Day 34 - 5/18 - Morning conditions: fog and cold. We reconnected with Hwy 1 and headed into Morro Bay. The rock for which Morro Bay is known was hardly visible with the fog.

We continued north enjoying the warmth in the car, explored Cambria, and then drove into Big Sur. We made several stops - ok, several is not completely accurate - we made numerous stops at overlooks along the way.

The view consisted of big cliffs dropping down to the Pacific Ocean with large waves crashing on the shore and rocks. Much of the drive was plagued by fog that kept us from having the most picturesque of days but did not hinder our driving - the fog rose from the ocean up the cliff, it skipped the road and just kept rising.

At a few of these stops, we were greeted by elephant seals laying on the beach ’sunning’ and making sounds quite similar to a burp-fart-yelp combination. Some were laying completely still, others were cuddling, and others were fighting with each other.

The campground that we had picked out to stay out was closed as were the next four. Apparently, there were really bad fires in the area a year or two ago, and it is still closed down. Research probably would have informed us of this - but we managed just fine and kept driving north as it was only lunchtime. 

We jumped back in the car and met back up with Hwy 1 into Monterrey where we walked the historic trail and wharf before settling into an ice cream shop for a few moments of wifi use. We stayed the night north of Monterrey and south of Santa Cruz at Sunset State Beach. The campground is nestled between a beach on one side and strawberry fields as far as you can see on the other.