A good deed for the day and elephant seals...

A strange combination of topics surely?

Well the good deed was on our Hearst Castle Day Tour...you might remember we had had an early start and were at the meeting point in plenty of time...half an hour to spare!

The meeting point was actually Starbucks but cousin Adrienne suggested a photo in front of the cafe next door as it's an icon! Lol

         ( Photo by A. Parks) 

The tour was a little late starting. Apparently a translator was supposed to be coming with us to translate for a couple with no English...a young Italian couple. Finally our tour guide/driver found out that the translator was ill and that the company were unable to find a replacement at such short notice. It was interesting watching Rich ( the tour guide) trying to dissuade the couple from coming on the tour and to book for another day or get a refund. The couple didn't really know what he was saying but they seemed to know that they were doing the trip regardless. 

I stepped forward and offered Rich my iPad and suggested he use Google Translate...it's not great but it seems to handle French and Italian translating very well. Being a man, he refused my offer. But as the trip started the teacher in me (still!) thought that this young couple would need to know times to be back to the vehicle after each stop, safety issues needed to be explained and it would be nice for them to be aware of some of the commentary at least. So....

Out came my iPad and away I went...the young couple soon got the idea and sometimes they would indicate they wanted to write a question or statement too.

So my iPad and I worked away throughout the day to just help make the couple feel a bit more part of our small group. The translations are a 'bit wonky' in grammar and syntax but understandable. And of course 'ok' is universal...and they would either say it or type it! I did teach them the Aussie favourite saying of DH...'No worries!' Lol. 

Now the second part of this post...in the next photo, DH and the young Italian couple (who incidentally were on their honeymoon after being married on July 26!) are walking towards that railing in the midground of the photo. It is at San Simeon...

And this is what everyone is standing there and looking at...

Sun baking by the water's edge?

These are elephant seals and this is a rookery or colony of them...

Two of the males were having a bit of a 'set to'!

This fellow was just relaxing; notice that he is shedding an old layer of skin. Our guide told us that with each shedding they become progressively darker.

So knowing that about the colour, there are some youngsters in the next photo...

Hmmm...should I go for a swim perhaps he wonders?

Maybe I will! 

Wondering why they are called elephant seals? Well they have a hook of a nose that could resemble a trunk but...

Full  grown males measure 16 feet and weigh 6600 pounds and females are smaller but still weigh 1200 pounds! We were all advised to stay behind the fence and I had no problem with that! Lol

As well as the seals, we saw another creature darting around our legs...no fear of humans!

And then he ran down near the seals and he didn't seem to be frightened of them either. 

Now I have asked a few people for advice about what this little creature is. I had just assumed he or she is a variety of squirrel, but some people have said it is a chipmunk and others have said a marmot...whatever it is, it was very entertaining! :-)

Wednesday...a rather full day!

In fact it was so full, I'll write 2 posts about it!

DH really wanted to visit the so called Hearst Castle, which is on the central coast of California. Not wanting to drive on this holiday our options were limited to finding a tour...and a day tour at that!! Our relatives here in Huntington Beach thought it wasn't the best idea as it would be a very, very long day. 

( a one hour drive from Huntington Beach to LA and then 4 hours drive to Hearst Castle...2 hours at the castle... and back again!)  But we didn't have time for a more leisurely trip to this attraction. So that's why, yesterday morning, we arose at 4 am and with our cousin driving, we set off from Huntington Beach at 4.45 am, heading for LA where we would meet the tour. This meeting point was Starbucks, in Farmers Market complex  in West Hollywood...note the time on the clock...yep! 6am. 

We were supposed to leave on the tour at 6.30 but we left a little later than that. It was just a small tour...2 couples. Our driver and guide was Chicago born Rich, who has lived in California for 44 years.

We travelled through a number of towns with mostly Spanish style buildings...

Our first stop was at the Old Mission (Spanish) in Santa Barbara...

The towers on the church at the misson have been destroyed by earthquakes 3 times. The last time the towers were rebuilt, bricks/blocks were not used. Instead the solid walls were painted to resemble the bricks of the rest of the church.

Love those old steps and the doors!

An old structure where local indigenous people could collect water, do laundry in the days of the Mission.

There were a number of large pepper trees dotted around the grounds of the old Mission.

One thing we noticed on the quadrangle in front of the buildings was a number of chalk drawings on the bitumen...

They were done on Memorial Day in late May. They are very clever drawings...starting to fade of course..

I loved the sign in the ladies' restroom.

Two more photos...a new vocation in my retirement??? Lol

And Rich offered to take photos of each couple...

Our next stop was the charming Danish town of Solvang...

And what a quaint town it was...

Complete with a statue of the Little Mermaid!

Such beautiful old buildings...

We had a cuppa in a lovely little cafe...(DH also had a slice of bread pudding...)

We even had time to check out some shops; DH bought a souvenir T shirt and I had a marvellous time checking out a shop that only sold socks!

I also found Rassmussens...a gift shop with fabrics and yarns upstairs...yes I do have inbuilt 'radar' which helps me find such shops! 

And that's where I'll leave this recount of our long day...stay tuned for more :-)