Thanksgiving weekend

For the Thanksgiving weekend, we made a lot of plans - Santa Cruz, Monterey and Point Reyes. But of course its the holiday season, its cold outside and we got lazy. So we ended up doing only one of those - Santa Cruz! We got lots of rest and an appropriate dose of fun ;)

We picked a pleasant sunny day for our trip and took the longer, but more scenic, California State Route 1. And WOW, what an awesome drive! Running along the beautiful Pacific coastline, it is THE most scenic route I have ever been on.

En route pics of the coastline

Picnic benches en route

On the way we spotted the Pigeon Point lighthouse and stopped to soak in the view. Visitors aren't allowed inside the lighthouse, so we had to content ourselves with the beautiful views outside. Right beside the lighthouse are the ex-housing quarters, which have now been converted to a Hostelling International hostel. Apparently, the highlight of the hostel is this nice hot tub right on the cliff edge overlooking the lighthouse. Tempting, isn't it? The husband and I immediately decided to come back and stay here a weekend.

Pigeon Point lighthouse

View at Pigeon Point

Pier at Pigeon Point

From here we went on to the Santa Cruz wharf. We had our lunch at a seafood restaurant on the wharf with pretty views of the ocean through porthole shaped windows. With happy bellies, we went exploring the wharf. And this is when I fell in love with sea lions.

My first sighting of the Sea Lion

Sea Lions lazing around

It was a nice calm afternoon we spent on that wharf, filled only with sounds of the sea, barking sea lions, squeaking sea gulls and squealing kids. I know I mentioned in my last post that the bark of the seals was annoying. No longer do I find it annoying. On this trip I fell in love with that bark, so much that I recorded some of it!


  

Barking sea lions at Santa Cruz

We saw some solo, we saw a herd. Some were floating around lazily in the water. Some were napping on the platforms below the wharf. Plonking themselves on one another to find a comfortable sleeping place. Yawning. Scratching themselves behind the ears. Sniffing and sneezing. Even peeing! 

Some of them were squabbling amongst themselves - we saw a rogue sea lion push away others off the platform. Cute, aren't they? All in all, I found them so charming that I spent most part of the day looking for them, watching them, listening to them. 

After I had my fill of sea lions for the day, we went on to see what else the city had to offer. We spent what was left of our day at the amusement park right on the coast. We got into some scary mazes, some rides and then settled down to play some arcade games (we won some bouncy balls! :P) After a nice fun day, we bade goodbye to this lovely city and the adorable sea lions to head back home.