Let other pens dwell on broken light fittings

It's been an odd, disjointed sort of day, with trivial things refusing to work out as they should - as a result of which I am sitting at my desk in the half-light, on not my preferred desk chair. So this won't be a long post, and it won't be about today - time to cheer myself up with some of last year's California sunshine.

From Monterey we drove south along the coast to San Simeon, where we spent the night at a hotel right on the coast. We watched the sun set into the ocean in the classic fashion and then ate in the restaurant - about which I can remember nothing but the child wearing a hat in the shape of a pizza (isn't the internet a wonderful place? here it is!).

Morning was whale patrol time. On the way down to breakfast, durham_rambler saw a possible spout.

Before we drove away, we paid one last visit to our lookout oint, and arrived just in time to see a long line of pelicans fly past and resolve into a V-shaped skein - but no whales. "Never mind," I said. "I'd rather have the pelicans." " - And here they are again," said durham_rambler. Even so, I wasn't quick enough with the camera, so here are some we saw later:

Then we drove off to Hearst Castle - more about that when I have sorted through the many, many photos I took there.