Hwy 1

Hwy 1 is always spectacular and breathtaking. At Morro Bay, we camped in the same campground as our very first night of the trip in July, when we met Stacey. We liked climbing the rocks in the playground


and the small botanical garden near by
After 2 relaxing days we continued on hwy 1 until we saw this:
Hundreds of elephant seals lying on the beach! As we got closer we could see (and smell) the moms and babies. They keep covering themselves with sand to protect from the sun. They're very noisy - they scream, burp, snarl and sneeze while sand is blowing out of their mouth.
The elephant seals come here every year to have their babies and mate. They will leave in March and come back next January. The males (bulls) have a funny snout
They fight among themselves on territory. They fight so hard that they bleed and have many scars on their necks.


Some more pictures from the way

Pismo Beach

Along the coast we stopped for the night at Pismo Beach. Dagan and I spent here a night maybe 10 years ago and we wanted to stay here again.
In the state park campground we saw signs of butterflies along the road so we took our bikes and went to check what it's all about. We arrived to a place called monarch butterfly grove. We saw three telescopes pointed at eucalyptus trees and few butterflies in the air. When we approached closer and looked through the telescope we saw thousands of butterflied arranged in clusters up on the trees.

More and more people gathered to see this wonder and then we heard a short talk about the monarchs. They travel all the way from south Canada to mate and lay eggs in warm California. There are about 23,000 butterflies visiting this year.

We have a new embellishment for the rv - a "for sale" sign. Isn't it sad...?

Back in California

Well... actually we entered to California few days ago (Death Valley) but during the last couple of days we really felt California.
From Death Valley we had a long drive, crossing mountains and slowly exchanging the brown desert to green landscape. We spent the night at Flying J gas station (it is not as bad as it sounds) and by the morning got into the beautiful Los Padres National Forest. Slow drive with some snow by the road and a fantastic landscape.



By the afternoon we got to Ojai, where we found a nice county campground next to the river, surrounded by green mountains. After getting some tips and hints from our camping neighbors, we continued to Santa Barbara with not too much of an expectation. They have a film festival and the streets are packed with people (and dogs). We LOVED it!



We continued just few miles to spend the next night by Lake Cachuma. One of the best things traveling off-season is that there are plenty of spaces in all the best campgrounds.



We saw many birds all around. Look at this nice Acorn-Woodpecker - he drills small holes in the bark of the tree and then he hides acorns in it (its squeezed in so hard that even the squirrels can't get it). Enlarge the photo to get better view of the acorn bank.
On the way from Santa Barbara area we passed through the green hills and miles of vineyards of the wine country. We stopped for brunch at Solvang, where we couldn't resist the yummy Danish Pancakes.

on the way the sun and the rain made this full rainbow specially for us
Tonight We are staying in a campground in Pismo Beach and tomorrow we will start driving on hwy 1, along the coast.

Death Valley

Another national park, another surprise. We had no idea that there's so much to see in a place that has 'death' in its name. As we entered the park we were impressed with the beautiful colors of the rocks and their impossible shapes.
We pulled over by a view point of carved rocks. There's so little rain in this area (5mm a year) and still, there's water evidence everywhere.
The next day we headed south to the part of the park that is under sea level (-100m). Devil's Golf Course is a land covered with salt deposit. It seems crispy but actually it's very firm when stepping on it.
As we entered this salt field we saw a small water pool and in it crystals of salt, so delicate and beautiful.

In the evening we attended a ranger-led program about the history of the park. The ranger showed a slide of a rock mushroom and said that he's not allowed to talk so much about it because it's sacred to the local Indians (Shoshone tribe) and they asked the park authorities not to mention its location. Of course that intrigued us to go look for it, and voila!... we found it the next day
We hiked in the Golden Canyon, the trail goes inside a narrow and then wider canyon with tilted walls.

We've met some wacky rangers in the past, but ranger Jay surpasses them all! He's a cave freak and gave a talk in the visitor center about caves in the park. He dressed up as if he was going to "dive" into a cave and crawled under some chairs and ladder to show how narrow caves can be. It was hilarious! Best stand up comedy show ever!

We spent the second night in a campground by those picturesque dunes
And another quiz for Cathy - who's that? (hint: try googling it!)
So we're back in California, almost finishing our loop. The plan is to visit the beaches north of Los Angeles and then hopefully it will stop snowing in Sequoia park so we can visit there too and finally Yosemite.