Camping at Leo Carrillo

We went on our first California camping trip this week to Leo Carrillo, and it was beautiful!

There were some pretty big waves, and lots of surfers. I really want to learn to surf...it looks like so much fun!



Ok, so there's this weird mural in the PCH underpass you walk through to get to the beach from the campground. There are paintings of all sorts of recognizable animals: dolphins, whales, seagulls, parrots, etc. And then there's this. Apparently there are Ewoks along these shores!





We took a nice hike up a fire road where we saw lots of prickly pear cacti. The fruit was everywhere and Matt decided to pick one up only to be rewarded with fingers full of almost invisible tiny spines.



Lots of interesting wildlife to be seen: tons of hermit crabs in the tidal pools at low tide, a sea anemone, and a lizard. The campground also had so many birds. We watched a bunch of crows chase a hawk from tree to tree, and a flock of parrots was also milling around squawking.



We're in California, so of course we're eating avocados!



I wanted this to look more impressive, but the wave was actually kind of puny...



Sunset in a little cove. The lighting was beautiful and there were some people down there doing a photo shoot.





The next morning we checked out El Matador State Beach on our way home. It was high tide, so a bit more of an adventure to find dry ground! I'd like to go back at low tide and explore around the rocks. Overall, an excellent camping adventure!

I'm linking up with #YOLO Mondays and Rolled Up Pretty.