Half Moon Bay

Our next stop was Half Moon Bay.  This was the day that it was SO incredibly windy.  We got there and got the tent set up.  As we were checking things out I noticed that they had animal proof garbage cans throughout the camping area.  This was basically right next to the beach so I was a little confused.  Why would they need these types of garbage cans?  Did they get bears around here?  Were the seagulls extra aggressive?

We got things set up and George REALLY wanted to try out the wet suit and the Boogie board here on this beach.  It was only in the 50's temp wise and I tried to dissuade him but he was going to do it.  So he put on the wet suit (which I think that George thought the wet suit was going to make it so he wouldn't get cold) grabbed the board and we headed down to the beach.

I do have a video of this valiant attempt.  It involves George hitting the water, going for one ride and  screaming like a little girl.  It was pretty awesome.

That night we learned why they have the animal proof garbage cans.

Because of the garbage cans I suggested we put all of the coolers in the trailer and tarp it up, which we did.  Sometime in the night I awoke to the sounds of something messing around our camp.  I wasn't sure what it was but I was but whatever it was there were more than one and they had started fighting.  Ty woke up as well and we said a few things into the dark in hopes of scaring them away and we went back to sleep.  The next morning when I went to get into our food coolers as I was pulling the tarp off of  the trailer I noticed that there was bread and cereal everywhere.  

It turns out the the campsite is home to the Long Tailed Weasel ( NOT a ferret as I first thought!)

Photo from HERE

These little critters had gotten up underneath our tied down tarp and into our bread cooler.  

Here comes the part that Ty just loves.  There were graham crackers, marshmallows, sugary cereal, white bread and whole grain bread in that cooler.  They ate some white bread and a little cereal but totally went to town on the whole grain bread!  Ty said "See even the animals are smart enough to know what is good for you and what isn't!"

We spent a time on the beach just walking.  It's a GORGEOUS beach!  Ty said that he wouldn't mind going back there and spending an entire week just at that beach.  I would have to concur. 

Jillian strolling on the beach

Kenna searching for shells.

She found the shell of a Dungenous Crab and the
exoskeleton of a VERY large sand mite.

Ty strolling along the beach

It was windy enough that we got the kites out and gave them
a go but it was COLD as well as windy so we didn't last long.
That and the tails of the kites got entangled so that was the
end of that.

This is what it looked like on the day that we left. The clouds had rolled in and it was overcast and a little morose but still beautiful!

Tomorrow....San Francisco in one day.

Plaskett Creek and Sand Dollar Beach

 Plaskett Creek is a beautiful campground.  I think most, if not all,of the sites there had lovely green grass and trees.  It was super quiet and peaceful, even with a youth group playing games about half the camp ground away.  It was like the trees just absorbed the sound.  SO beautiful.

Kenna on the road that went around the campsite.

This was the view as you drove out of the camping area

 We did get in trouble for stringing up clothesline between two trees though.  We got it up and almost immediately they informed us we had to take it down.  So we put up a ladder and draped our towels and wet things over that and on the bars of our tent.

One of the things that Ty wanted to do was to watch the sunset into the ocean.  I thought that this was a fabulous idea so that evening after dinner we went across the PCH (which isn't very busy in that area) and down to Sand Dollar Beach

There were these beautiful fields of yellow flowers up on the
bluff above the beach.

On the trail down to watch the sun set.

You have to go down a large set of stairs to get to the beach.
This is the view from the top of the stairs.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.
My family silhouetted against the sun setting into the ocean.

Going....

Going.......

Almost gone.

And gone.

It was a really neat experience to sit on the rocks and watch the sun sink into the ocean.  The part where we were sitting was very rocky.  But the rocks were round and smooth from the wear of the ocean.  One thing that was exceptionally cool was hearing the rocks as the rolled against one another when the waves would come in and out.

It sounded like applause.  I have a video of it that I may post, but I don't have access to it here at my work.

That night was a lovely night.  We went back to the tent and went to sleep in that quiet.  The next morning we woke up broke camp and drove down to the entrance to Sand Dollar Beach so we could spend a little bit more time there.

These are the stairs going down to the beach.

Looking out to the ocean from the path

George being George

George found this huge piece of seaweed that had washed
up on shore and started using it like a whip.

There was a man there fishing from the shore.  He had a
cool straw hat on.  I asked him what he was fishing for
and I think he said Perch.

Jillian and George walking on the beach

Kenna and the shells that she found.
She actually did find a small sand dollar
just as we were getting ready to head
back to the car for the next leg of our
journey!

PCH - How one imagines it

After spending the night at Leo Carillo we had to pack up and get back on the One pretty quickly.  Our next stop was Plasket Creek and according to the internet sites we looked at this was the only camping area where you couldn't make reservations.

It was a bit of a drive and we didn't know how long it would take us so we didn't get to spend any time on the beach at Leo Carillo.  And actually this turned out to be a good day to be traveling because DANG it was windy!

Here is where the story of our trailer coming off the hitch comes into play.  (At least I think it was here.  Ty can correct me if I'm wrong).  We got hitched up and ready to go.  As we pulled onto the highway Ty said that he had a surprise for us that he wanted to show us.  But he wouldn't tell us what it was.

We pulled onto the PCH and drove a little ways up the coast and then Ty took an exit.  He had found an "Ormond Beach" online and we were going to try and drive to it.  As we got off the highway there was a little jolt from the trailer but we didn't think too much of it.

As we came down to the bottom of the off ramp and came to a stop there was a bigger "jolt" that we couldn't ignore.  I hopped out of the Durango to go check things out and the trailer had come completely off of the hitch and slid up onto the bumper!

We were SO very blessed that it didn't come off as we were driving.  It came off, honestly, at the best possible time. The exit that we had gotten off on was a pretty quiet one and there wasn't any traffic.  We were able to get it back on pretty quickly and just as we were finishing up a highway patrol officer got off of the freeway and pulled up behind us.  He got out of his car and came up to check and make sure that everything was okay.

Seriously, the whole situation could have (and would have) been so much worse if we hadn't decided to take that little detour.  After hooking everything back up we proceeded on to try and find our beach.  Unfortunately we were unable to get to it so after a little side jaunt we hopped back on the PCH and headed up to Plaskett Creek.

In between Leo Carillo and Plaskett Creek are many stretches of the 1 that you envision when you think of driving up the Coast.  So without further ado...pictures of the beautiful California coast.

*most of these were taken from within the vehicle because of time constraints and the wind we did not make many stops along they way for pictures.

This just goes to show you how windy it was!  These people
were Para-surfing!!!  Crazy!

Okay THIS was so cool and freaky at the same time.
We were driving along and I was in the passenger seat.
I looked up at the rear view mirror and I saw an large airplane....
IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR!!
It was so bizarre.  This was a stretch of the PCH that was very high
up above the ocean so we were up around some air space I guess.
It was a military plane.
Cool and freaky at the same time.

I love the look of the waves and the rocks in this one.

This was the ONE spot where we stopped to get some pictures.
It is just East of the Julia Pfieffer Burns State park.

Incredible views!

Along one of these stretches was an area where you could stop and view elephant seals but it was too dang windy!  We were able to catch a glimpse of those huge beasts from our car though.  

We drove and we drove and we drove a very long time.  In fact we began to worry that maybe we weren't going to find Plaskett creek but we did!  YAY!

The next installment will be Plaskett Creek and Sand Dollar Beach.