San Francisco Day 6

Pinnacles was an interesting National Park.

We said a reluctant goodbye to Monterey early Wednesday morning. We wanted to visit Pinnacles, a fairly new national park, and we knew it would take most of the day. This is because Pinnacles has an east side and a west side, and it's an hour and a half drive between the two. We started out on the west side, which is much more primitive. In fact, there were not even any rangers and the building was locked up tight. So we took a picture at the sign and drove to the parking lot at the end of the road. It was narrow, windy, and one-lane, but we made it all the way to the Balcony Cliffs Trailhead.

This was the closest thing to a ranger we found.

Our first hike was easy and really cool. We made a short loop up the mountain. On the way back, the trail passed through a cave. We ventured in, but it was very dark, and someone sent us in the wrong direction. Eventually, we made it back into the cave, and we did find a dark and forbidding passage through the rock. The hike turned out to be really awesome, climbing through pitch-black narrow passages over the fallen rock.

Pinnacles is a small park, but has some pretty scenery.

Mom and Dad love adventuring together.

Pinnacles is known for its unique rock formations.

And also the Talus Caves, which are caves formed by rock falls.

It was so fun to go caving.

Some parts of the cave were pitch black.

This cave had more crawling and climbing.

We are checking national parks off our list.

The boys loved exploring around the rocks.

We had such a great time that we decided to try a second hike in this area. This one was called the Tunnel Trail, and it was quite a bit longer and a lot steeper. In fact, we almost didn't make it to the tunnel. We had hiked and climbed and climbed and hiked until we were ready to give up. Just then three girls came around the corner. "Are we close to the tunnel?" we asked. They were pretty certain that we weren't. Some of us wanted to turn back, but Seth pushed us to continue. It was only a few hundred yards to the trail split and only a hundred more past that to the tunnel. The girls must have come from the other direction. Best of all, as we were taking pictures outside of the tunnel, Mark spotted two condors. They were the only ones we saw, so we were really excited!

Dax loves to hold hands and hike with Mom or Dad.

This hike was quite a climb.

Mark kept a good look out for condors.

We were so glad that we made it to the tunnel.

This tunnel is cut through the wall.

And we did see two condors!

The tunnel was the perfect turn around point.

Mom and Dad seem to end up matching more and more these days.

The rock formations are pretty.

We loved the cool temperature of the tunnel.

After we finished our hikes, we drove all the way around to the east side of Pinnacles. We had difficulty finding a ranger over there, too, but eventually we got our Junior Ranger badges and found some patches to go with them. Then we ate a quick lunch before heading off to our final hike.

Pinnacles National Park made getting a Junior Ranger very difficult.

We saw these pigs and for just a second thought they were javelinas. Unfortunately, it was just a group of tame pigs.

We did spot a few coyotes on this trip.

This last hike was through another tunnel of crumbled rock. It was called Bear Gulch Cave. We easily handled the distance though we were still worn out. The cave was really interesting, too. This one was more developed, with steps and handrails, but there was a lot of climbing and ducking, too. The cave was really long for a rock fall cave, and we were glad for the headlamps. We took a lot of pictures and enjoyed ourselves. 

Bear Gluch Cave trail was more traveled.

This trail was also a lot greener.

We made the best of this long day.

The boys loved having their headlamps.

This trail was much simpler than the last climb we had done.

The rock formations weren't as interesting on this side.

Mom had so much fun exploring these caves.

We also spotted an acorn woodpecker. 

We grabbed In N Out back near the Webb's house. Then we all piled into cars and drove to an ice cream place. Rocko's Tacos was the most interesting ice cream place we've tried. They stuff ice cream in a waffle taco shell, dip it in liquid nitrogen, add a chocolate covering and sprinkles, and dip it again. It was really delicious. Too bad it is so far from home! 

The boys enjoyed spending the rest of the evening with cousins. Dax played football with Esther. Mark and Daniel played duets on the piano, and Seth and Charlie disappeared together. We were ready to get back to Utah, but it had been a great Spring Break!

We loved the Rocko's ice cream tacos.

Dax especially enjoyed his ice cream.

It was so much fun to see the Webb cousins.

San Francisco Day 5

We loved Point Lobos.

We have really fallen in love with Monterrey. It is much more relaxed here, and the ocean is so beautiful! The crashing waves and the aquamarine water are spectacular. No wonder Mom has been wanting to come back here for so long!

This morning, we let the kids sleep in. We wanted to get on the road early, but they looked so peaceful, and they really need to catch up on the sleep. Finally, we roused them and headed down the road to a little state park. There was a lot to do at Point Lobos State Park. We started with a hike down to Bird Island. This wasn't our first Bird Island this trip, but it was the best. The hike followed along the coast through the thick undergrowth. We spotted a few white-tailed rabbits, but Mark liked the birds most. He identified several hummingbirds and a peregrine falcon before we even got to the island. The trail turned around a large cove with gorgeous blue water. There were seals with pups splashing and playing in the surf. Of course, there were plenty of seals lying lackidaisically on the sand, too. 

As we neared Bird Island, we spotted a few sea otters doing the backstroke among the kelp. They were lying on their backs because they had pups on their bellies. They would anxiously groom the pups as they floated on their backs. 

The birds started to call from the island. We saw brown pelicans, Brandt's cormorants, California gulls, and black-crowned night herons. There were hundreds sitting on the rock, as well as a few more otters swimming between the shore and the island. We had a great time on this trail.

This part of California is so picturesque.

Bird Island was covered with birds.

We spotted a bunch of otters.

We even saw some black crowned night herons.

The cormorants and pelicans were everywhere.

We saw this sea otter with her baby swimming.

Then she picked the otter up. It was so cute!

Dad spotted this little bunny.

We love all the hummingbirds we saw on this trip.

The Peregrine Falcon was beautiful.

So many little seal pups!

Mark loves any spot where we see lots of wildlife.

Such a beautiful place!

China Cove had the most beautiful sea green color.

Our next hike was called Sea Lion Point. This was a short walk along the cliffs above the crashing waves. We did see a few sea lions, but mostly we enjoyed the ocean. 

Always looking for something to see.

Sea Lion Point

There was one last hike in the area called Cypress Grove. It was just as beautiful as the last. The waves along the coast in Monterrey are like another episode of your favorite show as they roll in one after the other. 

We stopped at a little whaler cabin, which has been turned into a museum. There were some cool displays, even though it was small. Just down from the cabin, we enjoyed lunch near a little cove. Not thirty yards away, we watched another sea otter with her baby. It was the closest we'd been to an otter, and it was such a great lunch. It was perfect under the clear blue sky.

It was fun to see the Cypress Trees right by the ocean.

The water here is gorgeous.

We took so many pictures.

Mom and Dad love exploring together.

We convinced someone to take a family photo.

The color of the water is like Bear Lake.

Can you spot Dax? 

This is Whaler's Cove.

We checked out the old cabin.

The whale bones were super cool.

It was so cool to watch the ocean.

We loved eating a picnic here, right by the sea otters.

We watched this sea otter and her baby for a long time.

It is super windy by the ocean.

After lunch we drove south toward Big Sur. There is a massive bridge called Bixby Bridge where we stopped for pictures. We passed Big Sur in the thick timber, and continued south to a waterfall. We were expecting a nice little hike, but the trail was closed after a short distance, so we only saw the waterfall from the side. We were disappointed as we headed back up Hwy 1. It was a long and winding ride.

The famous Bixby Bridge

The tunnel was a fun part of this hike.

We were a little sad that we couldn't get closer to the waterfall. 

A waterfall falling into the ocean is pretty neat.

We did find a beautiful spot on the way back to Monterey, though. Mom spotted a narrow draw that was filled with calla lilies. They were pretty white flowers that were quite large, and they were in full bloom. A trail led down into the draw, and we took some really nice pictures. We tried to walk down to the water, but we got sand blasted. So we hurried back to the car.

The lilies were amazing!

Dad took some really great pictures.

Mom was in heaven!

I love Mark's hair in this picture. It was so windy! The sand hurt.

We made a stop in Carmel on the way back to Monterey. Dax and Seth really wanted to play at the beach in their actual swimsuit. So we stopped at the Carmel Beach and it was freezing! But that did not stop the boys. Mom, Dad, and Mark wore jackets and beanies, while Dax and Seth dug in the sand and splashed in the water.

This was exactly what Seth wants to do all day.

The rest of us were freezing.

The boys created lots of sand castles to be destroyed by the waves.

So happy!

This beach was lovely.

Pebble Beach is a famous golf course right here by Monterey. There is a scenic drive that runs right around the golf course. It stops at seventeen points of interest along the coast, and it doesn't cost much for the drive. We enjoyed a little more time along the ocean. There was some tide pooling, bird watching (we saw oyster catchers!), and lots of waves. Our favorite spot was a spot called the restless sea, where waves came from two directions and spun into a massive crush of white water. The sea was really turbulent in this area, and it looked awesome!

The restless sea was amazing.

We made lots of stops along this drive.

Dax took the next two photos.

egret

oyster catcher

The lone Cypress tree is famous.

It was getting late, so we drove back to Cannery Row for dinner. We had a very expensive dinner with fish, clam chowder, and calamari. The boys were good tasters, and they all had their first try at calamari with varying degrees of enjoyment. We even had cookies and ice cream for dessert. It was such a great way to end our day. 

We ate right by the ocean.

We really enjoyed walking down Cannery Row.

We had some yummy treats.

It was a perfect day!