Of all the places we've been so far in California, I think my favorite is Ano Nuevo State Beach, and I think it's because it caught me by surprise and then was so wonderful. Yosemite and Big Sur are certainly more majestic and breath-taking but my expectations ran very high for those places. We stopped at this park on a whim as we were driving up the coastal California Highway 1 from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay. So we turned in to see what we could see, with no expectations, since we had never heard of it. When we paid our entrance fee the grey-bearded man said, "you want to see the seals right?"...we looked at each other said then said, "yes!". He told us to hike 2 miles down to a certain beach and that we could see adolescent elephant seals camping on the beach to work on their sparring skills. So we did. And the whole place was awesome. It was a chilly, misty day, we were alone on the trails. The sea was wild and gorgeous and there were signs of so much wildlife everywhere. We hiked through a meadow, and then scrub, and then dunes, and finally out to a couple of beaches where we not only were able to watch the elephant seals (you can sort of see them in the third picture, it's a lot better with binoculars!), but also saw and heard a sea otter cracking open clams. And there is an island offshore with an old abandoned house and lighthouse where the lighthouse caretaker's family used to live half a century ago, it is now inhabited by sea lions and sea birds. Turns out this place is a famous spot for watching elephant seals and in the winter when the females come in to give birth you can only hike in with a guide and you have to have a reservation.
xo
Liz
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