We were told (mainly by adverts) that California was always sunny, sadly on our third day there a storm hit, this was a little annoying as we had come here to get away from the cold (minus five) of Yosemite. Luckily the bad weather only stuck around for a few days.
A California quail, amazing deely-bopper on the front of its head. You can't really see it our phot but check out this link http://tinyurl.com/7fzylrn
Our campsite in Big Sur State Park. We had heard the State of California was closing some of its State Parks as it's now bankrupt but all the ones on the coast were unaffected and as far as we could see from the size, cost and number of other campers doing a roaring trade. Ralph also wanted me to point out his professional looking tarp which he'd perfected over the 6 week roadtrip - good job Ralph!
pretty coast
more prettiness
On the search for the Californian condor, we eventually saw three with their huge wing tags circling above the cliffs. Apart from being huge, black and white and wearing tags you can tell a condor from other birds of prey as they don't flap their wings (well they may do so about once an hour) they just soar. There are so many other turkey vultures and hawks that we had lots of false alarms.
Purple sand. The darker sandy bits in the photo were purple. The beaches were only accessible at a few points where they were designated as a state park, you had to pay a fee at each one. The rest of the coast is very rich people's property.
having a paddle
more paddling
We did a bit of boldering on this rock, well Fi did, I mostly fell off
We saw some guys bait digging for fishing, the sand worms were a beautiful colour and shimmery a bit pearl like.
Anemone of the State of California
tiny crab
Wild turkeys couldn't drag me away
Ralph spotted this person radio tracking something from the road, we thought it would be a condor watcher but it turned out to be a girl studying the sea otters, she let us borrow her scope to have a look. They are tagged on their back feet and she can read the number while they're bobbing in the sea, it was very impressive as it made us feel seasick looking through the scope at them. They also have them same transmitter in their abdomen as the Alaskan ones.
Another great scenic spot
only slightly marred by the 20 foot high flag pole with the american flag - Ralph wanted to create a flagpole of his pants (thats underwear in the UK for any US readers) with a tent pole in protest, but we got up too late and our neighbours had already left..
awesome rock arch
Amazing rock patterns
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