We woke up around 8:30 and got the place all cleaned up for our departure. After packing Alf up we had to find him some gas, as well as ice for our cooler. We paid $3.09 a gallon, the cheapest available in LA that day. Ugh.
We hit PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) by around 11:30 and headed due north. We stopped at almost every viewing point on the way to Monterey. We saw fish and Elephant Seals and squirrels and seagulls and surfers and flooded women's rooms and that's really about it. Big Sur is the most beautiful drive we've had so far. The road got pretty tough to handle during sunset, because we would be driving straight into this giant ball of what was basically divine light, but after dusk set in it was amazing. There was a thick fog, but it stayed far enough away from the road that we could easily make out our surroundings. It was 9pm by the time we pulled into the Hostel. It was supposed to be a five or six hour drive. Oh, well!
Chrissie reporting-
Let's get back to the Elephant Seals. It was great to see these huge mammals out in the wild. There were viewing platforms, and we basically stood above them as they swam in the Pacific, tanned themselves on the shore, and went about their normal Elephant Seal lives. The male seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds, and although they appear to move slowly, they are not an animal that you want to mess with. Also, we learned that these seals spend most of the year out at sea, swimming all the way to Alaska and back. They only go back to California to mate, give birth, and molt (they shed their skin each year). While they are sunning themselves in Cali for a few months, they fast the entire time. They don't eat at all! Which is why they don't move around so much, because they are conserving their energy for when they have to go back out to sea.
Anyway, we are staying at Monterey Hostel. It is a pretty nice place, we have our own private room, but we have to share bathrooms with the rest of the floor. The idea of hostels is still pretty foreign in the U.S., but in Europe it's the norm. Actually, there are a lot of foreigners at this hostel, I've heard less English spoken than other languages. It's nice though, we get a free waffle breakfast! Also, there is a huge living room area with tons of brochures and useful info. And a nice kitchen!
Mike's back!
After we got our stuff situated in our very comfy private room (with internet, too!) we headed towards the famous Cannery Row, which is just a two-block walk from our Hostel. It's Monday night, so a lot of things were closed, but we had some wings at the brand new Cannery Row Brewing Company. I had read about it this morning in LA because it has a whole bunch of beers on tap. They didn't disappoint. I had a Lagunitas IPA and a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, both of which were well worth this whole trip. California is THE place for good beer. I'm still looking forward to the Anchor brewery in San Francisco and finding a bottle or two of Pliny the Elder, which is only available here on the West coast. Well, it's after 1am, and we're doing a lot of walking tomorrow, so we're going to bed. Enjoy the millions of pictures we uploaded tonight!
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