San Simeon

After Carson the land rises abruptly up into the Sierra Nevada mountains all the way up to Lake Tahoe, where I spent the night. Apart from the road crew passing (slowly) by my motel around midnight it was quite nice. Today I've followed US 50 till its end in Sacramento, then horribly dull I-5 south and then a couple of state routes to the very scenic Pacific coast. I'm currently in San Simeon, a tiny community seemingly consisting of nothing but hotels, motels and restaurants (mostly tacky looking).

I drove a few minutes north of here to a place where elephant seals gather and I got a shitload of pics, not just of seals but also birds and squirrels. The furry little cuties run around all over the place, begging food from tourists. Although there are plenty of big signs telling people DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS, there are always enough eejits in this world that the animals have learned it's worth a try. There were plenty of squealing kids who thought it was great fun that the squirrels came so close, until they came TOO close and the kids ran away. One idiot teen (I know, a pleonasm) was trying to taunt an animal with a tiny piece of his apple. It was good fun till he found an annoyed, toothy furball in his lap demanding payment...

Tomorrow I'll head on up to Hearst Castle, then make my way down to San Diego to see friends. I'm hoping for a slow, scenic drive with lots of photo ops, this area is really beautiful. All of today's pics here.

I'm hopeless with birds. I have no idea if this is a raven, a crow or something completely different. All I know is they were plentiful and not very scared of humans.


Arty-farty b&w of bird, ocean, sunset.


Saying hello, squirrel style.


Ok, this is the breakout plan...


Let me out, I'm innocent, I didn't steal the tourists' food! What am I munching on? Uhm, nuffin'...


Two seconds later he was in the guy's lap, with an agressive stance. These are carnivores, for fuck's sake, they'll bite.


I've already got food, so I'm ignoring you.


A colony of snoring elephant seals. I thought cats very good at relaxing, but these guys take it to another level.


Sometimes they'll throw sand over themselves, I guess it's to protect against the heat of the sun.


Not sure if these two were fighting or flirting, but they were definitely in physical contact.


They have a powerful roar, almost like a lion.