May 24 - Pacific Coast Highway!

Again, we were up extra early on this transition day - 5:20 to be exact, but well after daylight. We packed our things and the car quickly and were on our way out of the park by 6:10. We knew it was going to be a very busy day in Yosemite, so we wanted to get out before the crowds flocked in. True to our expectations, we saw people circling in search of parking spaces as left!

We chose a scenic route out of the park along Highway 140, which took us along the Merced River. The river was full of water, very steep, with lots of boulders, making it a fantastic watch. We stopped on the way out to take it in before we headed northward in earnest.

The Merced was really moving!

Got one last picture of the Yosemite sign as we left the park.

We traveled east to west across California, charging and lunching in Petaluma before finishing our trip up the coast to our room in Fort Bragg, CA. The drive up the coast was spectacular as we spent more than 3 hours on the coastal highway stopping occasionally to take in the views. Tremendous views and fun roads made the end of a long drive go by quickly. We arrived at our place around 5:00, had a good dinner at a local seafood place, and retired to our room for the evening. We were lucky enough to see seals twice, once there were around 100 on the beach at harbor seal pup place, and later we saw three in the bay outside our restaurant.