Day 9-A moment to slow down, sleep in this morning and relax for a day or so, in the same place. For a quick geography lesson, we’re hanging out near the central California Coast-about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Tomorrow (Saturday), we begin our journey north and inland toward Yosemite National Park.
As we get excited to see Tyler and Amelia, we took some time to do some local exploring. Our 24-hour travel pause allowed me to sneak out early this morning and do some birding at a local park. In addition, Theresa, Darby and I popped down the road a short distance to visit Morro Bay, on the central CA coast. This was a cool place that Amelia and Tyler showed me back in February, and I wanted to return with the ladies to show them the same. Staying overnight in Morro Bay made this short adventure easy.
A California Gull (below) digs in the beach for sand crabs and a Snowy Egret dashes in and out of the surf
A few of the California birds I was able to see early this morning included an Acorn Woodpecker, an Anna’s Hummingbird stretching its wings, a Western Scrub Jay looking for insects and a California Towhee checking my truck out. Along with the birds, a family of Ground squirrels were not happy with my presence.
Between my brief bird walk and the critters we saw in Morro Bay, we logged a good bit of wildlife species today. The main attraction in Morro Bay are the California Sea Otters. These year-round critters lazily float in the bay, napping and feeding on the rich sea life. Many visitors travel to Morro Bay just to see these playful marine mammals. Although quite windy, our walk on the beach was very relaxing and peaceful, as we enjoyed watching California Gulls and Snowy Egrets feeding along the breaking waves, and discovered a couple small, intact sand dollars-some with barnacles growing on them. We did see an interesting habit that a few California Gulls were carrying-out. A bird would dig into the sand at the water’s edge with its webbed feet, then continue digging as water filled up the hole-just like kids digging on the beach as the waves roll in. It would stay in the same spot for several minutes, presumably looking for those little sand grabs as hors-d’oeuvres. By the time it was done, both legs would basically disappear in the hole. We also watched a few dedicated surfers braving the 54-degree F water!
We capped our afternoon adventure off with a stroll along some of the harbor shops, then stopped for, what else, ice cream! I was enjoying my sundae when out of nowhere, my dear daughter starting commenting about my wild, bushy eyebrows. I sat there shoving Moose Tracks into my mouth as Darby pointed at me as if I had two large caterpillars crawling across the tops of both eyes! I didn’t know whether to join both of them laughing, or immediately run back to the hotel room and shave them off! The way she looked at me you would think she was looking at Sasquatch! Darby began to laugh so hard that I think I saw ice cream ooze out of her nostrils. So, I did what any other semi-embarrassed father would do. I just sat there eating my snack, then declared it was time to go! Maybe this is what happens when we have a bit too much down time!