Day 7: Cambria, CA

To say today was exciting is an understatement. We woke up at 5:30 in Santa Cruz, and departed around 6:30. I did not get off my bike until 6:30 that evening...to be honest I did not think I would do as well as I did. We rode the most beautiful ride for 115 miles and over Big Sur. It was very frustrating...we probably went uphill from about 6:30am until about 1:00 pm. It was brutal but the spectacular views made it worth it and kept me going. In the early hours, there was a thick for and nothing but mountains to our left and a cliff to our right several hundred feet about the ocean; the land seemed almost prehistoric. I seriously felt like I was in Jurassic Park or on Skull Island from Peter Jackson's King Kong. Through the fog we climbed for hours near the top of a hill the first sight of sun was spotted. We grabbed our cameras and ran to the nearest cliffside (don't worry mom there was a small guardrail). What we saw was magnificent: beautiful coastal mountains to the north and south and we were completely above the clouds! I kept telling myself: "This is God's country." And it truly was. The next 50 miles consisted of a lot of rolling hills, however at mile 90 (back around sea level), we saw a heard of elephant seals on the beach. I envy them, they just lay around all fat-like and jiggle around and throw sand at each other all day. When we arrived at our lodging, Cambria Middle School, we had some pizza and I was about ready to pass out. Unfortunately, we didn't have a friendship visit today, but I'm not sure if I wouldve been able to stay awkake. I'm just happy I survived today's ride, which ended up being a blast.