April 30
We started the day on slow side as we just had to take it a bit easy after all those early morning starts for three weeks. We were on our way by 9 am and we had a long drive today after driving through the passes north of LA last evening. The day was sunny and windy, very gusty. We saw a large transport truck in front of us on the highway get blown sideways by a couple of feet in a gust. The road was very flat until the end where we had a low pass to get through. We stopped at a roadside fruit and nut stand and it was an oasis in the middle of so much dry land. They really have a drought problem even though we saw some huge reservoirs.
We all bought some nuts and fruit at the oasis stand and everything was fresh and very good. We also finally got to try the famous Anderson Pea Soup. We stopped in Anderson's Santa Nella restaurant for a bowl of pea soup at lunch time. This pea soup is put through the blender and vegetarian and it is very tasty. Sides such as ham, bacon, scallions and cheese are served with it and this makes for a lovely tasty soup.
We continued on with our drive and we first drove to Half Moon Bay where the pelagic was to have started. This is a real beach town and it was the perfect day to be at the beach with the surf so high and wild for the surfers. The sand here is black so it is a little different from the sand I am used to at Daytona. The streets were packed with cars and it was beach weather. We then drove the 13 miles or so to Pacifica which is a small little grouping of motels and restaurants and some homes between three walls of mountain and the ocean. No cell service is what I found here. Our hotel here is the Sea Breeze Motel/ Dump. It is our most expensive motel on the trip and it is because it is in a resort area. The rooms only have no electrical outlets available, there are all taken. The room is dim with the lighting and it could be cleaner. The whole point in staying here was to be close to the pelagic. BUT we have the ocean about 30 feet away!!! I can hear the surf pounding and the tide is coming in. The waves were incredible today and so it was sensible to cancel the pelagic with the severe conditions. The view is stunning and people were at the beach today. After a seafood supper at the Rockaway Restaurant which was excellent, I watched the sunset from our room and took some photos on my Iphone. The spray from the ocean makes a mist and we know we will have to clean off our binoculars to get rid of the salt splotches. We saw several Surf Scoters in the wild surf and they are smart. It there was a big wave coming they dove into the water. If is was a small wave, the Scoter would ride it out. There was not a cloud in the sky.
We are going to bed early tonight as we have to be at a birding meet up spot for 7:30 am but it is a 1/2 hour away and we don't know where we are going exactly. We are meeting up with a birdingpal, Julio. Today was not a birding day, even though we car-birded getting here, we did not get any new lifers!
The weather was in the 70's today but as typical, the evening's temperatures are cool and it is not humid at all so it actually feels chilly. It is going to be lovely to get to sleep tonight with the surf pounding so hard outside the open window.
Here is a California Thrasher
We started the day on slow side as we just had to take it a bit easy after all those early morning starts for three weeks. We were on our way by 9 am and we had a long drive today after driving through the passes north of LA last evening. The day was sunny and windy, very gusty. We saw a large transport truck in front of us on the highway get blown sideways by a couple of feet in a gust. The road was very flat until the end where we had a low pass to get through. We stopped at a roadside fruit and nut stand and it was an oasis in the middle of so much dry land. They really have a drought problem even though we saw some huge reservoirs.
We all bought some nuts and fruit at the oasis stand and everything was fresh and very good. We also finally got to try the famous Anderson Pea Soup. We stopped in Anderson's Santa Nella restaurant for a bowl of pea soup at lunch time. This pea soup is put through the blender and vegetarian and it is very tasty. Sides such as ham, bacon, scallions and cheese are served with it and this makes for a lovely tasty soup.
We continued on with our drive and we first drove to Half Moon Bay where the pelagic was to have started. This is a real beach town and it was the perfect day to be at the beach with the surf so high and wild for the surfers. The sand here is black so it is a little different from the sand I am used to at Daytona. The streets were packed with cars and it was beach weather. We then drove the 13 miles or so to Pacifica which is a small little grouping of motels and restaurants and some homes between three walls of mountain and the ocean. No cell service is what I found here. Our hotel here is the Sea Breeze Motel/ Dump. It is our most expensive motel on the trip and it is because it is in a resort area. The rooms only have no electrical outlets available, there are all taken. The room is dim with the lighting and it could be cleaner. The whole point in staying here was to be close to the pelagic. BUT we have the ocean about 30 feet away!!! I can hear the surf pounding and the tide is coming in. The waves were incredible today and so it was sensible to cancel the pelagic with the severe conditions. The view is stunning and people were at the beach today. After a seafood supper at the Rockaway Restaurant which was excellent, I watched the sunset from our room and took some photos on my Iphone. The spray from the ocean makes a mist and we know we will have to clean off our binoculars to get rid of the salt splotches. We saw several Surf Scoters in the wild surf and they are smart. It there was a big wave coming they dove into the water. If is was a small wave, the Scoter would ride it out. There was not a cloud in the sky.
We are going to bed early tonight as we have to be at a birding meet up spot for 7:30 am but it is a 1/2 hour away and we don't know where we are going exactly. We are meeting up with a birdingpal, Julio. Today was not a birding day, even though we car-birded getting here, we did not get any new lifers!
The weather was in the 70's today but as typical, the evening's temperatures are cool and it is not humid at all so it actually feels chilly. It is going to be lovely to get to sleep tonight with the surf pounding so hard outside the open window.
Here is a California Thrasher
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