Sat, September 27

We left Santa Maria and headed up El Camino Real, the same road the priests used many years ago to establish missions up the coast of California.  Today it is known as Highway 101.

Upon arriving in Morro Bay, a beautiful little coastal fishing village and a very special place to us, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Dorn's Restaurant with a view of the harbor below.

The Morro Bay harbor was completely packed in by fog.  It was eerie to see the boats bobbing in the water with the swirling mists around their masts.  We couldn't even see the rock or the three huge smoke stacks rising from the PG & E plant, which is the typical "you have arrived" landmark for the town.

The kids posed by Morro Rock, barely visible behind them in the fog.

We were serenaded by a group of sea lions who had taken over one of the local tug boats down in the harbor.  They were loud and very much out of tune!

Before heading out to Hwy 101 again, we stopped at the cemetery just outside Cayucos to visit Grandpa John Miller's grave site.

After driving up to the crest of the coastal mountains and into the shining sunlight, we could see the fog bank that had completely covered Morro Bay and the coast below.  It stretched for miles out to sea and looked like a field of snow.

The golden--scratch that--brown hills of California!

The kids were so exited about finally being home.  Hurray!

After 260 miles, we finally found ourselves at home, sweet home!  Our entire trip took us over 8,000 miles in 29 days.  Stay tuned until tomorrow for a very special treat, a review of our trip of sorts.