Starting up the California coastal highway: vibrant green, masses of flowers, big noses and castles in the air

After our time with the wolves, we headed back out to the coast and went up the famed California Route 1 Coastal Highway. This mid California coastal area from south of San Simeon to Big Sur to Monterey is absolutely stunning. Green hillsides, mountains, bluffs, vineyards, coastal mountains dropping in sheer vertical cliffs, combined with farms, meadows and flowers all meeting the great Pacific ocean, sometimes with sandy beaches, sometimes with spectacular drops and dangerous rocks, sometimes with sea stacks and sometimes with hidden coves.                It is a wonder. 

On a personal note, I will say that I consumed a great deal of Dramamine, at times hung my head out the window like a dog, and freely cursed (I might have even embarrassed a sailor or two and poor Martin had to plug his ears) the people who made the road for not making it more straight and level. 🙄

I was perfectly happy once we arrived at each place, but the process of getting there was a little rough.  When California has a stormy winter, it is not unheard of, in fact it has become a rather regular occurrence for sections of this famed road to close down from landslides, mudslides, washouts, etc. These closures can last from hours to days to weeks to entire seasons.  This area is so beautiful, but not for the faint of heart (or queasy of stomach). 

San Simeon was our first stop along this section of the coast. We left the heat behind us in the interior and it was pretty much in the 50s with a stiff breeze. Perfectly fine beach weather as long as you wore your coat and hat. 😂 

Many of the communities throughout this area are quite small and picturesque.  They had to be self-sufficient back in the day due to their remoteness. The people relied on the ocean and farming to survive.

San Simeon is the home of the Hearst Castle. The publishing magnet, William Scott Hearst, built this "home" because he loved to entertain and have interesting people around him.  He never completely finished it and was always changing things to meet his current desires. By now you all know how I respond to ostentatious wealth. Generally, not very favorably. This was no exception. I appreciated the gardens and grounds. I appreciated the art, statuary and several of his collections. I loved the flowers. Liked the architecture of some of the guest buildings, found the main house, the "castle", garish, uncomfortably furnished and over-decorated. I'm glad that it is part of the California State Park system so people have the opportunity to visit and I'm glad we had a chance to see it. But that was enough for me.

Just up the coast a little ways was an elephant seal rookery. Now, that was fabulous!  We went there three times and I could have spent hours watching these great behemoths, who I have to say, drew the short straw when they were handing out cuteness or even average looks! 😂 Poor guys… 

They are hysterical to watch though. They reminded me a lot of our dogs when they open their mouths and pretend to 'fight/gnaw' on each other. Although I think sometimes these guys were serious. Or at least practicing to be serious.

On to the pics.

A few scenery pics so you'll feel like you were there with us.

Look how green the hillsides are and so few trees. I had been craving green after all that time in the desert and this filled the bill.

Those tiny black dots in the mid-ground are some of "California's happy cows"

Sandy beaches with rocky outcroppings 

No beach, but if it's that gorgeous, who needs a beach?

Beautiful skies

Mountains melting into the ocean

Fog 

And now, on to flora.

New growth

Tiny blue flowers covered the meadows and green hillsides in blue.

Not rock, a carpet of tiny blue flower

Who doesn't love a wild rose ?

Bird of Paradise 

Red Hot Poker

The next few pics are of buds or seed pods I thought were interesting.

Pride of Madeira. But wait, there's something else ...

This little guy thought they were super yummy, but he really had to stretch to reach them.

So good he's in total ecstacy 

Hearst Castle 

The view toward the ocean from the grounds. When he first built this, he surrounded the property with exotic animals: zebras, giraffes, bison and more.

The outdoor swimming pool.                  The indoor pool had gold inlay tile.

A garden "nook"

The front of the castle, the main building

Another view of gardens with Egyptian statuary and the castle in the background.

The dining room table

The elephant seal rookery

Elephant Seals hanging out on the beach

Look at this face!  I mean it's the kind of face only a mother could love. Am I wrong?

There's actually a reason the nose is so large. It acts as a resonance chamber to amplify the male's call. Their call is how they lay claim to territory, mates, etc.

Just sayin', it still seems like they drew the short straw in the animal kingdom. I mean elks get these majestic antlers, bighorn sheep get these dignified horns and what do these guys get? A giant schnozzer! Haha.

Twinning

Now that's a cute face

And this one couldn't be any happier

They do have some funny behaviors. Note this guy flipping sand onto himself. Meanwhile the guy next to him is like "There he goes, flipping that sand again. Hey buddy, watch where you're flipping that sand"

"I said, watch where you're flipping that sand"

"Ah, what's it to you. It's just sand."

And then there's this … "OMG.  Don't you SEE me here. Do you really have to go right over my head?" Talk about an eye roll. Haha.

"Mom always said they'd be days like this…I just didn't really believe her."

The males are a very noisy bunch, bellowing at what seemed to me rather random times. 

The Elephant Seals molt in the spring and we were "lucky" enough to witness it. They have a "catastrophic molt", which means they lose all their outer skin and hair at once. The result is that they look kind of mangy with patches of skin hanging off and it must be rather itchy because they were often scratching themselves using their flippers like fingers. It was quite interesting to watch, but I did feel sorry for them. Maybe that was why they were so cranky. 🤔

Lined up in the sun like sardines. I loved the different hues.

And finally, a sunset over the Pacific to finish off the blog.

Next up: We continue our journey up the coast, to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (we did have to make a detour inland to get there…the road had been washed out and was closed.)