London

In London with Doug and his company's management team.  Great city, we have a lot to explore.

Winter Fun?

See the first sentence of the previous post, my prediction was spot on.

Fall Fun

We took the boat out on Friday so our Fall has officially begun (you may see my Winter has begun in several weeks!)  We had a very pleasant September and early October, and along with our great trip to California, it's been great.  The leaves have turned and about half have fallen.



The First and Second Mate...you can guess who the First Mate is.





Baily took a swim in the lagoon and came out more black than white.  Here's a shot of Baily and Macy in the shower "demucking".




For our last boat ride we went out to watch the sunset.  Here we are at the start of our cruise.





Guiding us in




On critter watch, Baily's "job"



Monterey

Monterey was our final stop before heading back to San Francisco to return home.  The drive from San Simeon to Monterey along Hwy 1 is spectacular.  We didn't spend enough time in Monterey to get a real feel.  Sardines put it on the map, and this is where Cannery Row is, made famous by John Steinbeck.  There are still signs of commercial fishing, but tourism has taken over.  Went to the Monterey Aquarium, which everyone raves about, highlight for me there were the jellyfish.

Here's a few shots from the drive up the coast and the city of Monterey...

As the road winds it way up the coast you are sometimes near sea level and other times hundreds of feet above.

Fishermen's Wharf in Monterey.  Now restaurants and shops.  Some of the local fishermen in the foreground

Tourists going out to whale watch, behind them a forest of masts.

Elephant Seals

On Hwy 1 heading north to Monterey we stopped at a beach packed with Elephant Seals.  They spend most of their time at sea but in the fall they come to the beaches to mate.  Females, pups, and young males come ashore first, that's what we were observing on this day.  The huge males, 3 times larger than what we see in these pics, arrive several weeks later.



Just like any other beach, enjoying the sun





Two pups singing a tune.




A coast guard patrol passes by



A young male showing how Elephant Seals got their name



Two young males practicing to be two mature males.