So, this morning Claire woke up feeling sick and I woke up super grumpy and tired. I wasn't looking forward to another long day driving after yesterday but how different today ended up. It turned out to be a great day and restored our faith in our crazy, ambitious monstrosity of a roadtrip!

We started off with a free breakfast, always a bonus, and filled up with fuel and popped into Whole Foods before leaving Santa Barbara. Whole Foods was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. We saw fruit and veg we haven't seen in weeks! We had to resist buying everything - things don't last long in the car and we don't have many days left.

We left Santa Barbara on the 154 through Cachima Lake recreation area and over a huge massive mountain pass with winding roads up and down. It was really pretty with loads of Kestrels and Hawks. I was sad not to see more of Santa Barbara, having arrived late yesterday, but we knew we had another long drive and needed to move on. Only one thing for it - a return trip ;-)

We merged onto the Chumarsh Highway and continued to Pismo, our first planned stop. We parked out and walked down to the sea front and the pier. It was chillier than we thought in the wind and hoodies were a must, but Pismo was really pretty with beaches on either side. We wandered along the pier, watching the surfers and fishermen, and then, at the end of the pier, spotted some humpback whales in the sea. We stopped and watched for a while - so pleased to see whales in the wild. Judging by the reaction of the locals this was pretty rare! The pelicans also kept everyone on their toes as they flew around looking for fish. Fascinating but vicious little things!

From Pismo, we headed north to the 1 and rejoined Pacific Coast Highway for the remainder of today's drive, which meandered up the coastline for over 100 miles all the way to Monterey. This was probably the most stunning drive we have done on the whole trip and was just what a coastal road should be. The cloud was more like mist and kept drifting in and out, so the sky would go from bright blue to be entirely covered for a few minutes and then it would clear to reveal crystal blue sea to our left, forest land to our right and beaches below. At times we were above the cloud, looking down, and other times the mist vanished out to sea for a while. It was literally breathtaking at times!

Around an hour north of Pismo we stopped off for lunch and to see the elephant seals. It was very breezy so we ended up eating our lunch in the car overlooking the sea, watching the seals bobbing up and down, before taking a walk along the shore to watch the seals sleeping on the beach and others still swimming in the sea. We also saw sea otters swimming around. Beautiful! A mile up the road we stopped again to view hundreds of seals on the beach. There were lots people here and the seals were sparring on the beach. We watched for ages before continuing on our journey.

Next step was Ragged Point for a quick walk down to the cliff face. We could have stopped a million times today - there were vistas every few miles all offering stunning views but sadly we didn't have time for them all. After Ragged Point the road twisted and turned much more making for fun driving. Eventually we drove through Big Sur forest, slightly inland with giant trees on each side of the road before returning to the coast for the final leg to Monterey.

We arrived at Hotel Pacific before 7pm, even with a few detours around Monterey because we hadn't written down any directions to the hotel. Oops! Hotel Pacific is great - perhaps my favourite room of all. It has a nautical feel, with high ceilings and white washed wooden panels. We have two beds, a living room area, open fire place, dining room table, balcony and dressing area with two bathrooms - one with a bath and one with a shower! Again, it's a shame we're only here one night.

We got changed and walked to the nearby fisherman's wharf in search of dinner. We arrived in bright sunshine and wandered down the pier looking at the various restaurants, mostly offering fish and sea food. We picked one and ate delicious fresh fish - sardines for Claire and sea-bass for me. Whilst we were eating the mist came in and visibility reduced to zero. The boats we had been watching just vanished! We had a quick wander around after dinner, looked in some shops and treated ourselves to peanut brittle, before heading back to our room! Good night!

Day: 22

Total miles driven: 3796