Playing in the Sand

Playing in the Sand, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

There's so much to blog about that I'm getting bogged down trying to go in order, so I'll just throw things out when I think of them.

Much of our time in California (thankfully) was unscheduled and we enjoyed working with the beauty of the landscape and the interests of the family in making decisions along the way.

After visiting the beautiful Carmel Mission towards the end of our visit, we decided at the last moment to drive down Highway 1 to San Luis Obispo - knowing it would be slow, mountainous and windy, but beautiful. It was absolutely breathtaking. We didn't make a lot of stops (partly because there wasn't *that* much time and partly because most of the beaches along the way were inaccessible), but a few hours into the drive, I pointed out a beach with a busy parking lot that looked promising and so we pulled over. This beach wasn't exactly accessible, but it was well-worth the stop as it was set-up for seal, sea lion, and elephant seal viewing and the beaches were filled with these funny sunbathers. I have to admit that they at first looked dead, but a few rambunctious creatures entertained us to no end (you should have seen and heard the squeals of laughter from Kate!) with scooping sand on their backs, scooching their way around the beach and doing a little wrestling with each other.

What a fantastic find! (I wish I knew where it was - I haven't been able to identify the location anywhere online.)