California Christmas (Trip # 18) December 2013

Two weeks in sunny California - daytime temps in the 60's!  Missed the big ice storm of 2013 back in southern Ontario.  Lost part of one of our trees in the back yard, but much worse elsewhere, including power outages over Christmas in sub-zero temps.

Went to a couple of parks near Monterey (Point Lobos State Reserve)

and Big Sur (Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park) (where there was a major forest fire along Highway 1)



before heading over to the family get together for Christmas (this is Olivia).

 

 

Then travelled to Lodi (Woodbridge Ecological Reserve) to see the sandhill cranes ,

 

 

 

 Half Moon Bay (Fitzgerald Nature Reserve) to search the tidal pools,

 

 

the Coastal Trail in San Francisco (to see the Golden Gate Bridge from the ocean side),

 

 

and Point Reyes National Seashore (to see the Thule elk) afterward,

 

 

before flying back home to frigid Ontario.

So many pictures, so I put them together as a Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5kp9GczglQ