Day Eight: We Basically Saw A Zoo Today

HELLO,

After seven days of being with James (and then eventually the entire family), Joey and I set off for the next set of the adventure, just the two of us! I know, our travel buddy will be greatly missed. But we will hold him in our hearts forever.

We left the hotel this morning and headed down the PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY!! This was also a bucket list item people, we’re just crossing them off left and right. We started near San Francisco and pretty much rode it the entire way to the Los Angeles area. This added a few hours onto our trip, but it was DEFINITELY worth it.

For the most part, we were overlooking the beautiful beaches or winding through the mountains. I felt like I was on an episode of Big Little Lies, I was thriving.

One of the main reasons I wanted to take this drive was to see the sea life. I had heard that you could check out some seals just straight up chilling on the beaches, so I kept my eyes peeled.

We were driving for sooooo long, and nothing. We were probably three hours into the drive and I had given up hope.

And then…

I saw them.

THE ELEPHANT SEALS.

I screamed (sorry Joey) and we immediately pulled over and I literally just stared at them for like ten minutes. They are huge, and disgusting, and majestic, and perfect. I identify with them. Can you see why?

You see, I too, would like to be a fat blob that lays on the beach all day and literally flubbers my way from one nap area to the next.

I also grabbed a nifty little pamphlet and learned a ton of random facts that I will now share with you (I just realized I left this pamphlet in the car so here is the abridged version from what I can recall):

• Because it’s June, these are only the male elephant seals!! The ladies are all out swimming and getting the FOOD
• Some of the seals don’t have the big “elephant noses”. It’s because they are babies, they don’t get their nose until they are 5 years old (and they’re not respected until they have a nose, retweet if you cried)
• The ladies do not grow a nose (retweet if you cried)
• The males can grow to be 5,000 lbs LMAO while the ladies grow to about 1,800 pounds
• They spend MONTHS at a time in the water searching for food, and they do it all on their lonesome. They don’t reconnect with other seals until they come back to THIS BEACH!!

I’m a little upset by how much I remembered from that pamphlet. I guess I am an expert now, hit me up for the rest of your elephant seal needs.

After this, EXCITING moment, Joey and I were still glowing when all of a sudden… in the field of cows… we saw… A LEGIT HERD OF ZEBRAS. You cannot make this stuff up people. We looked it up, someone does in fact own Zebras in that area. Wild.

We then stopped for lunch in…. MORRO BAY, CALIFORNIA. For those of you who are only mild Disney lovers, this is the setting of Finding Dory (The Jewel of Morro Bay, California… the aquarium… Becky). And we ate some SEAFOOOD. We were starving and I took no pictures, I apologize. But it was delicious. While we were eating, we looked out the window and saw… AN OTTER. LIKE ARE YOU SERIOUS. THREE COOL SPECIES IN ONE DAY?? I can’t. I need another week to recover from this. My picture is super blurry but I watched that little guy as he swam away. I’ll never forget u, u’ve touched my heart.

Once we left, it was off to our final destination! Joey’s friends, Matt and Sara, are kind enough to host us at their place for the next couple of days. We have some AWESOME stuff planned with them, and we are sooooo thankful for their generosity!! We are also happy to have an extra furry roommate for a little bit, shamrock.

We need to go to bed immediately because tomorrow we are waking up early!! Here’s a hint for what’s in store…

DAILY STATS UPDATE:

• Number of States We’ve Been In: 11
• Miles Driven Today: 427 Miles
• Miles Driven Total: 3,490 Miles
• Cows Spotted: 5,045
• Hours in the Car Today: 8.5 hours
• Total Hours in the Car: 55.5 hours
• Chicken Nuggets Consumed: 68
• Windmills Spotted: 553
• State License Plates: 45/50 States
• Number of Musicals Listened to: 5.5 (sorry Bonnie and Clyde, you’re just not a good musical and we had to put you away)