Spring Breakers

As spring break comes to an end, here are a few photos from our road trip up the 101 earlier in the week.

 I'll start with our family portrait.  I don't really like to have my picture taken, so I was throwing a bit of a fit for this one at Hearst Castle. 

Our first stop was a visit with our friends Isla and Shea.

 Grace, Shea, and Isla shot some hoops, while I explored the edges of their basketball court and tried to avoid getting bonked on the head by any errant shots.

 Surprising to no one, Grace is pretty good at making baskets.

 Then it was off to San Simeon to see Hearst Castle.  That's the castle in the distance.  It was a strange place, with huge rooms.  We weren't allowed to touch anything, and a docent gave me a dirty look when I accidentally stepped off the tour mat onto Mr. Hearst's original rug.  I'm sure I wasn't the first person to do that.

 Just up the road from San Simeon, we checked out the Elephant Seals, molting at this time of year.

 I'm just going to say there was a pretty bad smell in the air.  Use your imagination.

I found the seals to be pretty boring, so I occupied my time by playing in the dirt and picking up rocks.

 Heading down the coast, we stopped for a night in Morro Bay.  For this photo, Grace adopted one of her signature poses.

 Mom got silly for this one.

From our hotel we had a pretty good view of Morro Rock.

 Before leaving town the next day, we drove over to the Rock to get a closer look.  Grace did her pose several more times, but I'll just include this one.

Morro Rock is pretty big, as you can see.  It's a sacred place, so there's no climbing allowed.

 I made people nervous by getting close to this sign, but don't worry, I didn't get into any trouble here.

 The most amazing part of the trip was coming upon a real, live construction site.  It really made my trip.  I love excavators.  We spent a night in Solvang, too, but I forgot to take any photos there, so we'll have to go back sometime.