Giving Thanks, part II

We left San Francisco and headed back to the coast. Although we had to suffer through about a 1/2 hour of freeway travel, we quickly got back onto more sensible and interesting roads. The highway turns slow and twisty as we climbed up, and then rode down, the smaller coastal mountains all the way to the sea. It’s almost redundant to keep saying, but the scenery was once again breathtaking. A short stop at no place in particular gives just a small taste.

With temperatures still way below normal (record breaking lows for around here), we once again moved into a cheap motel. And with American Thanksgiving the next day, we decided it wise to stay put for two nights. This motel is like all the others; perfectly acceptable in function and cleanliness, with just a wee hint of a cat-pee smell. Ah well, you get what you pay for 😉

We got checked in, and after a short chat with one of the other guest couples who were in the middle of a round-the-world tour to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, we headed off to explore our surrounds. A short walk took us to a nearby park, and then eventually down to the beach.

We’re now far enough south that the flora and fauna are becoming increasingly weird. Lots of palm and cacti-type plants are around, and there are odd birds of all sorts. Even the not-so-odd ones look a bit different. We saw

long-snouted plovers , dark coloured pelicans , and odd-ball ducks . And lots of palm trees:

Turns out American Thanksgiving is a BIG DEAL, with lots of travellers and visitors. Campgrounds threaten to be busy and hotels/motels are both loaded and expensive. After some online snooping we realized the motel we are in was our cheapest option, so we got comfortable, and booked in here for a few more days. Our room has a fridge and microwave, so we cooked our second Thanksgiving dinner of the year. Yum, yum.

The forecast calls for Freezing Warnings, and Hard Freezing Watches, which around here means two hours of temperatures of -2˚ to -3˚C. They warn to cover sensitive vegetation and not to leave pets or animals outside. It may not sound that cold, but this is around 10˚C below the normals, which makes it still a bit too chilly for camping. In fact, it looks like we’re even breaking some record lows.Temperatures are slowly returning to normal over the coming few days, so hopefully our tent will see some use soon. Meanwhile, we enjoy the surroundings:

Folks are friendly and warm here. We had one guy pass us by and comment, “You look like you’re contestants in the show Survivor.” I think he was referring to Ann. What do you think?