Sex, birth, death and battles royal: The greatest show in California is on the Central Coast
(LA Times Dodgers)

If you´ve driven Highway 1 near San Simeon in the past few years, chances are you´ve noticed the extraordinary northern elephant seal colony at Piedras Blancas Beach. Last spring, when I stopped in after a reporting trip to disaster-prone Big Sur, a docent told me that the very best time to see...