California Coast

When we went to California, we started at Mt. San Jacinto. We took a tram up the mountain. We hiked around and looked for lizards. But I didn’t catch any because they’re too fast.

Mt. San Jacinto in Palm Springs

There were some fun rocks to climb on and look for lizards.

When we got to the coast, we went to Hearst Castle. It was cool because it had a giant pool that was decorated with Greek artifacts. The pool was lined with Vermont marble. It had three guest houses and one main house. William Randolf Hearst built it in the 1920’s. He made lots of money publishing newspapers. He collected weird things like walls, ceilings, doors, and stuff from European churches. My favorite thing he collected was an Egyptian statue.

The pool at Hearst Castle was made with Vermont marble.

This is the front door.

After Hearst Castle we went to the beach and saw some elephant seals. They stunk. They were big and loud. But they were really cool to watch. There were only females and subadults. The males were out at sea. We had an awesome campground in the Redwoods. Me and Anna played in the hollow trees with my Pirates of the Caribbean gun and Anna’s sword.

Lots of elephant seals

This is me standing in the hollowed out Redwood tree.

Me pretending to be like Lewis and Clark

The coast was really cool because we were listening to Pirates of the Caribbean music and the water was splashing up against the rocks and disappearing. It was also cool because it was nice and sunny, so the light was good for pictures. The next day we went to the beach. We couldn’t go in the water because it was too cold. The cool thing was, me and Anna found a couple of tide pools. We saw starfish, about six crabs, a bunch of anemones and sea sponges. But when I was down trying to catch a crab, a wave knocked into me and I fell and cut a couple of my fingers. So after I got some bandages, we just played in the sand. I looked like Three-fingered Jack from Zorro.

The waves were really cool.

Looking for crabs

We found this starfish in a tidepool.

Mom says I should keep my hands out of the holes in the rock, but I just can't help it. I saw a crab in there.

Three-fingered Jack!

The next day we went to the Monterrey Aquarium. It was so cool there, because the tanks were so big. I saw a lot of fish. I saw a leopard shark, sting rays, jellyfish, sea horses, octopuses, and more. I got to touch a bat ray and a guitar fish. They look like sting rays but without the stinger.

The kelp forest

Rays

It was very fun on the California Coast.