Central Coast, Part I

With Nan and Pop here for the girls' four-day President's Day Weekend, we planned a Friday-through-Monday trip up the coast. But then, the forecast called for a huge rainstorm Friday. We canceled our hotel rooms and rebooked a shorter trip up the coast.

Good thing we did - the storm was real! We got four inches of rain and high winds that knocked down trees all over the place. Here's Stacey's photo of the Santa Clara River, in its most mighty of rages.

 Both the 5 and 101 were closed for periods Friday because of mudslides - any travel on Friday would have been tough.

But Saturday, the roads were reopened, and we got on the road on a cloudy, drizzly day. We made stops in Ventura and Santa Barbara, and made it to Pismo Beach in time for a gorgeous sunset.

I can understand why so many friends love Pismo. It was our first time stopping by, and what a cute town!

We then carried on to our home away from home, a motel in San Simeon. After checking in, we went a couple of miles down the road to Cambria, where we had a lovely meal at Linn's.

On Sunday, we started our day by checking a nearby stretch of beach that serves as the winter breeding ground for a huge colony of elephant seals. 

It was fascinating - they were huge, loud, smelly, and the males at least were pretty ugly! But wow, seeing that many wild animals in their natural environment was something we won't forget. There were lots of babies, and breeding pairs of adults - there's a lesson for the kids in our midst!

 We then moved down the coast to Moonstone Beach, where we didn't find any iridescent pebbles, but something even better, if you're Cora. The recent rains had washed tons of driftwood down the nearby river. The girls had a grand adventure constructing a teepee from the sticks.

 Nan and I went out for a look, but spent more time resting in the warm car. The weather was cold and drizzly.

 We went further south to Cayucos, another great beach town where Stace and I spent one night of our honeymoon. We had fish 'n chips and clam chowder at Duckies, and explored the coastline again.

 We had to make a stop at the Brown Butter Cookie Company, too. Yum!

 A few more miles south took us to Morro Bay, where we braved the drizzle to get a close look at a cuter ocean mammal. Sea otters abound in the protected bay, diving for shellfish and returning to surface to feast.

 This guy wasn't eager to share with his feathered friend.

We were just in time to see the art colony of Harmony, where we perused pottery and handblown glass in the former dairy village, before the galleries shut for the night.

After stopping back into Cambria to see the shops, we went back to our motel for bed.