Northern California, Part Two of Four

Morro Bay

We started our second day with a visit to Morro Rock, which just happens to be located at Morro Bay.

The area is a refuge and preserve for wildlife and plants. Seagulls love it here, and sometimes falcons nest among the high rocks.

The Dynegy Power Plant provides electricity for parts of the central coast and valley. It has been a center of controversy, with allegations of financial corruption, as well as issues relating to pollution and the use of ocean water for cooling.

Surfers on Morro Bay.

The beach next to Morro Rock.

Seagulls hovering in the wind.

Most places we stopped, we saw these squirrels playing and lounging near the rocks and in the parking lots, often hoping for handouts.

Steve called this guy the Squirrel Whisperer. He eventually had a whole flock of them crawling into his lap to be fed.

Elephant Seals

Along the Big Sur coast is Piedras Blancas beach, where elephant seals form temporary colonies each year while they relax and molt. Occcasionally someone gets rambunctious in the shallow water, but most of them just lie on the beach, quietly.

They look dead, but there is an occasional sign of life when one of them uses its flipper to toss sand over its body.

Big Sur Coast

Looking down from Highway 1.

The Big Sur section of California's Route 1 is known for its beautiful scenery. Most of it was constructed during the 1930s. It's a winding, two-lane road with few turnoffs. Much of it had been closed since April, due to landslides. Luck was on our side; the road re-opened the day before we arrived.

Rosemary poses at a scenic turnout.

Monterey

Our last trip to Monterey was more than 20 years ago. Not much has changed, except that it's probably even more touristy now. The canning company signs are just there for nostalgia; today, these walkways connect shopping arcades.

This mural on McAbee beach portrays the Portuguese whalers who launched their boats here in the 19th century. They would harpoon a whale and tow it back to shore to harvest the blubber.

We ate clam chowder five days in a row on this trip, including one morning for breakfast at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. It was all good, but the best was at the Fish Hopper in Monterey.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968). A native of the Monterey area, he became a Nobel prize-winning author; his best-known work is The Grapes of Wrath. His novel Cannery Row was about the lives of people on Monterey's Ocean Avenue during the Great Depression. Ocean Avenue was renamed Cannery Row in honor of the book.

Carmel is a small, upscale city just south of Monterey, known for its many golf courses, including Pebble Beach. It has a cute downtown window-shopping area. Here, Rosemary pretends not to be freezing in the wind.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

For us, the biggest attraction at Monterey is the aquarium. The Kelp Forest exhibit is 28 feet high and holds hundreds of fish, living as they would in the wild.

From an outside deck, we could view seals and seabirds on the nearby rocks.

The penguins wear armbands imprinted with their names.

They line up politely to be fed individually, so the caretakers can keep track of what each one eats.

Another exhibit holds exotic birds, like this kiwi.

Jellies

Tube anemones

A seahorse known as the leafy sea dragon

A starfish on the glass.

A school of sardines in the kelp forest.

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Spiny crabs.

Anemones.

Seahorses.

Sea turtle.

Blackfooted penguins.