Seals.

One of the things we found most thrilling in California was the animals. Near Carmel, we saw plenty of California Sea Lions, playful in the water - huddling together to sun in the December air. Very sweet. And further south, we got the chance to see a colony of elephant seals that come each winter. They come ashore only once a year, to give birth and mate. The males were aggressively going at each other and the baby seals were barking wildly. It was amazing because the males were monstrous, literally (2.5 tons), undulating awkwardly - obese - and unable to move. They looked almost stranded on land, they moved with such difficulty. Then when they would slide into the water, they were transformed.

Big Sur.

Jaw dropping: Big Sur. Startled by its untamed beauty. Admired that it was so untouched. Crags, bluffs and precipices - wild water, grass and green the color of spring and blue-blue sky.







Around every zigzag in that one-lane road was a vista that mandated a stop. (At least I felt continually compelled - because Xavier didn't always want to stop...he was taken by the beauty, but also by the car he was driving. He somehow managed to upgrade the rental to a Corvette. Albeit bright yellow. I was slightly embarrassed when we would pull up and the engine sounded like an angry brute. He only got pulled over once).

Carmel, California.

Charming little town. Unreal. We stayed in Doris Day's old hotel - Cypress Inn...walked down the bucolic streets and wondered why everyone doesn't live in a town like this one.

San Francisco to Carmel.

Xavier and I were fantasizing about places to go earlier this year. Romy is big enough now to be left behind and tagging on a trip over Christmas break seemed to make sense - thanks to my generous parents and siblings, with whom we could leave the babes. We considered Caribbean islands, we've covered some of those; Mexico - (hadn't done Baja together - still on the list); then Xavier suggested California. I was lukewarm about the idea to begin with. I'd been to San Diego and LA and California just didn't seem wild enough. I was dead wrong. Xavier's idea was brilliant: Coastal Route 1 from San Francisco to LA - spread out over 4 or 5 days. I was sold when I realized that meant Big Sur. Day 1 was San Francisco to Carmel - stopping at Muir Woods, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and beaches along the way.