Our day started with an early bucolic hike through the redwoods which was a wonderfully peaceful and serene start to the day. Until we met the second turkey. The first turkey we saw in the forest to the side which felt like a great photo opportunity if we were to just wait for it to come closer. Whilst we waited, four of its closest friends arrived from the air one of whom landed on the path in front of us and proceeded to advance towards us very aggressively. Never having encountered a wild American turkey before we were unsure as to how life endangering this encounter might be so decided to bravely stand our ground and instruct it firmly to go away. That did not work and the aggressive stalking increased in speed and grew sound effects at which point we decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valour and we beat a hasty retreat down the hill.

Thoroughly beaten by the turkey, we packed up and hit the road again for Moss Landing where we had a whale watching tour booked in Monterey Bay, It just so happened that the road we took had to go over the Bixby Bridge.

Bixby Bridge is a concrete open span arch bridge built in 1932 and when it was built was the highest single span arch bridge in the world. Fun fact: the impressive looking pillars at either end are structurally unnecessary and are there for aesthetic reasons. Given the bridge is about 100m above the ground with sheer cliffs either side, it seems as awful lot of dangerous work for aesthetics.

The excitement of bridge viewing behind us, we made our way to Moss Landing for further excitement. Monterey Bay sits on the edge of one of the largest underwater canyons in the world at 249 miles long and up to 2 .2 miles deep - or half as deep as Everest is high. That depth and its location make it one of the richest marine environments in the world and a destination for Sperm Whales, Blue Whales, Humpback Whales and Orcas at various times of the year. We got to see humpback whales, a smack of jellyfish, sea otters, sea lions, brown pelicans and plenty of cormorants. Fun fact: the bay has lots of bull kelp which can grow up to two feet per day!

Whilst out watching the whales do their thing, we got a marvellous view of a gas powered plant that uses steam generation to turn the turbines. The two stacks are for two supercritical steam units which are now retired but at the time, made it the largest producing power plant in California. Fun fact: supercritical steam units heat the water at 3200psi at which point the liquid water is indistinguishable from the steam or - put simply - the water doesn’t boil as it becomes steam.

So another fabulous day of touristing with 70 miles driven and 9671 steps taken