Up close and personal...

Sea kayaking was the family's choice for the "big" adventure on our trip to the central coast of California, happily over Disneyland or Sea World, I love my kids! ( they still have never picked an amusement park yet on a family vacation!)
We signed up with Pismo Beach Surf Shop, nicest guys with great advice on local places to eat too- Zorro's in Shell beach- yum- for breakfast!
But before that- everybody but me, went kayaking around the Dinosaur caves below Shell Beach...
Down the stairs from the cliffs above...

 

A few lessons...

 

 

shove off...

 

 

 

And there they go...

 

 

while I hurry up the stairs to get pictures from above...

 

 

And then have a stare down contest with the pelicans across the way...

 

 

 

Meanwhile, below in the surf, there is a lot of communing with nature going on...

 

 

 

 

And some cave exploration...

 

 

Pismo Surf Shop took all the pics in the water, I took the ones from dry land- they burn you a disc which was great!

The guys at the surf shop also sent us to Avila Beach, where you can drive your car onto Port San Luis Pier...

 

 and check out some more wildlife.

 

Snoozing otters on the right...

 

And noisy sea lions on the left...

 

 

 

 

 



Do you know why the pelican crossed the pier?...

 

 

 

I don't know, but their "cawing" sounds just like my kids calling " mom, mom, mom!" and got really annoying after awhile!!

 

Wildlife tally for the trip...

 

A pod of dolphins at Carmel Beach

elephant seals sunny and napping at Big Sur

A whale peeking out at Pismo Beach

A playful seal trying to "goose" my daughter in the surf, Pismo Beach

More seals at Shell Beach

Lazy otters and sea lions at Port San Luis Pier

Noisy pelcans and sea gulls all the time

and...

a pack of dessert wolves, on the way home!

With no admission fee and crowds!

Central California is really, really cool- what is cooler- is coming back to our mountains... where these guys dream to visit!!