14/05/10

(reporting on the 15th)

You know it's going to be a good day when it starts with Lucky Charms. I miss that cereal, I used to have it all the time when I was younger, but they stopped selling it in the UK. Anyway, another day of driving up highway 1. This stretch was the famous Big Sur coastline and was amazing. The road hugs the cliffs to the right and overlooks the sea to the left for mile after mile. The scenery is spectacular for pretty much the whole drive so we took our time and stopped at a few viewpoints etc. There was a castle along the way, but as is common over here it cost a lot and you have to do tours or not do it at all. We weren't all that interested so decided to give it a miss. However, just along the road was a great free attraction; Elephant Seal Cove. It was a small patch of beach that the elephant seals apparently like as it was covered in them. There must have been over 40 seals just lounging in the sun with a few more in the sea. They are strange creatures, they don't seem to be able to just sit quietly, every so often the make odd blurting noises or start small fights.

At the end of perhaps the best road in the world is a Monterey. Monterey apparently is the old capital of California before it was taken over by the Americans and has the Spanish style architecture etc. but as with all quaint things in America, it is crazily touristy. It's aquarium is very impressive though. It has great collections of all sorts of sea creatures from sharks, stingrays and huge fish in enormous tanks to otters to seahorses and all sorts in between. We spent the nigh at a campsite just up the road from Monterey. We decided to put up the tent that came with the van so that we paid as a tent rather than an RV. This is where we found that the tent that came with the van is rubbish. The waterproof cover for the tent doesn't even go down to the ground, so we did a half assed job and went for dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant which is our first real go at Mexan whilst being out here, Taco Bell doesn't count. I had a chicken, prawns, salsa, refried beans and rice to make wraps from then a cheese enchilada on the side. Very nice, but the refired beans dont really taste of much and was the ingredient that made the Taco Bell burito taste so “fluffy”.

I spent the evening catching up on internet business. Camping has really come along in the last few years, wifi at the pitch is really as much a necessity as showers now :)

Cube out