Adventures come in every shape and size and sometimes they are not really planned. My plan was to head up to Saddlebag Lake to do some camping but the Ferguson Fire blocked my easy route there. After living in heat and smoke for 6 days and glued to the fire updates, I needed to escape and came up with the perfect plan. A day trip over to Moss Landing, just north of Monterey, would take 3 hours of driving but hopefully would provide a cool spot to land for the day. Plus, I could eat lunch at Phil’s, one of my favorite spots for a tasty seafood meal of some sort.
As I drove closer to the Monterey area, I could see the fog spilling over the hills. Yahooo! Fog sounded perfect to me even though I had worn shorts for the adventure. Good thing I had thrown in a fleece at the last minute. I parked at Phil’s and looked at the thermometer in my car. 60 degrees, foggy and just perfect! I walked up the pathway along the restaurant to the beach behind it and that was the extent of hiking I did on this adventure.
I met up with a new friend who joined me on most of this adventure. Let me introduce you to Sam. I don’t know if it’s full name is Samuel or Samantha. I just called him Sam. As soon as I opened up my beach chair and plopped it in the sand, Sam came over to say hi, then just stood by me for the morning. Sam didn’t receive any handouts from me, so I think Sam just liked my bubbly personality.
We watched other birds working the beach for their meal.
And we watched a boat go by. Check out the video. Then some more boats came in.
And we watched boats go out.
We watched some birds swimming on by.
We watched sea lions working next to the shore but I never realized how hard it was to capture their picture because when they went under water, you just never know where or when they will pop back up.
What was going on? Those birds we had seen earlier had all lined up like they were in a parade.
We watched some dolphins. I had my eye out for whales and never spotted any but they are out there.
And we watched a group of kayakers all lined up.
I think this was just too much excitement for Sam. Sam took a little nap.
It was time for me to get moving and I put my stuff back in the car and picked up lunch to go at Phil’s Fish Market and Eatery, then drove over to the Elkhorn Slough area for a picnic lunch. Pelicans were lined in a row for me to watch while I ate.
After lunch I made a quick stop at one of the vegetable stands and picked up some goodies to go home with me. It was absolutely the perfect quick get away for the day. I came back revitalized and ready to deal with that heat and smoke for a while longer.
Maps:
Moss Landing Area Courtesy Google Maps
Prior Blogs in this Area:
Escape to Moss Landing January 24, 2016
Sources:
Prior Blogs in the Area:
