After leaving Hearst Castle we headed to Big Sur, making a couple of stops along the way. First we checked out the tiny town of San Simeon:

Cute pier

A couple of miles down the road was an elephant seal lookout. There were hundreds of them, sunning themselves on the beach:

They kind of look dead… but they’re not!

And frolicking in the sea:

But mostly they just bathed in the sun, grunted and occasionally flicked sand on themselves. What a life.

Love that they are smiling

There were also a few lonely birds.

Hi

After we’d had enough of the seals and the icy wind (don’t let that blue sky fool you) we continued on.

As soon as we reached Big Sur the stunning vistas began.

Sigh

I made Andrew pose on a rock

I was pretty relived not to be driving, we witnessed some daring over-takers and speed demons along the way. But we got to Monterey and bought a 6 pack of beers for Andrew to calm his nerves.