Sophie's Best Day Ever!

Hey Hannah, Zac, Garrett, Mommy, Daddy and Everyone!

This was our last day in Cambria and Sophie and I had so much fun. This is what the boardwalk looks like on the way down to the beach:
Sophie ran...
and ran...
and ran...
The beach is covered with gorgeous pebbles:
Here is a close-up picture of some of the stones. There is even REAL jade in there and Mrs. Juli let me grab a bunch of stones to take back to South Carolina. She says that we can pick out pretty stones or use them in fish bowls or jars. I can't wait for you to see the pebbles in person!
I love watching the sunset on the Pacific Ocean.
Sophie is so cute!
I think I am pretty cute too!
Here are some pictures of where we were staying in Cambria and Harmony. Can you believe that Harmony has a population of only EIGHTEEN?!!!
This is the hotel where we stayed in Cambria:
We were so tired after running on the beach:
This is my favorite sunset picture, isn't it neat that we caught the birds in the air like this:
I am so glad that Zac is doing better and I can't wait to see everyone!

Love,

Flat Stanley

River Taught Me How To Surf!

Hey Hannah, Zac, Garrett and Everyone!

Meet River! :
We saw River and his friends surfing in the ocean and then he took a break and I got to meet him. He was so nice and taught me how to surf! I told him that his name should be "Ocean" instead of "River" and he said that I could call him "Ocean" and he would call me "Grillz".

This might look like many birds or surfers but it is really kelp in the ocean. Mrs. Juli has been scuba diving in the Pacific Ocean and she said that it actually looks like a kelp forest in some places. Kelp is real important for all of the marine life. Some people call it seaweed. (Remember, you can always click on any picture to see the image better)
Here is a surfer amongst the kelp.

The Pacific Ocean is always cold. Surfers wear wetsuits throughout the entire year, even in the summer!

Here is River (or, Ocean as I like to call him) surfing with his friends:
Here is Sophie watching me surf amidst the washed up kelp:
Here I am on the beach:
This is a piece of kelp up close:
Here I am with River's surfboard:
We saw more seals playing on the beach:
Mrs. Juli's tennis shoes and I had to dry off on the hotel balcony:

I will always remember the day that I met River on the beach in Cambria:

I hope that everyone has a good week and Zac, we will be thinking about you on Thursday.

Love,

Flat Stanley

Elephant Seals

I got to see elephant seals on the beach!

This is a beach near the Hearst Castle that is very close to where we stayed in the town of Cambria:
The picture below just looks like a normal beach:

This looks like a normal beach until you get closer! There were hundreds and hundreds of elephant seals resting on the beach:
Here are two seals up close:

They splash sand on their backs while they are on the beach to keep cool:

This is only one of a very places that elephant seals come to rest. Scientists aren't sure how the elephant seals know this exact beach or what makes them choose certain places.

Elephant seals are amazing!

Love,

Flat Stanley

Pacific Coast Highway is Amazingly Beautiful!

Hey Hannah!
I am having such a great adventure! On our way to Cambria, we took the scenic route on the famous Pacific Coast Highway.

After Carmel on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), there is a place called "Big Sur". Big Sur has huge redwood trees and we ate lunch at this popular restaurant on a cliff, over-looking the ocean:
Pacific Coast Highway is ranked as one of the most beautiful drives in the world. The highway hugs the coastline and sometimes, it is very curvy and slow but it is always beautiful!
There are so many look-outs on the highway because it is so gorgeous.


Sometimes, we were high on cliffs that hung over the ocean below. I wasn't scared.

Sophie got mad because she had to stay in the car with Mrs. Jane every time we stopped to take pictures. Sophie might fall off of the cliffs so she had to stay where she was safe.

All of us loved this awesome bridge:

After we saw the beautiful bridge, we started seeing helicopters in the sky:
Mrs. Juli noticed that they had water buckets attached and she said there must be a wildfire somewhere because they were scooping up ocean water to dump on a fire.

The helicopter was dragging the bucket in the water until it got full.
The helicopter flew right over us and we could see the water splashing around in the bucket!

As soon as went went around a corner, we saw what they were dousing and it was really smokey.
We were afraid that PCH was going to be closed because the fire was looking huge.

We barely made it past the flames before the highway was closed. When we got to our hotel in Cambria, many people were talking about the highway being closed and they had to make alternate plans for their vacation.

We were so lucky to get to our hotel without much of a delay.

Next, I'll show you pictures from Cambria! We are having so much fun!

Love,

Flat Stanley