Do you enjoy road trips, those adventures often defined by long treks through open spaces? In my fantasies, I love road trips, the freedom, the new experiences, the beautiful sights. But in reality….hmmmmm, I don’t know.
Harbor seals doing what they do — which isn’t much….. But they are cute.
When a family gathering was planned for Thanksgiving in Palm Springs, we decided to turn the long drive from Bend to the desert into a holiday road trip, planning fun stops along the way. I’ll admit, I’m a fairly poor traveling companion when confined to a car for 10 hours or more, which is how long it took us to reach coastal Monterey. After hours of battling heavy traffic, dodging mammoth trucks, and cautiously driving through thick smoke from the devastating fires in Northern California, we arrived at the congested but pretty Monterey, our home for four nights.
Fort Ord National Monument. The pacific is somewhat shrouded in smoke from the fires.
My kind of cycling path — paved and no cars.
We toted our bikes with us, planning to cycle when we could. What a treat to cycle in November. We parked in Seaside where we rolled onto the Fort Ord bike & pedestrian path then on to the paved roads of Fort Ord National Monument. This is my kind of cycling path — no cars, moderate inclines, sweeping, almost distractingly beautiful views.
The next day we kayaked on the Elkhorn Slough, an adventure highly recommended by lots of folks and our top to-do while in Monterey. We booked a guide and kayaks through Kayak Connection in Moss Landing. What a fabulous outing in an area rich with water fowl, harbor seals, and frisky sea otters.
They are cute…..
The man watching one of our new friends.
Next we headed to the charming little coastal town of Cambria where we hiked through Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, a point from which we viewed enormous pelicans, delicate snowy egrets, and a few off shore dolphins and celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary.
The view from Fiscalini Ranch Preserve
These enormous pelicans will soon be heading further south for the winter. Smart birds.
After our hike, we headed north to Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery located a few miles north of San Simeon to watch the males act like aggressive males.
And then it was off to Southern California and hours of traffic. Ugh!!!
Next post, how this celiac fared with food on the road.
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