2012 California Road Trip: Pacific Grove to Cambria on Highway One

Today we begin a portion of the road trip that we have taken together before, at least partially.  We entered the 17-mile drive, a "pay per view" drive in the Pebble Beach golf community.  This is a section of the most spectacular, wild coastline.  The trees are moulded and bent by the wind, the rocky shoreline creates a very rough and dangerous surf.

The plant life are mostly low-mounding succulent varieties.

I suppose this is all that can survive in the tough wind/surf conditions.

Two ravens perch on a rock formation.

This woman amused me:  she happily ate her corn-on-the-cob while the birds hovered nearby,

waiting for a mistake.

Sorry this was taken through the windshield (you'll be comforted to know I was driving)

I love this tree.  All the trees have this windswept appearance.

See all the seals?

The "Lone Cypress"

Ghost Tree

More remains of the ghost trees.  They look very skeletal, don't they?

Such beautiful shapes

Big Sur

We watched many of these Stellers Jays while having lunch at Nepenthe, a lovely 

place near Big Sur.

The beach at Cambria, where moonstones are found.