Wanderings -- Episode 7 -- San Diego to Morrow Bay

I never leave much before checkout time (11am)--that sometimes bites me in the rear by making my arrival after dark!  Anyway, I left San Diego and headed North on I-5 (or The 5 as they call it in California.)  Had a lunch break/shopping break along the way.  T J Maxx had several things I NEEDED!  Back on the 5 I had to drive through the dreaded LA,  no other way to get to Morrow Bay.  Even though we went through a major part of the downtown city it was an easy drive-I was left speechless!  Hopped off the 5 and onto the 101.  

A second driving break not long after I left the 5 for a look at--

The rest area was high on a hill above this very large lake!

I enjoyed the scenery and a nice chat with some fellow travelers.

I was a bit nervous as there must have been a gun range across the highway and all the pop-pop going on had me hoping no one missed their target.

Back on the 101 I arrived in Morrow bay in time for a late dinner.

I learned a lesson here.  I had a second floor room, without an elevator!  After nearly falling backwards on the stairs carrying my stuff up I swore that that would not happen again. (All of this trip, so far, my left leg had been screaming at me. I was using a walking stick and lots of pain meds,  so this second floor trip was extra hard.)

 The next morning I was off to the bay to see the sights and shop the shops!  This being a bit early in the season there wasn't a lot of folks and it was easy to find parking.  YEAH!

 

After hitting the shops and a not too great lunch I drove around to the path besides the  BIG rock in the bay and walked toward the open ocean.

The pelicans put on a grand show and this boat was practicing going in and out of the harbor.

Near the ocean side, it became hard to walk through all the rocks.

Which proved to be many of these:

There were seagulls of course and apparently a Peregrine Falcon on the rock.  I didn't see that but lots of people were looking through binoculars and telescopes.  Lots of photographs were taken.

This is the top of the rock , lots of birds, and bird's nests up there.  So many that I thought it must have been a rookery

There were seals/sea lions (I wasn't close enough to tell which) making a big racket!  I wondered if the locals got used to it or if it gave them headaches.!