The dead blue whale drifting off the Santa Babara coast drew so many onlookers yesterday that U.S. 101 was blocked for a time. It rolled onto shore this morning at Hobson Beach ten miles north of Ventura. Scientists will pick it apart in hopes of figuring out how the 70-foot mammal died. From the Times:

Beached less than 100 feet from the Old Pacific Coast Highway, the whale has drawn dozens of spectators ambling on the roadside, taking photos and giving their children a rare glimpse of a huge marine mammal.

"Amazing!" said Terry Hewitt, a cook at Cal State Channel Islands who came to view the whale on her day off. "I was swimming out there yesterday, and if that thing had passed me in the water, well, Ohmigod!"

Photo: Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times