We mostly followed hwy.1 along the coast, leaving San Francisco behind, the weather was mild, no rain, much better then when we were heading South before, i love this road, winding along through farmers fields, old fences, barns, lots of ambiance, the evening light was magical, but it was getting dark soon, the road wound around a deep gully, and below, i looked at a campsite, bordering right unto the beach. Bert kept driving, he had not seen it, but something told me for us to turn and go there, it looked very full with 5th wheelers and rv’s, but right at the water, several spots were available ,so we backed into one, facing the ocean. It was dark by now so we didnt get to meet any of our fellow campers till the next morning.

The campground is called Anchor Bay campground, their motto is “Where the redwoods meet the sea”, family camping since 1925!!!
It is situated just north of Gualala, on the Mendocino county coast.
Quite a few of the permanent campers bought their spot, and spend the winter here,we met our friend Jim here, who later on came to B.C. with his lady friend, and the four of us went out for dinner in Victoria .

We have decided to come back this way eventually, and look around in San Francisco, but first the Canadian dollar has to come back up, it is now becoming too expensive for sure.
We did stop at the golden gate bridge, and it was the perfect light and atmosphere for some photos.

We stopped in Monterey, because driving by, i noticed the harbor full of pelicans and sea otters!!!
That had to be investigated!!!
There was a great fish place, right at the shore, we ordered fish and chips and roasted artichokes, they could have kept the artichokes, both of us didnt like them much, but the fish was great, gulls of all sizes stood around, and if you didnt watch, they would walk over your table and steal the fish!! terrible manners, my gull here in Brentwood bay is better behaved!!

On the way back, when we stopped again, most of the babies were born, everywhere were moms, flinging sand over top of themselves and the babies, to keep cool, it was already a hot day, the babies are black when born, and have to be protected from the sun, they nurse for four weeks, and gain weight very rapidly, the milk is 60% fat, and the babies weight has quadrupled in four weeks, while the mom has lost twice as much as the baby has gained.During the fourth week, the moms go into estrus,and mate several times and then wean the pup and head out to sea, that is the end of family life!!!

After San Lui Obispo we headed first to Los Osos, where Bert could get some of the spare parts for the Westy, plus i bought him two Westy T-shirts. We checked out Montana de Oro park, overlooking the ocean and the beaches, most of the walkways had been closed off to try and give the local plants a comeback, these dunes are very precious and lots of people walking all over and through them is just not going to do it, but we did notice that there is very little garbage lying around, a good thing.
We ended up camping at Avila Pismo beach.
We stopped in Cambria the next day, a very fancy town, everything was so expensive, beautiful art but just not affordable for us, plus we cant use it anyways.

On the way up we had stopped at the Elephant seal rookery, it had been pouring rain, the animals were just lying around , nothing happening yet, so we didnt stay, but this time, the rookery was very busy indeed, lots of babies were born, and the females were oh so busy, trying to nurse them, fling sand over them and themselves to keep cool, the males were being a total pain in the ass, trying to mount the females while they tried to protect their babies, the big males, weighing as much as 2300 kg.can easily crush the babies, which happens frequently.
The females weigh as much as 800 kg. quite a bit smaller then the males.
In December through February, the males battle for breeding rights, and they can go without food and water for up to 100 days.
While we were there in December, males were slashing at each other, some with bloodied chests, one very big and powerful one definately had the advantage, and chased most of the smaller males away. The females were just lying about, yawning, looking very bored with it all.

We all decided to start driving north again, Bert still wanted to stop in Los Osos, where the Westfalia store is, we met up in San Clemente with Roel and Ineke, shared lunch there, at the little cafe we had found earlier in the trip, and then they headed out, towards home and we kept driving along the coast, past L.A. past Santa Barbara, towards San Luis Obispo. It is close to Los Osos, we had not planned to stop here, but its a very nice town, cute coffee shops, tree lined streets for shade, so we roamed around for a while.
The earliest humans to live and settle here in San Lui Obispo were the Chumash people.
In the 1700’s things changed, Spanish missionaries settled in the area, two missions were established, Presidio of Monterey and San carlos Borromeo, the Spaniards settled there and organized hunting parties to bring back food ,mostly bear meat, the native people were very impressed by the ease with which the Spaniards brought down the huge grizzly bears. The Spaniards traded some of the bear meat for seed with the native people, they all got along very well, the area had plenty of fresh water and food, and the climate was great, so eventually the town of San Lui Obispo was established.
Spanish is still a big influence , which shows in the buildings and art.
In one of the streets, we found a wall, large one, totally covered with old chewing gum!! Now this has nothing to do with me mentioning art, but its the strangest thing to see, quite gross too actually……..
here are some photos in case you dont believe me!!!