Living the Dream Year 5 Day 256 – Day 6 of 22 day California Zephyr, California coastal drive, and 14 night Mexico Cruise – Day 2 of 4 day California Coastal drive Pismo Beach Hilton Garden Inn video and Elephant Seals

Year 5, Day 256 “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 1/11/2026, Day 6 of 22 day California Zephyr cross country trip, followed by a California coastal drive, and then a 14 night Mexico Cruise – Today is Day 2 of our 4 day California coastal drive. Last night and tonight we are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach. Pismo Beach is a California coastal town located between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is famous for its history as the “Clam Capital of the World”. You also may remember it from the Bugs Bunny Saturday morning cartoon. Bugs reaches Pismo Beach and finds a pearl in a clam. A miniature Daffy, shrunk by the jinn, arrives and claims the pearl. The cartoon concludes with Bugs making the clam close on Daffy. Hey, Justin remembered that. What a nice nice hotel this is. Although it is a little unique for a Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel was just totally refurbished and it looks it. There is not one spot of wear anywhere. Everything is freshly painted and clean. The design is strange as it is built into the hill. You enter the lobby on the 4th floor. Our room is on the second floor. So unusual to go down to your room. The laundry and exercise area is on our floor. The cafe is on the third floor. The pool is on the second floor and our room has a door and patio outside by the pool. Very nice. Here’s a video of the Hilton Garden Inn Pismo Beach, California

So anyway we headed to see the Elephant Seals today after breakfast. We drove for an hour North on Route one to the Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery.

On the way to see the Seals we passed the California Men’s Colony. I had no idea that it is a state prison for adult males. I had to Google it. We also passed so many amazing rock formations. All of a sudden a huge rock formation would just appear in the middle of the field.

Then we were driving by the ocean with rock formations. Wow just breathtaking!!

We also passed the original home for training the California National Guard. This area has about 7 miles of beaches where these elephant seals breed and give birth. They are protected by Federal Law. It was really fascinating to watch them. It was a gorgeous sunny day in the 70’s. Perfect weather for strolling the ocean side walkways of this free year round viewing spot in San Simeon. The reason for our drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles was to come to this spot. The Piedras Blancas Rookery is unique worldwide. It is easily accessible. It is free. It is open to the public every day of the year. No reservations are needed. The rookery is located seven miles north of San Simeon on Highway 1. There is free parking also. We walked the boardwalks and viewing platforms that extended both north and south of the large parking area. When we arrived it was early and no one was there. When we left there were a few more cars in the parking lot. We are here during the Elephant Seals Birthing and Breeding Season. We see lots of moms and babies on the beach. The Friends of the Elephant Seal arrived at 10am. They set up a table and were available to answer questions at the viewing area. They are there every day from 10am-4pm. If you are traveling the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles this is a must stop. The historic Piedras Blancas Lighthouse is up the road a little bit. They offer guided tours but are not open on Sundays. Not this trip for us. Maybe we will be back. Just so much to see and so little time to do it.

After we left the viewing area we stopped at the Friends of the Elephant Seal Visitor Center. It is a small little gift shop with exhibits and the most knowledgeable volunteers. There is also a live viewing of where we just were on a monitor in the store. Here is a link to the Piedras Blancas elephant seal live views. https://elephantseal.org/live-view/

Here’s a little something to ponder.

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