We go into Morro Bay on Saturday 18^th October mid evening. Which meant that the drive down from Santa Cruz was full of rainbow colours as the sun set silhouetting the mountains in the huge expanse of skies. We had had to choose between a stop in Morro Bay or driving more of Highway 1 down to LA. Knowing this is the stretch that everyone raves about as being so beautiful through Big Sur it was not an easy decisions to make. But we had already driven several hundred miles down the highway between the bottom of the Redwoods and San Francisco and knew that it was very very slow going in Frankie and probably better suited to a road trip in a convertible mustang!

So Morro Bay it was. As it was we followed a stretch of the El Camino Real. While the American’s were rebelling against the English the Spaniards and Mexicans were busy establishing outposts along the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco. A series of missionaries – a days travel between each linked by todays Route 101. Markers of bells along the way aren’t the only indicators; suddenly the Spanish influence was very apparent in the stores and restaurants along the way.  (Another random road sign that made us laugh – “Castroville. Artichoke centre of the world.” We didn’t stop!)

We had wanted to stay in the State Park in Morro Bay but being the weekend it was fully booked. But the campsite we found was great and the kids were delighted there was a small pool where we put in a few hours sunbathing on Sunday morning. We have been so lucky with most of the campsites we’ve stayed at. Which is what makes it so awful when we end up in a rubbish one! We woke on Sunday morning and decided although we could fill at least the next day or so seeing some of the many things there are to do between here and LA (where we were booked to arrive on Monday) we were shattered and so would have a quiet day instead.

We cycled into the little town to see the famous rock. Nicknamed the Gibraltar of the Pacific. The rock in question is a 575′ high volcanic plug. Not sure exactly what that means but it is very old and is now a peregrine falcon sanctuary. It’s a quiet little town but with a busy fishing harbour. Its protected by a 6 mile sandback which has formed a lagoon busting with seabirds. We hired a kayak and paddled out into the harbour for a very entertaining hour or so. There were sea otters floating around tormenting the seagulls. A huge colony of seals sunbathing on a pontoon who got very vocal with us when we paddled too close. Including one who swam right up to us and popped up alongside our kayak barking away!! Pelicans soaring very close over our heads and landing very ungracefully in the water so close to us that we had to duck a few times. We have all now really got into spotting birds to tick off in Will’s book and as I was muttering something about them Will said “You see Mum. Birds are extraordinary aren’t they?!” Bless him.

Also in this tiny town we came across the Morro Bay Skateboard Museum. I kid you not!! A vast selection of old boards, photos and videos of past Skateboarding heroes as well as the 2^nd largest skateboard in the world!! John was very excited about spotting his first ever board in the collection. 80% of the exhibits belonged to the owner, whose son was working the museum that day. We got chatting to him and he kindly recommended another Skateboarders Bucket List stop between here and LA in Skatelab in Simi Valley. He also told us that he and his dad had skateboarded across the USA several times as part of a team in something called A Push to Remember which incredibly only took them 23 days. So the boys have decided to ditch us and make their own way from here!

So we set off from Morro Bay on Monday 20^th October towards L.A. But first of course we had to visit Skate lab. The nearer we got to L.A. the worse the traffic and the roads got. Seemingly the worst roads yet in terms of bumps etc on the surface suddenly we were on a 12 lane highway. There don’t seem to be any rules as to which lane is for who so we ended up stuck with crazy drivers weaving in and out of every lane – truly terrifying.

We stopped at Skatelab, getting there just as it opened at 4pm. So this one is an indoor skate park. Truly beginning to get a bit bored of skateparks by now but it seems to be the biggest motivator for the kids in terms of getting them to do anything now replacing where the X Box at home left off….. ‘If you want to go to the skate park then you have to ….” You get the gist! Kids loved it and I actually laughed out loud when the charming young man behind the counter told me with a straight face that the wifi code was “radical dude – all one word, all lower case”. We dragged them out a couple of hours later to battle our way through the traffic down into LA.