Valentine's Day Trip

For Valentine's Day weekend Patrick and I decided to take a trip up the coast of California. We only went as far as Morro Bay but we saw and did so much that our 2 day trip was jam packed. Our first stop was a quick coffee break in Santa Barbara. We were having a torrential down pour at the time so we didn't do too much exploring. We then continued on our way to Pismo Beach to visit the Monarch Butterfly Grove.

Apparently, monarch butterflies migrate to this area for the winter. They huddle in clusters in the trees and without someone to point the clusters out to you, you would just think they were dead leaves. They are also all over the ground so you have to be careful not to step on them. It was really neat to look up into the sky and see tons of them flying through the trees over head.

Next we headed to Pirate's Cove, a secluded beach off the beaten path. You drive out on some beautiful country roads off of the highway, then down a dead end and park in a muddy lot (it had been raining all day, but had stopped just in time for our arrival). We then hiked down the cliff a ways to get a better view of the beach. At the bottom of the trail, we noticed some seals lounging on the rocks. We didn't end up making it actually onto the beach because we decided we better hurry back to the car as there was a huge bank of black clouds getting closer and closer and the trail we had hiked down was literally a creekbed. We knew if it started raining that trail would soon be flowing with water. Luckily, we made it to where our car was parked right as the rain started to fall heavily.

We then moved on to Port San Luis, a working fishing village (and by village I mean 2 restaurants at the end of the pier and a fresh fish market. I didn't even see any houses). This was my favorite stop on our whole trip. There were very few tourists and the road into the village dead ended at the pier, which you could drive out on and park at the end to visit the restaurants. There were sea lions lounging on a lower level of the pier and huge pelicans and sea gulls all over. We went to the Olde Port Inn for some wine and seafood, but really so we could sit at their glass bottomed tables. While eating our lunch we saw a mom and baby otter swimming under our table. The mom was eating clams. It was so cool. I went to look out the windows to get a better view of the bay and noticed that a sea lion was playing with a pelican that was sitting in the water. The sea lion would nip at the pelican and the pelican would nip back. I thought, "Oh, how cute." Five minutes later the sea lion had killed the pelican and was eating it. Those things are viscious!

Next we headed to Morro Bay. We didn't spend very much time here. We really just went to see the giant rock that Morro Bay is known for. We got there just as the sun was going down and saw the beautiful sight of the sun going down behind Morro Rock. We also got some delicious chocolates and salt water taffy. You can't go to the beach without getting candy!

We then drove south and a little bit inland to San Louis Obispo. We visited a local brewery, had dinner and then headed to Solvang. From the little we saw of SLO, we would love to go back.

We stayed the night at a hotel in Solvang and the next morning woke up ready to explore the town. Solvang is the Danish capital of America. A group of Danish arrived in 1911 and founded Solvang and to this day over 60% of the population is of Danish descent. They had lots of touristy shops but also wonderful bakeries and restaurants. The bakeries, of course, had danishes, but also other danish desserts. They also had lots of items that were Swedish as Denmark is very close to Sweden. This was really fun for us as Patrick's grandpa was Swedish and we recognized alot of the stuff Patrick had grown up with. This area is also known for their wine, so we had some wonderful wine tastings. For lunch we went to a local restaurant that served authentic Danish food. Very good! We spent the rest of the day walking around town and visiting the shops and then headed home. We had a wonderful time and would love to go back!

Monarch Butterfly

Clusters of monarch butterflies

Trail down to Pirate's Cove

Seals on rocks in Pirate's Cove

Driving on the pier in Port San Luis

Umm, why is this sign even necessary? People are so stupid!

Port San Luis

Pelican. I wonder if this was the one the sea lion ate?

We had great wine and seafood. Yumm!

Morro Bay

Solvang

I think this about my size.

Taking our own picture once again.

One of the many pretty vistas on the drive home.