It Never Rains in California

Saturday 03 Nov 2018

Nicely decked out breakfast room this morning – a crock pot of oatmeal meant porridge for a change.  The day was warm, blue and sunny – the eternal Californian summer –so we walked over to the beach again and checked out our seal friends who were already in the water fishing. 

We took off up Highway 1 and, as both of us would rather look at scenery and seals than pay money to wander around in somebody’s house who had more money than us, decided to give Hearst Castle a miss and just spend the day meandering up the coast.

Stopped just north of San Simeon to check out the elephant seal vista point.  Well there were plenty of seals there – not convinced they were elephant seals – and we spent a while watching their antics.  So many personalities – those that are happy with their own space, those that need to snuggle and those that need to be a pest and barge and/or flop on top of somebody else.  Then those that want to be active in the water and those that want to shout instructions at others.  (We called that one Brendon after Brendon Goddard!)

Back in the car and drove on.  It was at this point, as the road started going up and up and getting windier that the gas alert ping went off.  Slight stress as we should have fuelled up in Cambria before taking off but a quick bit of googling and found we could gas (albeit expensive gas) at Ragged Point.  So we stopped there and put a half tank in and grabbed Larry his ‘heart starter’ Coke and on we went.

A few people had suggested to us that we were doing this road in the wrong direction as we wouldn’t be on the scenic side of the road but we decided that, in the end, going north with the sun behind us was probably better and there were plenty of turn outs to pull into to check out the views.  There was a reasonable amount of sea mist over the water and coast but this burned off as the day got warmer and warmer.

We pulled into the Julia Pfeiffer State Park and paid our $10 to the ranger.  Unfortunately our National Park pass is no good in these state parks.  We got our money’s worth though as we availed ourselves of the facilities and ended up going to two other parks today.  Walked the path to the coast past a tinkling stream (luckily we had already availed ourselves of the facilities!) and checked out the cliffs and the McWay waterfall from the viewing point.  Very pretty and the water was a lovely aqua blue.

Warm enough now for the top to go down on the car and we lived our dream of cruising up the California coast on a warm sunny day in our Mustang.  The drive was very scenic with stunning coastal views and it was also interesting to see the bits of road being reconstructed after the landslides earlier this year.  Certainly a big civil engineering exercise and we were sometimes glad of the netted rocky cliffs above our head (all the more obvious with the top down).

Soon we saw Nepenthe which is a restaurant with stunning views that Margaret had recommended as a lunch stop.  Well it is obviously popular and arriving there just after midday on a Saturday meant that every possible car parking space was taken and there were at least 10 cars just hovering waiting for a space.  So it would have been lovely but just not doable today unfortunately.

We continued on and stopped at the Big Sur State Park.  We had had some morning tea so weren’t desperate for lunch and therefore decided to hike the Valley View trail and have a late lunch.  We were almost thwarted again as all the carparks for the park were also all full but as we were heading back out we happened across  a space in the first carpark and so were able to hike.  Perhaps we wouldn’t have been so happy about it if we had known what we were in for!  The first part of the walk across to Big Sur Lodge was lovely as it followed a creek line and was shady and then passed through a small grove of Californian redwoods.  We found the Valley View trailhead near the lodge and then started up and up.  At first it wasn’t too bad as it wended up a small valley and was in the shade but then it basically went up the side of the hill and it was hot, dry, sunny and dusty.  Think climbing Reabold Hill in the middle of the day in January, complete with flies.  We had our water bottles with us and climbed for a good 45 minutes and I think we were probably only about 10 minutes from the top when we decided we’d seen enough of the valley  and that it was all a bit too much like being at home and the only bit that had been really attractive and different had been the bit right down on the valley floor.  In addition, by this time it was getting on for 2pm and we were getting hungry and needed a cold drink as our water bottles were now warm and nearly empty.

Descended quickly to the car and drove on to a set of hotels/cafes etc a bit further along the road.  Unfortunately a number of them had decided that it was a good idea to stop serving at 2pm on the dot even though on a warm, sunny Saturday they could stay open all day and make money all day, so we had to make do with a toasted cheese sandwich at the Big Sur roadhouse.  (Athough admittedly a Big Sur roadhouse is the polar opposite of a Billabong roadhouse!!)  We drove onwards and over the Bixby bridge.  Once again a ridiculous number of cars pulled over into every available space to take a photo – wouldn’t have even been that good as they were taking them facing into the sun – so we drove on and decided to just buy the postcard instead! 

We then headed in to our third State park of the day being the Point Lobos State Park.  I had noted that there was a walk down to a Cypress grove that was lovely.  Once again, the carpark near that trail was chokkers so we continued through the park and found a parking spot on a coastal path.  We got out there and had fun rock hopping and then walked along the coastal path looking out for otters and seals.  We passed a few people who were excitedly taking pictures but we soon realised that the huge kelp forests included seaweed with heads that bob up and down and look just like seal or otter heads.  Larry and I thought we did actually see a couple of otters swimming in the kelp (because the head didn’t just keep appearing in the same spot) but it was hard to tell.  It wasn’t until we walked back along the path to the car that we noted two seals on a rock nearby – they weren’t moving and in the other direction had been dark and blended in with the rock – on the way back one moved and was light enough to realise wasn’t a rock.

By this time it was after 4pm so we set the GPS for Pacific Grove and drove on to our hotel.  As we drove through Carmel there was a football game just starting at the High School and we could see the cheerleaders and hear the pep band.  Classic America!

Checked into the motel and collapsed into the chairs to check in on the Wifi.  I remember from Beth’s blog that once they checked in here they walked down to the beach.  We were just far too exhausted to contemplate that so drove down instead.  We noted that the turf maintenance programme has relocated to the golf course across the road but other than that it was all as Beth had described.  We had changed into our thongs at the motel so were able to walk down to the beach at Point Pinos and dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean.  A bit chilly – will leave it to the seals.

We then drove into the Pacific Grove main street to find a market to buy some drinks and whilst there decided to just buy some microwave meals, frozen desserts and head back to the motel for a quiet night in.  After nearly 3 weeks we have tired of having to go out for dinner every night, not to mention the cost!  Towards the beginning of the holiday when we were breakfasting in our room we had bought a pack of plastic cutlery.  It has stood us in good stead and we will be sure to travel with a set of cutlery in the future.

So a quiet night in and showers to wash off dust, sand and sweat.  We were just not expecting it to be this hot in November and having just reread Beth’s blog and seen the photos I think it is warmer here now than it was when B&D were here weeks ago – Beth is wearing a jumper at Big Sur!!