Camping on the Coast...a Birthday Celebration!

Someone in our family will be celebrating a birthday very soon. And someone in our family really enjoys camping. So, another someone planned a trip to do just that. However, this someone who planned the trip has an extreme irrational fear of bears so she, I mean, this someone located a spot right on the beach. As far as someone knows, bears can't swim in the ocean! Oh, and the birthday someone adores the irrational someone in spite of her, uh, silliness! :0)

So, we packed up the car and head south on the Coastal Highway...yep, Highway 1...to Half Moon Bay. Our site was located about 20 yards from the beach and 30 yards from the toilets! It was a great park. Very quiet and clean.
The day we got there proved to be very foggy and chilly. It was perfect! (I am tired of seeing the sun everyday.) The temperature hovered around 52 the whole time we were there. Made for cold sleeping! Anyhow, here are a BUNCH of pictures...


I had a lot of opportunities to see the most amazing birds...the Brown Pelican. These huge birds fly up and down the coast, in a line, inches above the water searching for fish. They are so graceful and I never got tired of watching them.

(Click on the picture to see them better. They are beautiful!)

And then there are these cute lil' guys...Sandlings. Their legs move way fast.

The next morning, when I woke up and went hunting for the boys, this is where I found them...

...watching the ocean waves.

Wanna know what we think the best part of camping is?

...cooking breakfast over an open fire!

We packed up camp and heading further south in search of a rockier beach with tide pools. The first one we stopped at didn't have any, but did have lots of birds. The boys chased them...

We hit the jack pot at the next beach! It was beautiful!!!!


Check out the treasures we discovered...

Then, off in the distance, look what I spot...

How cool is that?! I know. Very cool! Especially for a family who have never seen them in their natural habitat like that! I am from Iowa, you know. Collin and I were able to climb out on some rocks to get a closer look.

The cute spotted guy in the front never took his eyes off of us!

There were so many new things we saw that we know nothing about so I am planning to do some sort of Seashore study with the boys this summer. You know what that means...lots and lost of field trips!