So at last, we’re driving up the California coast along the Coastal Highway 1.
It goes along the ocean for a while… yes, still overcast.
We saw some neat houses along the coast, and also a very cool highway wall! The pattern with the little square bricks looks like a crossword puzzle, and this wasn’t the only place. It kept going for a good section of road!
Then the highway turns inland for a while, driving between beautiful green hills, and a lovely lake too!
Funny story, it got to around lunch time, and we wanted to find somewhere to stop for food. But… it was Mother’s Day!!! So every single place was booked. We finally found a lunch spot around 3pm!
Then the highway goes back out to the coast… yup, still overcast.
Then you get to the Lion Seals! I don’t know how they all know, but they all hang out at this ONE beach. They can get really huge: Adult male 16 ft 5000 lbs; Female 12 ft 1800 lbs. But they just lay around and scratch themselves with their surprisingly hand-like fins while little birds hop around them. And little squirrels too.
We even saw two youg males sparring!
Then came the surprise. Hwy 1 is CLOSED 10 miles up the road! We looked it up online later, and it’s due to too much heavy rain washing away and burrying the road!
SO! Time for a change of plans. Lothar pulls out the map, and since we can’t continue North to San Francisco, we choose an entirely different route. We will head East to Yosemite. Home of Yosemite Sam! LOL
But first, we look for a place to spend the night and find a really sweet little DANISH Villiage (!!) called Solvang. Just lovely. Windmills, danishes and all!
Our hotel was very cute and quaint. Lothar took a turn at the guard station. š
All the streets and buildings were in Danish style.
We found this little courtyard nook with a little fire. Nice!
More walking around and looking for a dinner spot.
Dinner was a Mexican restaurant, though we did stop at a few before trying to get a seat, but many were fully booked!
And of course in the morning, we had… Danishes š
