On Monday, Caroline had asked about going whale watching today. I kiboshed that idea as we have some 50 miles of coastline to drive, and knowing us, that would take the better part of the day. So, I offered a compromise: we’d head over to Lovers Point, the place our motel is named after, and we’d spend the morning watching the squirrels. The action was just getting going when the inexplicable happened…

The distinctive sound of compressed air shot out of a blowhole caught our attention; then we spotted an arching back: whales right near the shore! For forty-five minutes, maybe even an hour, we watched a small pod of whales feeding right here at Lovers Point, making these two lovers super happy for every moment they were hanging out in our presence. But, there was another surprising aspect of our encounter…

A mom was traveling with her calf directly by her side. Just when we thought our brief time in the Monterey Bay area couldn’t get any better, it got seriously better. The worst thing about seeing whales is trying to peel yourself away from wanting to see more. Luckily, we watched them swimming away, which allowed us to head down the road.

But of course, it now being past 11:00 a.m., the local yarn shop called Monarch Knitting was open, so we had to add shop #5 to our yarn buying spree. Caroline is holding yet another skein of yarn that will transform into socks for me someday.

Leaving the rather large yarn store, I spotted a Mexican restaurant across the street. Seeing it was now past lunchtime, we stopped in at Mando’s for chips, guacamole, a chimichanga, and shrimp for Caroline. And I forgot to share that this morning, we breakfasted once again at the Red House Cafe.

Out on Highway 1, driving south, we encountered a lot of fog. No, seriously, it was a lot of fog just not in this photo yet.

Okay, so I was focusing on the moments when the fog wasn’t hugging the coast, and we were gaining glimpses of the aquamarine waters below.

Well, I’m not so sure anyone will ever believe that we were driving mostly in the fog if all I keep sharing are these beautiful landscapes.

Ah, there we go; that looks like pretty heavy fog, right?

We are in Lucia, and the ocean is just beyond that cabin, believe it or not.

This is the bridge at Limekiln State Park with some of the most interesting positioned campsites we’ve seen. Maybe tomorrow we’ll return when we can visit earlier in the day.

In all of our years on this road, we’ve always managed to miss the natural springs offering travelers a drink of fresh water. If you are driving too fast or have some asshole (there are many on this road) right behind you that risks rear-ending you, you’ll go right by these treasures. It’s not like there are dozens of places to turn around on the Pacific Coast Highway, and there are no signs informing you of upcoming springs.

We’ve been out here now for nearly five hours before we finally get to our destination.

Treebones Resort, home to the Human Nest, where we stayed for New Year’s Eve 10 years ago. We are here for the next two days.

This is our perch on the sea; it is all ours. Also all ours is our time tomorrow as with the driving and not having shot so many photos today, this entire blog entry is complete right after dinner here at the resort. Good night.