We toured 17-Mile Drive today. It’s a famous drive around the Pebble Beach area of the Monterey Peninsula. There are about 20 numbered stops along the drive. The girls and I had done a run in the area so we decided afterwards to do the drive. Make that, I decided that we should do the drive. The girls were ready to go back to the house to get school done so they could play Wii. I know I’m not the only one with this problem.
Our first stop was Seal Point. Seals are all over the place in this area, but we haven’t really seen them like this. What looks like a brownish rock out in the water. . .
Is really a rock COVERED in seals!
True seals cannot use their flippers to walk, the flippers are too short. Upon closer inspection of these guys (in Lightroom), they have long flippers (and ear flaps) so they’re actually sea lions. . . unless they’re fur seals (which aren’t true seals). Anyway, there are literally tons of them all over the rock! Imagine how long it took for them to haul themselves up to the top!
Seal Point could have also been called Friendly Squirrel Point. Unless this is not a squirrel…
These are not the grey squirrels of the East Coast that are super pests and should be eliminated. Ahem. They’re not grey, their tails are shorter, and they live on the beach. They were not afraid of us at all. In fact, the one above was kind of protective of that rock. Ash was climbing on it when Curious George came along and scurried up there with her. It freaked her out so she scurried down, and that’s why she’s standing a little farther off in the pic above. I can’t say I blame her. I was taught that if an animal doesn’t act the way it normally should then it’s probably rabid.
Now, Curious couldn’t have all the fun so his neighbor, The Pudge, came out to join us. This guy could barely fit through those rocks that are behind him in the picture below. That’s where they live, in those rocks. I’m guessing. We didn’t really have a conversation. He wasn’t as willing to get so close to us as George, but then again, Curious George is notorious for making stupid decisions. Amiright?
Not willing to risk rabies any more than we already had, we left the beach squirrels to play their own version of King of the Hill and drove along the 17 miles. The most famous stop (other than the golf links themselves) is The Lone Cypress. I haven’t looked up its story to know why it’s alone, or why it has brickwork around its trunk, but it’s a very interesting site to see. Very romantic in a lonely sort of way.
You can’t feel too romantic when you’re staring at it though. We were there on a Tuesday morning in the fall, still there were tourists all over the place. Thankfully no one is allowed out to the tree.
There are beautiful vistas along the 17-mile drive and each one takes your breath away–if you’re older than a tween. My two girls had enough after the second stop. They probably had enough after the squirrels, but I was not listening.
My love for this area continues to grow.
Not So SAHM
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Not So SAHM 