We drove south from Monterey to San Simeon along US HWY 1, grooving to smooth jazz, courtesy of the George Benson CD we'd just bought. We had to make a huge detour inland, because the coast road was blocked due to a landslide, but before we turned inland we spotted whales off the coast of Big Sur! We followed the detour up into the mountains, and then through the middle of a huge US Army base. We were slack-jawed at the number of armoured trucks painted in 'desert camoflage' paint (or beige, as it's more commonly known). I bet the military are delighted at having loads of foreign tourists meandering through their patch!
We eventually reached our hotel, and it was well weird! There were two Mexican girls on the Reception, and seemingly not another soul in the place! It was like a beach-side version of 'The Overlook Hotel' from 'The Shining', at least no-one put an axe through the door! The day then went even weirder when, on our way out to eat, we saw a herd of zebras at the road-side! We stopped at the beach to look for wild sea otters, we didn't spot any, but another fun fact about them is that they blow air into their fur to insulate themselves from the cold sea!