We decided to be tourists this weekend and head down to Carpinteria to see the Carpinteria Seal Rookery. If you decide to go there  yourself, here’s how you get there. Take the Bailard Avenue exit and turn towards the ocean. You’ll run into a small parking lot so just park there and then start along the trail heading north. You’ll walk the length of the trail until it appears to end at which point, you’ll turn towards the ocean.

Look both ways

As turn towards the ocean and cross the railroad tracks, be sure to look both ways to avoid the Amtrak Surfliner. It’s a great way to ruin your day so absolutely look before you leap. After you cross the tracks, continue North along the path. You’ll run into the lookout point if you do this. Can’t miss it. We went on a weekend and there was a docent there who was very friendly and happy to give out some information on the seals. They also had some binoculars on hand to loan out so if you forget yours, you’ll be set. You’ll need the binoculars too because you cannot get anywhere near the seals from this lookout point. The photo above was taken with a 200mm zoom lens and even then, you can’t see too much without cropping into the photo.

If you’ve got kids, it’s a fun little trip. I can’t imagine staying there much longer than the 15 minutes we did though. On the walk back to the railroad tracks, you’ll see a path that leads down to a beach (where presumably, there are no seals). I think the next time I go here, I’ll cruise down the path and check out the beach.

From the bluff though, you get a beautiful view of the Carpinteria coast line.

Of course, I have to post a couple of pictures of the kids.