Another glorious day of ocean and trees, seals, birds of prey and a jacuzzi (at our motel).
We stopped off for multiple "what a beautiful view"s and "ooh, look at that"s,
and in some very pretty little coastal towns like Fort Bragg and Mendocino (with a high ordinary-store to expensive-looking-organic-coffee-shop ratio).
It never ceases to amaze me meanwhile that we pass through places with "Welcome to..." boards proclaiming the town's elevation in feet and population to the last soul, and the teeniest place of 180 inhabitants nonetheless awards itself a "City Hall"!
So - as we're nearing the end of our US leg, time for some California facts : "The Golden State" whose flag bears a grizzly; 31st state of the union, joining after a civil war and breaking free from Mexico in 1850; capital : Sacramento (only wish we'd had time to pop there - state capitals are always fun) whose population is 478k (for context, LA is 18m); coastline of 840 miles. Apparently, it's the most populous state in the US (1 in 8 Americans is Californian so it's a good guess if you're pushed), and third-biggest by area (at 164k sq miles) after Alaska (a mighty 663k of coldness) and Texas (269k of heat). Lastly, if California were a country, as of 2012 stats, it would be the 9th largest economy in the world and the 34th most populous country (it also has a 9.8% unemployment rate).
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