn't be bothered to pay us any attention, which was just fine with me. Watching a 2000 pound animal wriggle its way toward the water was fascinating.
I could've stayed hours and watched them, but we needed to get back to town, so we headed back along the same route we'd come. I tried to snap a few pictures of my view most of the way back, along the ocean, through some arches of trees, over a few hills. The hills weren't steep or long, and we made good time.
Dinner was with Laura and Steve in Half Moon Bay! I didn't know they were so close by, but we are going to make a trip to just San Francisco soon. There's too much to see there to only give it half a day.
Today started as a beautiful sunny day but has already clouded over. The temperature is bearable, but still reminds me of February back in New Mexico. Monterey is our next stop.
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