Onward and Upward

It took me pretty much all day Saturday to get up near Monterey.  This is normally just a 3 hour drive at most from San Luis Obispo, but I took a lot of little side trips to go hiking down marked and unmarked trails.  I like to find the little places where not many people are around.  Here are some random pictures of some of those places.

There are several trails that follow streams which flow down to the ocean.  This is one of them.

 

There was this one trail that lead down to a cove where it was said that pirates and later bootleggers used to smuggle their wares.  One cool part the trail was a hand dug tunnel through the rock that is still in use.

After I exited the tunnel, I came across this animal… not sure what it is.  At first I thought it was a cross between a monkey and a racoon.  We stood there staring at each other for about 20 seconds.  I don’t know if it was scared or wanted me to feed it.  So I just took a picture of it.  Can anyone help me identify it?  Maybe an escaped bushbaby?

Finally I got to the end of the trail and took this picture of the cove… was it worth the hike?  Hmm… probably not, but I didn’t have anywhere else to really go.

The next place I visited was Pfeiffer Beach.  It’s a small beach on a side road off Hwy 1 (PCH).  There were a lot of nice random things I found there and on the way there.  You could actually drive your car all the way down to the beach.  On the road there I saw…

some llamas… and a flock of fearless California quail…

And some purple sand…

Pfeiffer Beach itself was nice.  On the whole beach there were maybe a half a dozen people.  Since the road leading to it was long and narrow, I don’t think many people know about it.

Then a little further down the road, I finally got to see Bixby Bridge – one of the world’s highest single-span bridges.  It was originally built in 1932.  Ah, engineering at its finest.  There was this dirt road off of the main road that was a bit difficult to climb in my car… and I’m not even sure I was supposed to be on it, but it gave me a great photo opportunity.

As the day wound down, I stopped by this restaurant just south of Carmel at Rocky Point.  The prices were through the roof, but the view was worth it.  I timed it so that I could be sitting outside when the sun was setting.  But the angle was not good for taking pictures, so I ran outside to find a better spot to take a picture as I quickly told my waitress that I’d be back.  I think one of the other waiters thought I was running out without paying my bill because I heard someone yelling at me.

The view from my table

As the day drew to a close, I took lots of pictures of the sunset.  But I think this one is my favorite.

After I paid my bill, I headed past Monterey and into Salinas because I heard that there was a rodeo in town.  But by the time I got there, it was pretty late, so I just found a motel.  After I climbed to the third floor of the motel, I looked out and saw a ferris wheel in the distance.  I looked at my watch… 10:30PM… thought about it for a second… put my bag in the room and, as was the theme for the trip, I said to myself, “Why not…” and headed out to the carnival.  I eventually found it, but they were getting ready to close, so I just went back to the motel.

Tomorrow: The trip back “home”