Lobas Point

Monday 5th August - Today we went to Point Lobas state park, it had Ben recommended to us by my aunty, who said it was a very beautiful.  She was right, basically it is a peninsula that sticks out into the sea and it has to be the best place I have been to for photographs.  Everywhere you looked there was an amazing view.  On the beach we saw more seals and sea otters, they were very noisy.  We had a picnic on the beach and the seal became curious and cam quite close to the shore, I think they like Cheetos too!  Here is just one of the many pictures that we took yesterday.

You probably cannot make it out but the island in the middle of this picture has some seals on it!

Whales ahoy!

It is my birthday - 4th August 2013 - Today Samantha, Victoria and I went whale watching in the Bay of Monterey. The picture below shows the boat that we went out on.

We had booked this a few weeks ago back in the UK, we were advised that it would be cold and choppy, which ruled Jules out of the trip.  We arrived at 8:30am ready for our 4 hour trip.  When they said it would be cold and choppy they were correct, although it was a fairly still day there was quite a swell when we got out of the harbour.  We spotted hundreds of birds such as brands cormorants, sooty shearwaters, guilemots also we saw loads of sea otters, and seals.

After about two hours of looking for whales we came across a pair of humpback whales, they we feeding on anchovies.  This meant that they would dive down for about 5 minutes at a time and then come up to breath. There were about 4 boats circling around where these whales were diving, we have some cool photos to show you, also you can't believe how loud they are when they spray the water up, you can hear it from miles away.  On the way back we found a pod of dolphins about 200 strong and got some got photos of these as they came quite near to the boat, see below.

Bishop's Peak on Friday fish and chip day!

Friday 2nd August - today we went for a little hike, we'll it would'nt be a holiday with Dad without a little hike. We headed for a mountain trail near San Luis Opisbo called Bishops Peak.  It is not a massive thing but does give some great views of the town and surrounding mountains. On the way up we saw lots of birds, a rosé finch,some kind of jay and some white tailed eagles, or and a couple of lizards.

As you can se below the view from the top was impressive.

We headed back down the mountain and as we had walked off breakfast and it was Friday we thought we had earned Fish and Chips.  In Pismo beach we found a cafe that was serving fish and chips that looked good so we ate their. Jules made the most of not driving and ordered herself a pint of bud which made me well jealous.

Body boarding

Thursday 1st August - today we went shopping at Pismo shopping outlet, whilst we waited for the sun to burn through the sea mist. Afterwards e walked along the beach towards the centre of Pismo Beach. Samantha and I thought it would be a good idea to try body boarding (surfing without standing up). We bought a pair of body boards on the sea front and headed into the sea. It was cold at first but then we got used to it. We waded out to about waist deep and at he sight of a big wave we turned and faced the shore and jumped onto our boards. It was fantastic, Samantha and I both surfed the wave all of the way to the shore, in fact I grounded much like a beached whale!

It was of course beginners look at it became more difficult after then, but it was great fun.  We are going to try again tomorrow and I will try to get some photos. 

One for Hodge and Elvis

Gettup you two, I remember one of billies famous tales from your world tour, eating frozen yogurt from the shop next door to the cinema in Santa Barbara. We walked past such a set up yesterday so took a photo for you to bring back some memories for you.

Am I in the right spot?

Hodges I did get you some frozen yogurt, but thought it would melt so I ate it!  Sorry marra!

Six flags theme park

Tuesday 30th July - today we went to six flags theme park in Valencia, it was a couple of hours drive away from Santa Barbara. 

We left early in the morning so that we could get there for the gate opening at 10am. The park boasts the biggest, fastest and highest roller coasters in the world.  Even Samantha was petrified on some of them.  Needless to say, I bottled most of them, we'll someone needed to hold the camera.  I did however ride the highest ride in the park and I was not even strapped in.

It was however the parks observation tower, 34 stories high!

The pictures above show the small roller coasters the girls rode on...

Pismo Beach

Wednesday 31st July - today we arrived at Pismo Beach, it is absolutely lovely and one of our favourite places ever.  We upgraded our room so that we could have a sea view, it is well worth it, see the picture below.

Tonight we have been to AJ Spurs steakhouse, it was funky with loads of stuffed animals everywhere and photos of cowboys and Indians. We all had steak and salad and it was a right belly buster as you can see.

Jules and Samantha had a right laugh taking long arm shot photos

There were some big people in the restaurant, one was as big as Daggsy, just look at the size of this bloke!

I have spent most of the afternoon sunbathing and watching pelicans flying past the hotel and fishing in the sea. I will try to get you some action shots of pelicans - my favourite bird.