After all the final events, including the Awards Ceremony, were held at SCICON, and in spite of the big amount of time required to resolve the puzzle of how to pack my stuff, I was able to travel a little around California. Valerie, one of the permanent nauralists and a dear friend I met at SCICON, drove me and her twins to the coast. And there we went. Crossing valley and mountains along roads surrounded by orchards and fine wineries, we finally arrived to the seaside.

We headed straight towards Hearst Castle, the palatial estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst is regarded as the model for the leading character in Orson Welles' classic film, Citizen Kane. The castle is located near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is now a State Historical Monument.

Hearst Castle was like a small self-contained city, with 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo. Zebras and other exotic animals still roam the grounds. Some of the highlights of the estate include the Neptune Pool, which features an expansive vista of the mountains, ocean and the main house and the Roman Baths, an indoor pool.

State Route 1, often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along a large length of the Paific coast of the state of California . It is famous for running by some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.

We visited some small towns along the road, like Morro Bay. The town's most striking feature is Morro Rock, a 176 m high volcanic plug.

Morro Bay harbor

Naural life expects the visitor at Morro Bay. Seagulls invaded us and populated the car roof in search for food.

But that's not all. Valerie spotted a strange figure moving in the water and ran for her 300 mm lenses. The result? A sea otter swimming cheerfully in the picture