We woke up to another overcast morning, hiked a bit to a waterfall and to the old lime kilns and then set off to Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. After a short hike, we had a spectacular view of another waterfall and a gorgeous beach. It's no wonder the Browns built a house on the hill above the sea in the 40s. It seemed unfortunate that the state couldn't find a use for the house, but there was very little around.
We drove on to Monterey where a free sample of clam chowder and the promise of a window seat lured Clare into one of the many Fisherman's Wharf restaurants. Clare enjoyed an open-faced seafodd sandwich and I thought I sort of enjoyed beef ribs. My stomach hasn't been the same since. The window seat did give us a view of a dozen lounging seals, a few swimmers and a jelly fish puttering along.
From lunch, we headed north to a slough for some tandem kayaking. I was quite unnerved by the sea lion and sea otter heads popping out of the water on a regular basis. We saw dozens of swimming and sunning sea lions, sea otters, and/or seals. We saw countless birds as well, including a fleet of swooping pelicans. It took me most of an hour to calm down enough to enjoy the trip. I'm not sure where the irrational fear came from, but being on a tiny boat in a choppy sea (sort of) didn't help. I just felt so small and helpless.
We kept packing it in and next enjoyed the Mystery Spot. Clare remains skeptical, but I was fascinated by the incredible lean, and the ball and water going up hill. The tour guide's jokes were terrible and wonderful too. It was five dollars well spent.
Just outside Santa Cruz, we made camp at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. We were given a site with "a view" and mostly had enough daylight to enjoy the view of sky and trees. We managed to have a fire, although it took too long to start for it to be a fire for our chili. Fortunately, the jetboil took care of our heating needs. Celebrating our fire, we stayed up later than usual and then compounded that with my four minutes of luxury in the shower and Clare's hair washing in the sink. Oh what a night.
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