A Birthday On The West Coast.

I cannot believe another birthday has gone by! I will not tell you how many I have had but I must say this is my second while traveling and each one has been great. Last year I was close to my family, although stuck in the snow so that was no fun. This year I got to spend it in sunny California; much better weather for some fun outdoor activities. I do not dread my birthday; each year just keeps getting better so I don’t fear getting older. I figure as long as I keep moving I will feel young! This year I wanted to spend the day hiking and running at Montana de Oro State Park and then spend the night in Morro Bay. It is such a lovely town and walking around at night with the sun setting behind the big Morro rock is a great way to spend an evening. Then the next day I wanted to go up to San Simeon and see the elephant seals that hang out on the beaches up there.

So I booked the dog at the kennel, reserved a room and packed an overnight bag. We geared up for our hike and headed out the door. It was a great day, not too warm, not too cool and nice and sunny. I decided I wanted to climb two peaks, Valencia Peak and Hazard Peak. We headed out using the directions from the Spooner’s Cove run we did and made it to the top of Valencia Peak after a bit of wandering and meandering through the park. The views are still wonderful. We had a snack and headed back down, that is the fun part! We stopped at the Jeep and snacked some more before heading over to hike up Hazard Peak.

This terrain so was different, the trail was lined with high grasses and trees (I think they were eucalyptus trees). It wove back and forth as it went up. This trail has less elevation and it is used more for mountain biking then running. There was this neat little box full of bells for the bikers to take so that they can be heard when coming down a hill or around a turn. It is a very smart idea that saved us from being run over a few times.

We made it to the top and enjoyed the views while talking about some of the other trails with a mountain biker that was up there. I guess the mountain biking community does a lot at this park as far as creating and maintaining many of the trails. We headed back down and ran most of the way. I was moving at a pretty good clip when my foot caught a rock and I nearly face planted and frankly I should have. There is no logical reason why I did not fall and knock most of my teeth out. My husband feels that it is my superior quad strength that saved my face, I think it was that my guardian angel grandma did not want me to knock my teeth out on my birthday. It was so surreal, like time stopped; I mean my hand didn’t even touch the ground. It was weird but I am thankful I did not fall.

We made it back to the car with no more near misses and found that we had covered about 13 miles. I was damn happy with that even though I wanted to go a bit further. We were running out of light so we headed to Morro Bay to the Embarcadero Inn where I had reserved a room. It ended up being beautiful. Hard wood floors, a great little gas fireplace and a huge king size bed. We cleaned up and headed out to find some dinner. At the recommendation of the lady at the hotel desk we went to The Galley. It was incredible! The food was great and they had a really neat kitchen camera so you could watch your food being made. That was new to me; I had never seen that before. We sat at the bar and talked with a lady how actually new the owner of the hotel we were staying at. She was very nice and even gave Jesse a piece of her rack of lamb. The bartender was fun to talk to and we had a great evening of eating, drinking and chatting. What a wonderful way to end my birthday. We hoofed it back to the hotel, feeling all 13 of those miles and promptly feel asleep!

The next day we got up and walked around Morro Bay to do some shopping. It was a bit cool and rainy but we still enjoyed ourselves. We hopped in the Jeep and headed north. I had been told by a few coworkers to head up and see the elephant seals. It was quite a sight! They are not an attractive animal nor are they very pleasant to one another but there was dozens and dozens of them all up and down several beaches. There were also a ton of baby seals that were much cuter. There is a society of people called Friends of the Elephant Seal that have people hanging around that answer questions. The gentleman told us that some of these seals were just days old. It was impressive to see and not something I have ever experienced on the east coast.

We were able to see a lighthouse from the area where the seals were and we wanted to check it out and compare it to the ones on the east. Well the first difference was that you couldn’t get to it! There are tours but no clear signage about how to get on the tour so we kept driving and what we stumbled on next was damn worth the drive!

This area along the Pacific Coast highway was called Ragged Point. There was a gas station, food mart, a resort and some lookout areas. It was incredible, such beautiful views. It was also just inside the Los Padres National Forest and not too far from Big Sur. Jess and I decided the next overnight trip will be there so we can keep driving on that gorgeous road and make it up to Big Sur.

We had to start heading back since I had to begin my next stretch of eight nights of work, much to my dismay. We stopped in Cambria for some lunch and to walk around in the sunshine since the clouds were all gone. It ended up being a beautiful day. We made it back in time to get the dog and take care of the cat before I had to nap and get ready for work.

What a spectacular birthday! I love California and cannot wait to see what next year’s birthday is like!

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