Point Lobos & Pacific Coast Hwy

We drove into Monterey today to take a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.   We stopped first at Marina Dunes RV Park to check out where my mom and dad used to stay when he was working in Monterey.   It was a very nice park.

We drove out to Marina Beach and walked out where we could see the Pacific Ocean.

We had originally thought we would walk down to the water to get our feet wet but it was too cold!

We drove through Monterey and were behind this lovely truck camper for a few miles.  I think it may have belonged to the Clampetts.  :)

As we got closer to Point Lobos, there were a lot of cars parked along the side of the road.  We thought we might have trouble getting in but we only had to wait a few minutes before we were allowed to go in.  The coastline at Point Lobos is rugged and beautiful.

Some of the rocks almost look like aggregate rock because of the way the shells and rocks appear to be cemented together.

As we walked along the trail that followed the coast, Chuck spotted a sea otter on its back.

And then, a little further along,

what looked like a just a big rock out in the water.

...was actually covered with sea lions!

We continued walking up the trail along the coast...

...and what looked like a log floating in the water...

...was actually another sea otter.

When we rounded the point, we were treated to a whole community of seals and sea lions.

Aren't they cute???

\
Wow!  What a treat!  We didn't know we were going to get to see sea otters, seals and sea lions today!  Below is a video of the seals and sea lions for you to watch.

Once again, we were treated to beautiful spring flowers even along the coast.

These gray and maroon flowers grew right on the rocks.

As we continued walking around the point,

we noticed how many of the trees looked like big bonsai trees.

Many of the forests looked dead along where we were walking but the canopies were still green.

Point Lobos is absolutely beautiful!!

It was overcast and even misty for much of our walk at Point Lobos, but the sun started to come out just about the time we got back to the car.

By this time we were all ready for lunch.  We drove on a little further and stopped at a restaurant that was a favorite of my mom and dad's:  Rocky Point Restaurant.

Once again, we got lucky when a close parking space freed up and were able to be seated immediately.  What a view!!!

Chuck and I split a hamburger and a salad as did Ken and Bonnie.  The burgers were pretty good but we could not have asked for a more spectacular view!

After lunch, we walked around the grounds where we were treated to even more spectacular views of the coast and the beautiful flowers.

If it had not been so cool, I think we could have stayed and just enjoyed the views for a lot longer but we still wanted to drive down the coast a little further.

When we left, the place was really packed.  The cars were parked in the fire lane all the way back up the hill.  We continued driving down the Pacific Coast crossing some of the magnificent bridges that had been built in the 1930s.

As we began to approach Point Sur, we could see the point (that looked like a big island),

but is actually a peninsula (or point)...

with a working light house on the coast side.

Ken took this great picture of the lighthouse
when the light was shining toward us!

We turned around at Point Sur and began heading back up the coast.

There was a lot of traffic on the highway but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Point Lobos, Rocky Point and down the Pacific Coast Highway.

When we returned to the campground, we were greeted by this doe and her two fawns at the entrance to the park.  :)

Another spectacular day!