To begin the day we had a pre-breakfast walk along the beach of Carmel-by-the-sea, this place really is exclusive, no "banana boat rides" or arcades here, the sand is spotless and the sea-front road is populated by extremely expensive looking holiday homes. The weather was overcast at 8:am, but the skies were to clear beautifully later in the day.
Carmel beach at 8:00 am - "so bracing".
We had a breakfast in a cafe at the local mall, I will never understand why Americans think pancakes with syrup goes with egg, ("easy over"), and bacon! I still had it though, it seems like having a big cake on your plate!
We drove out along the coast to a Nature Reserve called "Point Lobos" for a visit, the weather by now was really warm and sunny, and this place really was a delight. Pine forests and rocky coastal outcrops, sea cliffs and hidden coves, loads of seals, sea otters and whales, we even managed to borrow some binoculars from a Park Ranger.
Images from Point Lobos - I kept calling it "Los Lobos", and I couldn't remember who they were!
It seems that like many sites up the west coast of California, this area was often used as a film location, the sea and rocks being popular for movie makers, we discovered at the visitors centre that the Hitchcock classic "Rebecca" was filmed here, a little bit of Hollywood Cornwall no less.
Laurence Olivier was here...
After walking for what seemed ages we decided some chilling was in order so we visited another beach on the way home, lay on our towels and watched the birds - plenty of pelicans, which brings me to a fond childhood memory...
"A wonderful bird is the Pelican,
His beak can hold more than his belly can,
He can hold in his beak, enough for a week,
I don't know how the hell he can!"
(My old grand dad taught me that years ago!)
OMG! Quick, clear the beach!
Lovely views out to sea.
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