Road Trip!

This past weekend, I decided to go camping. I got all my stuff packed up and headed out early to The Pinnacles National Park. I got there around 9:30 only to find that all the camp sites were full. I had looked online, but it said first come first serve, so I thought I would get one if I got there early enough - WRONG! Time for plan B.

I decided to hang around the Monterey area, so I drove to Moss Landing on a whim and then checked out the Elkhorn Slough Wildlife Reserve. I only intended to stay an hour. 3 hours and a 2.5 mile hike later, I finally got back to my car, and booked a hotel room in Salinas online (smart phones are the most awesome things ever). I stopped a few places on the way to the hotel and took lots of photos, of course.

The next day I drove to the west side of The Pinnacles National Park to take a short hike to look for wildflowers. It was pretty dry, but I did find a few: Johnny Jump Ups, Chinese Houses, a few Cream Cups, Poppies, Purple Owl's Clover, Miner's Lettuce, Monkeyflower, Woodland Star, and Larkspur. It was pretty warm, so I didn't go more than a half mile before turning around. Besides, I had more places to see and was short on time.

After my short stay at The Pinnacles, I drove down Jolon Road to Lake San Antonio and took a short tour before heading to Morro Bay to see the sea otters. They were in their usual spot at Morro Rock. I just love to see them :)  My final stop was at Shell Beach before heading to the 166 to drive home. All in all, a nice road trip!

I posted pics below.

Until next time, happy trails!



Links to check out:

Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
Morro Bay -  Wildlife Hotspots
Salinas River State Beach - Moss Landing, CA
Lake San Antonio