Day 17: The Road to San Francisco

Day 17 was Monday, June 29, and it was just basically a travel day. Dave and I left Walker’s house in LA at about 12 noon.


We headed north on “the 1,” or the Pacific Coast Highway, to San Francisco. The weather quickly turned cloudy, but we were able to see some beautiful sights as we drove north along the coast.






We stopped a couple of times to look at the ocean and enjoy the scenery which cleared up intermittently. We stopped in Buellton, CA, when we saw a sign calling the town the home of split pea soup. Who could pass that up? So, we turned off of the highway and headed into Buellton in search of this fabled home of split pea soup, but on the way, we found this:


Which is where we got a healthy dose of this


And this


And this


And a LOT of this


Once we had our fill of emus and ostriches (it didn’t take long, I tell ya), we headed down the road to Pea Soup Anderson’s Restaurant. That’s right. I can’t make that up.



Dave and I each ordered a sandwich with a side of pea soup. Well, the pea soup came first, and after that, I was so full that I could barely eat my sandwich. :(


After lunch, we got back on the road. As we headed north, we continued to find great vistas that begged for our attention.




Shortly after this, we got to San Simeon, where William Randolph Hearst’s castle is. We tried to get a tour, but the tours were over and we couldn’t even get on the grounds to see the house. It was almost as sad as that unfinished sandwich I left in Buellton.


Not long after that, we encountered a little area called Piedras Blancas, where we saw a sign for “elephant seal viewing.” We, of course, had to pull over to see what this was all about. There were dozens of elephant seals on the beach hanging out napping and calling. They were enormous; I was shocked by their size.


Apparently, they come to the same beach every year to mate, give birth, and molt before the males have to go out hunting.



There were so many of them laying beside each other snoring and dreaming and scratching themselves with their fins and throwing sand on their backs. And, boy, did they stink! Holy cow! I couldn’t stand to be downwind from them for very long. It was pretty ripe out there.

We also spotted a few sea otters out in the ocean playing on their backs. They are the silliest little creatures.


Afterwards, we had to take a hit of a lighthouse that was “next door” to the seals. He was psyched to see a real lighthouse out there shedding light for the sailors.



We finally reached the Oakland home of our friends Susan and Roy at about 11:30. We sat up for a while chit-chatting and catching up, and we finally went to bed around 3 after a LOOOOOONG day of driving.