I'm sharing my wildlife Wednesday post for Google Plus today! Enjoy.
This was captured this spring in San Simeon Bay, along beautiful rocky coastal stretches of the PCH in Northern California wine country. It is only a few miles from the famous Hearst Castle. The coves around San Simeon are breathtakingly picturesque. On a road trip down to San Clemente from San Francisco, I stopped at a deserted lookout spot to take in the view. I quickly found a steep but short incline that led down to a cove beach and scampered down it in my spring dress and flats. There was not a soul in sight, and the mountains and rocks and ocean and trees and birds and beach were all around you, everywhere, and the road above you was out of sight and instantly out of mind. It was just you, wandering into the Land Before Time.
It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, made all the more so by the innocent "stumble-upon" discovery. We snapped photos, took off our shoes, dipped a bold toe into the freezing surf. And while we were soaking up the scene, this friendly and curious otter made his way toward the shore, watching inquisitively as I snapped away and indulged his Boy Scout roots by hunting for rocks along the coastline. The otter didn't come any closer, but he hung around for a few minutes while some friends of his lingered by a rock strewn with moss and scattered with seagulls. The crashing waves, the effervescent blue, and the little head popping out of the water all take me back to the feel of that beach: crunchy, cold Pacific coast sand beneath my toes, my Nikon in my hand, and a sense of wonder at everything around me.
