Elephant Seals

So I've decided that we live in one of the most gorgeous places on earth. I absolutely love the beauty which is in this area. Yesterday I took the 280 to the 1 freeways and as I made a turn, the ocean suddenly popped up below huge clifts of black rocks and dark green trees. It was absolutely breathtaking. Like this, except that this is farther down the coast where the cliffs aren't very high.

I drove down Highway 1, which goes right along the coast for the most part, and came first to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. No digitization here--just a regular picture from my camera. Isn't it amazing?

I met up with our wonderful friends, the Ericksons, and we headed down the coast 10 more minutes to Ano Nuevo State Park, which is partially an Elephant Seal Reserve (which was the reason for the excursion!) I've been excited to go here since I read about it in our NorCal book about a year ago. So basically, in the months between late November and March, the elephant seals, which were once on the brink of extinction, come to this beach to mate and have pups. But, their mating can get super exciting as the males totally fight each other for the female harem. Like they seriously cause bleeding and scarring. We unfortunately came too late in the season for that sight, but were able to see the male elephant seals, and the pups which had been born about a month ago. The females had already gone back to the ocean for food. Here are some pics:

So the seals come to the beach, and totally take up this sand dune area. They're dotted all along the coastline, but then a ways up into the sand. Just for perspective, the pups which you can see here about about 250 pounds. They can't swim yet because they are too fat, so they have to waste their time and lose weight before they can go into the ocean!That's a male elephant seal behind me sleeping. His famous nose is on the left.

A group of little pups who were so confused with me. I kind of wanted to go lay down by them because 25o pounds of fat has to be comfortable, right? But, apparently they're really mean if you get to close. I love the excursions that I get to go on because I live where I do!