After several weeks back home from our vacation in Greece, I missed the vibe of life along the coastline of the Aegean Sea. I was in a post-vacation slump and in desperate need of salt-H2O therapy. So, off I went last Friday with a friend to Half Moon Bay, a quaint town on the Pacific Coast about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

In the spirit of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge: H20 (Water), I’m posting photos from my Half Moon Bay excursion as watercolor images created using the Waterlogue App. Included at the end of the post is a collage of the original photos.

Now, let’s get back to the story. The drive over the forested Santa Cruz Mountains on CA-92 went quickly and without the typical bumper-to-bumper traffic encountered on weekends or Friday evenings. We passed pumpkin farms filled with the orange beauties along the winding country road into Half Moon Bay, also known as Pumpkin Country. The town sponsors an annual Art & Pumpkin Festival in October and preparations for the festival were in full swing.

Our first stop on our journey was for lunch on the patio at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company overlooking Pillar Point Harbor. We shared a crispy order of Fish and Chips. A single order was more than enough for the two of us.

After lunch, we walked along the pier taking in views of moored boats, the bay, and rocky breakwaters in the harbor. The scene looked serene and static until my friend noticed subtle movements in the gray rocks of the breakwater. Low and behold, the rocks were covered with hundreds of roosting Pelicans. If it weren’t for their gentle movements, we wouldn’t have noticed them, as they blended in perfectly with the rocks.

Tearing ourselves away from the Pelicans, we headed south on CA-1 in search of beaches to walk and view. We stopped at a few State Beaches along the coastal highway only to discover an entrance fee for parking at each beach. Not willing to pay to park, we kept heading south until we found free parking at Pescadero State Beach. From the edge of the parking area, we spied another large flock of Pelicans, this time roosting on a rock island not far from shore. In addition to the ocean views, seeing wildlife was my favorite part of the day.

Our final stop of the day was downtown Half Moon Bay which has plenty of shops, art galleries, and restaurants along Main Street. Banners advertising the Art & Pumpkin Festival hung from the lamp posts. Pumpkins, skeletons, and fall flowers decorated the town with a lively Halloween spirit.

Fully satisfied with our afternoon by the sea and in the charming town of Half Moon Bay, we headed back to Silicon Valley. Salt-H2O therapy had lifted my spirits. As we drove back on CA-92, a steady stream of cars crawled at a snail’s pace coming towards us all the way to I-280. I thought to myself, these folks are going to need more than salt-H2O therapy, they are going to need heavy duty wine therapy once they reach Half Moon Bay.

For more information about Half Moon Bay visit this fabulous website: Experience Half Moon Bay.

Please note I have no affiliation with this website or any other sites I recommend on this blog. I just like to share a good thing when I find it.

Collage of the Original Half Moon Bay Photos