The Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris, is an extraordinary marine mammal. It spends eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest. The Piedras Blancas rookery, on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast, is home to about 15,000 animals. – www.elephantseal.org

The rookery was high on our to-do list during our trip. As we drove closer to it, we looked out on the beach and saw a few huge, glistening heaps lying in the sand. It took us a few minutes to realize that these were the seals. We couldn’t believe how BIG they were!

As we approached, we saw that lots of other people had made the trek to see these massive creatures, too. Between the voices, we could hear what sounded like some severe flatulence. (We ruled Toby out immediately, as he was still in the car.) Then we realized that the seals were the ones making all the racket.

Holy buckets!

It’s so hard to tell how big these are without being there. The males can get up to 18 feet long, and the ugly dude at the bottom of the picture had to be about that size.

The females had these adorable smiles on their faces as they snoozed.

So cute! Especially compared to their male counterparts.

Hello, Handsome.

You too, Prince Charming.

The noises that came out of these guys was pretty bizarre. It ranged from sounding like the worst case of gas you’ve ever heard to light sing-song voices.

These three wanted to be the Bee Gees.

“Stayin’ ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE…”

(I’m calling the one in the middle Barry.)

But I digress!

There were so many seals, we just stood back and watched them interact.

This was how most of them did it.

By now, you’ve probably noticed the abundance of snot.

Blech! I’ll have you know that I spared you some shots of the worst nasal leakage. It wasn’t pretty.

Not every seal wanted to hang out with the group. There were several loners.

(Does anyone watch Family Guy? Big Beak above reminded us of the old man’s paraplegic dog.)

There was plenty of bickering going on. The beta males were constantly challenging each other.

They’d posture for about six seconds, then fall to the ground, seemingly exhausted. I guess when you weigh a thousand pounds, stamina isn’t your forte.

GAH! WHAT IS THAT!?

This, my dears, is studly male Numero Uno of the pack. He had to be over 20 feet long.

He was huge, his nose was huge, and the noises coming from him were by far the loudest. I guess the lady seals dig the macho type.

Speaking of the ladies, this pup stuck close to his mother. He couldn’t have been more than a couple days old.

This pup was a bit older, but just as cute.

A few seals hung out in the water. It appeared that they were mostly males.

“Marco!”

“Polo!”

If you’re ever in the area of San Simeon, I’d highly recommend driving just a couple miles up the coast to the Elephant Seal beach. It’s so amazing to be able to see these creatures up close.

Just be prepared for a symphony of sounds, smells and plenty of cute little lumps lying in the sand.

We love to travel, to get out of civilization for awhile and just drive. Well, the Hubs and I do, anyway.

Toby? Not so much. But he doesn’t get much say in the matter.

We decided to get out of Los Angeles for Christmas and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to San Simeon.

We stopped in beautiful Morro Bay, walked Toby around Morro Rock, and saw some sea otters backfloating through calm waters of the bay.

Toby was fascinated. (Wind-blown ears just crack me up.)

If you’ve followed this blog, you’ll know that Toby hates – HATES - water. And doesn’t particularly like the beach, either. So we were stunned when he stuck his nose to the ground and led us out onto the beach opposite the bay, toward the open ocean.

SO BRAVE! So unaware of the water rushing toward him! (Note his toes. They make me chuckle.)

Morro Bay is gorgeous. And Morro Rock is HUGE.

So much to see, so many pictures to post! Stay tuned!

At what we’ve been up to this week.

Stay tuned for (much, much) more!

My boy gets so excited at Christmastime. Not only for his presents and treats, but for our annual Christmas session.

Doesn’t he look THRILLED?

And so spiffy in his holiday jammies, too!

He really gets into the holiday spirit.

Can’t you see the joy in his eyes?

He’s just so full of Christmas cheer!

This is my favorite.

From the Thatcher home to yours, we wish you a truly happy and blessed holiday. Merry Christmas!

I took this shot after Snowmageddon 2010 in Washington DC. They barely had the skating rink cleared, but there were still people who were bound and determined to get out there and skate.

As I type this, Winter is starting to take hold of southern California. It’s raining and in the 50s, which I guess is about as bad as it gets here. A part of me still misses the Midwest, misses the snow, the chill in the air, the feeling of the holidays. But then I see news stories about 14″ of snow dropped during one storm, and I’m reminded of the things I don’t miss about the Midwest. Tis the season, right?

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