California Part 3

Far past the natural beauty of the seaside, we've come to the more industrial part of things. Welcome to Cannery Row.

Earlier on that day we had gone to the Carmel Mission, but my pictures from there are on a different camera. Maybe I'll showcase those later...

After the Mission and the incomparable beauty of Carmel, we drove (and drove and drove) down to the Monterey Coast Guard Pier, which is conveniently located next to (a) Cannery Row and (b) a heckload of sea lions. Yay sea lions! They were so adorable, we must have been there half an hour just watching them and taking pictures of them. We saw some other wildlife (the bird below, some starfish, and even a few small jellyfish!!!) but of course we were focused on the biggest, loudest animals. ;)

^ I'm not sure what that bird is, but it's cool! ^

^ Takin' a nap on the rocks ^

^ Hanging out ^

^ Why hello, Mr. Sea Lion! ^

^ A baby sea lion - could it get cuter? ^

^ Yes, it did - we saw a few otters! We were SO excited about them ^

We gradually made our way over to Cannery Row. If ever industry could be somewhat beautiful (in its own very strange way) this is the place to prove it. While I usually hate industrial buildings and think that they're very creepy, this place was so different. There were a ton of cool shops, and it was an interesting type of architecture. There were some beautiful flowers climbing up the walls in places, and there was an adorable coffee shop at the end of the road.

^ Looking down the row ^

^ A cool dolphin statue ^

^ The boats ^

We wrapped up the day by heading over to some friends' house, where we would stay for two nights. We had a ton of fun catching up with them and laughing with them! Overall it was a very good day, and while it didn't have as much natural beauty, it was so cool experiencing something new. Do you guys like sea lions and otters? Does anyone know what kind of bird that was up at the top? Let me know in the comments :D