The sunsets at Morro Bay are beautiful, and it's fitting that this would be my last place to visit in California before heading back into Arizona. Every area I visited in the Golden State starting in May I have truly enjoyed....and each was different from the other. But Morro Bay is special.

My journey started at the south end of Highway 395 on the eastern side of the Sierras, through Bishop, Lone Pine, Lee Vining and Yosemite National Park, and on up to Lake Tahoe. From there I headed to Truckee and Sacramento, then took in the Sonoma and Napa valleys on my way to Bodega Bay and Point Reyes National Seashore. By late September I was in Monterey Bay and by mid-October in Morro Bay.

I have chronicled this incredible journey by way of these web pages. I find it easier to make up and post these pages than to send e-mails of pictures to friends who ask where I am and what I've seen.

But this particular page, Morro Bay, will be as much for me as for my friends. I will return to it often to relive this charming town and its soft sunsets.

Morro Bay lies just south of San Simeon. Tourists are drawn to it for its fine shops and restaurants, its bustling harbor and, of course, Morro Rock, which towers over the bay at more than 700 feet. Its wetlands are filled with shorebirds of all kinds, and its sand dunes fade gracefully into a vast sandy beach.