Cruising Highway 1 and 10,000 Elephant Seals

Wednesday we drove down the twisting, turning, winding, narrow, and breath taking highway 1 that is so famous. However, with a large truck and a 31 foot 5th wheel, we had all we could do to keep the trailer behind us before we had to turn the other direction. We nearly saw ourselves around the last bend as we started another twist and turn. GRRRRRRRRR Richard towards the end had a few choice words for the drop offs and sloping road towards the ocean many feet below. I was breathless a few times myself.

Along the way though, we saw thousands of sea otters and elephant seals. All the little black spots are the seals and otters out in deep water right along the coast. It went on for miles. Eventually we came upon the area where they have been coming ashore to get ready to give birth, which will happen soon. The male elephant seals were HUGE AND LOUD!














It was then on to the William Randolf Hearst castle built into the hillside overlooking the SanSimeon Bay near Cambria, California. Alas, dead batteries in my camera, so no photos :-( and I was crabby! But the house itself was overwhelmingly large and beautiful and unbelievable to think it was only one of his residences in California. It has had over 36 million visitors. Truly something to see if you ever get to California. We spent the night in a state park nearby and spent some time in Cambria in those junk shops that I have a hard time keeping Richard out of...NOT

We continued on to Bakersfield where we are now in an RV park with our very own orange tree. We are enjoying the fruit tremendously. Coming to Bakersfield we saw many more wineries, almond trees, oil wells and spectacular views once again. It is our first time in a long time though to have access to wireless internet and we have missed having it a lot. Tomorrow we are on our way to the death valley area. The weather is finally in the 60's, but rain in the forecast.