We were so blessed with the weather on this trip. Some how we only had rain while driving and on our church/pier day - any other day and the rain would have ruined everything but rain on the pier was doable - and Monday at Point Reyes the weather was perfect.
Our early morning breakfast surprised us by being great, it might have had something to do with the mango juice. We loaded everything back in the van, said a prayer of thanks for clear skies and hit the road. We reached point Reyes by 8:30 and tried our bobcat luck on a road suggested by Uncle Jed. No luck. We headed down another path all 7 sets of eyes searching for bob cats. We saw lots of Tule Elk and deer and a couple coyotes but the cats were evading us. 
So we stopped and took a little walk down to McClure’s beach and enjoyed the beautiful sea views and raccoon tracks.
It was a needed break from the van. Everyone was a little discouraged because we were really hoping for bobcats and morning is typically the best time to see animals. Andrew quoted from a 2018 trip mammal watching report that Bobcats were “very easy to see” at Point Reyes at this point that phrase was receiving a lot of mockery. Our research told us that we would be able to see Elephant seal pups at Drake’s beach, so we headed there knowing that at least we were guaranteed to see seals.
On our way we drove by one of the ranches and I commented that there should be a bobcat on the massive pile of used tires. A few seconds later the Fernando said “cat” There was a cat on the tire pile, but it was a domestic cat. A bit sad but funny. The ranches that sprinkled the park had so interesting-colored cows that were half white and half black. We dubbed them ‘Panda Cows’. We continued our search while we drove and Andrew thought he saw something on a distant hillside so we stopped to investigate. Zooming in on some pictures it still wasn’t clear what it was until it stood up—a black dog out in a field. A woman with a large telephoto lens emerged from the nearby trees and said she had been trying to get closer to a bobcat she had seen in the distance. We were jealous for sure. She said the bobcats would be more active when the sun had dried up the ground in the afternoon and suggested we try the Estero Trail Road. Estero Trail Road is a one lane track that allows traffic both ways and leads of course to a trailhead. So, we tried it out and saw five more coyotes before reaching Drake’s Beach. 
We parked and the seals were literally right there, behind a protective barrier. There must have been nearly 100 seals, mostly young pups basking in the sun, but some were playing in the shallows and making a racket. Their noises were incredible. A handful of sub-adult males gave us some idea how much they would grow and what their trunk like snouts would eventually look like. A couple of helpful volunteers kept folks from getting too close and taught us all about the creatures. We spent 35 minutes watching and learning. There was one especially little pup off on his own and the kids started speculating on the chance of survival – we thought about how these volunteers probably watch some seals not make it every year. That would be hard.
The wind was strong, so we enjoyed our fabulous grocery store lunch in the car before hiking out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. There were more mule deer along the path and Andrew spotted some harbor seals on the beach below. Out at the point the steps down to the light house were closed so we stayed at the viewpoint long enough to see several passing Grey Whales in the distance. Headed back to the van the boys’ banter turned competitive and they took off down the path in a race to the van. I was worried one of them was going to wipe and roll the rest of the way down the hill, but they arrived safely with Andrew in the lead.
The Sea Lion overlook where the sign indicated there were often both California and Steller Sea Lions didn’t disappoint, and we added two more species to the day. At the Chimney Rock parking lot, we took the short walk to the Elephant Seal Overlook for a final distant view and audio of the elephant seals.
With the elephant seals checked off we were back on the prowl for the bobcats. The kids started joking about needing to call the cats, and somehow that turned into gang signs and chants of “Gang, blood, blood, crypt, crypt, bobcat” or some of other outrageous reference. Kate was the only passenger not too excited about looking for wildlife. She had been more interested in the cows and spotting Tesla’s up to this point. This silliness pulled her in and Kate, suddenly engaging in the search said, “Coyote? Deer? Coyote? Deer?” It was in fact a coyote and we all had a good laugh that she had spotted it but another car had already stopped so we pulled past. 100 yards later she cried, “Bobcat!” Just like that she earned the $10 first finder bribe Greg had offered and our appreciation! We stopped the car snapped a few pics and within a minute it had walked into a ravine and out of sight. Our first bobcat and first wild feline in North America (except Greg and Andrew). Just a few minutes later we saw our first Brush Rabbit. We decided to press our luck and drive the Pierce Point Road again before leaving. As we began a short ascent a bobcat ran out on the road directly in front of us, paused long enough to look at us for an instant than turned 180 degrees and vanished into the brush. It was soooo close to us but no chance for a picture. It was a tiny one and my favorite sighting of the day. When we reached the ridge Andrew spotted yet another bobcat in a distant open green field. Three bobcats in 25 minutes, guess it was easy after all. 
We needed to stretch our legs again, so we took the trail out to Abbotts Lagoon. Brush Rabbits hopped all over and we saw 2 more coyotes, a burrowing owl, and some quail. The hike was a bit more than some of the kids wanted to take on, so Kate, Lily and Fernando headed back to the van while the other 4 of us hustled out to see where the river met up with the ocean. It felt so good to really move fast.
Then as a lucky farewell I spotted a badger 20 feet off the road in some tall grass. Greg hopped out of the car just in time to take a picture as it sauntered across the road. It never stopped or looked back as it sped away. Within a quarter of a mile of our last spotting we saw another bobcat, this one even further away but it wasn’t clear if it was the same cat or not. It didn’t stick around very long. What a day 16 coyotes, 4 bobcats, a badger, more Tule elk and deer than I care to count, hundreds of elephant seals, harbor seals, 2 kids of sea lions, grey whales, brush rabbits, burrowing owl, and tons of other beautiful birds – It had been a truly incredible day. Fernando agreed that it had been amazing; we’ve created another animal lover.
Like our day whole watching we ended up a little sunburned. When it is chilly outside I always forget the sun can still burn you. Andrew had a lovely backward hat tan line across his forehead.
After a long but wonderful day we arrived at the Coopers house around 7:30. Even though the house is brand new it still looked so similar to their old home. Hard to believe it has been 7 years since the fire took everything. Jed couldn't believe all the animals we had seen. The kids got comfortable eating Kalleen's yummy cookies and soon Jed had them all in the hot tub in spite of the girls not bring swimsuits. Nando, Andrew and Emily even tried the cold plunge brrr🥶.
Greg and I enjoyed chatting with Jed and Kalleen until 12 and the boys were still up playing video games. They got to stay in Brad's room with his PS so they may have stayed awake until 2:30🤨. They had a shocking 8:30 wake up when the fire alarm went off while Kalleen cooked us an amazing breakfast of bacon and french toast. Meanwhile the girls and I tried Chaffee and Jed drank his mate. He made me take a picture pretending to drink it to send to Natali. She would love to talk mate with him. Jed asked Nando so say the prayer in Spanish for the breakfast meal, he wasn't sure how to pray in Spanish, but after asking some questions he was brave and did it. He is such a good sport.
Like my memories of old their home was full of animals. Coco, a beautiful husky got a lot of attention while peaches, a puppy, jumped all over all of us and created a lot of chaos. Jaco, the bengal cat was by far the favorite. Greg and each of the kids sought him out and in spite of his usually anti social nature he let Greg pet him a lot - Jed was shocked. I guess Jaco could smell a cat lover.
Jenny came over and chatted for an hour before we had to hit the road. It was so wonderful to see them again. I felt so at home just like I always did in the past. They have such warmth and generosity I loved sharing that with my kids and it made me want to come back - 10 hours isn't that far right?
We had to hit the road because we were trying to get home before 1:00am and there was snow on the forcast. We left their place around 12 and although it rained or snowed almost the whole way home Greg was a beast and we made it home by 12 without incident. The boys played a lot of BrawlStars and the girls watched a lot of movies but we also listened to a lot of music and had a good laugh listening to Nando and Lily play geography games and do madlibs. Fernando was an awesome addition to our party - he was just like one of the kids. We were so glad to have him along.
