Yet another day of driving California State Route 1 down the Pacific coast; I promise I'll keep this short. There were, however, a few cool things along the way that deserve a mention.
The first part of our drive today took us through Big Sur, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise out of the ocean. It's wild country and coastline, and we passed over some spectacular bridges.
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| Bixby Creek Bridge |
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| The other direction |
Did you realise that there are groves of gum trees all along the west coast? We first noticed them when checking into a motel in Oregon. Walking up the outdoor stairs to our room, Daniel and I looked at each other and asked "what's that smell?" It was eucalyptus - the tree next to us smelt like home. In Mendocino, Charles (innkeeper) asked us if they had been introduced to America. After some research, it appears they were indeed. First planted in the 1850s on the recommendation of Australian miners, by the 1870s they had proliferated. They're now known as "America's greatest weed."
In less bizarre news, we came across a colony of elephant seals on a beach. Hundreds of them lay upon the sand, huddled together for extra warmth. The males are the ones with trunk-like noses.
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| Elephant Seals |
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| Do Not Feed Daniel |
We arrived in LA mid-afternoon, which was ideal as it meant there was natural light to aid our navigation of the city's infamous freeways. Actually, there were no problems at all - it was surprising.
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