Pacific Coast Highway

Today was the day after the wedding. We slept a little late because we were all tired from the big party at the reception. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law caught flights back home in the morning. Then my wife and her mother and I picked up sandwiches at the deli behind the motel and took off on a driving adventure. We drove over to the coast and headed south on the Pacific Coast Highway. At first it was very foggy, and we could hardly see anything, but then the fog lifted. The scenery was spectacular. Sometimes the bluffs overlooking ocean are 300 feet high, and other times the highway dips down to sea level. By lunchtime we were at Santa Cruz, and I followed a sign to Natural Bridges State Park, where we found a beautiful picnic grove under a grove of eucalyptus trees overlooking the beach After lunch I took a short jog on the beach and looked at the natural bridge on the shore, which had lots of pelicans on it. Then, on the drive back up the coast, we stopped at a pick-your-own strawberry farm. The strawberries were the most delicious I have ever tasted. They are nothing like the tasteless strawberries we find in supermarkets. In the evening, we visited the home of Ed (the father of the bride), and had a lovely dinner of leftover wedding reception food. We got back to the motel about 11, much too late. We were all very tired but very happy.