At this point, we had been on the road for the first 8 hours of Day 5, on what was supposed to be a 6 hour drive. We were making terrible time because of all the photo ops, and decided to make one more stop in Big Sur before making the long haul south to LA. Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal rookery. You may know what several thousand elephant seals look like, but do you know what they smell like?
After a brief architecture walk (my friend is only mildly interested in architecture and LA isn't the most pedestrian-friendly anyways), we decided to grab a bite to eat. At this point, we had a much better idea of just how costly this venture was, so we had gotten pretty thrifty. Denny's. Yup, gross, shameful Denny's. Oh well, at least I saw this ridiculous 49 Mercury:
Despite feeling crappy from an instantly regrettable meal choice, we drove aimlessly through the Hollywood hills, checking our random houses and turning on to every road that looked like it led to a higher elevation. After driving with no goals or direction for quite some time, we set the GPS for the Griffith Observatory, knowing full well that the hazy conditions and positioning of the sun would make for bland photos. Tried anyway.