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Published: April 20th 2010
Been travelling 6 days now and we've got as far as San Francisco, at what is essentially a car park with electric hook-ups next to an american football stadium (the san francisco 49ers). We've driven all up the pacific coast on highway 1, with some crazy scenery and really good weather until we got here. It's grey and windy here, but there's no rain at least :-)
After picking up the van we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, a beautiful stretch alongside the ocean. We stopped at Point Mugu State Park where we camped in the picturesque Sycamore Canyon, ably helped by Julie, the eccentric camp host who buzzed about on a little scooter. In the evening we watched the sunset on the beach and played frizbee, while watching small birds forage for their dinner in the receding tide.
The next day we headed up into the hills, after being told by Julie to "watch out for baby rattlers". We saw exotic wildflowers of all different kinds, a naval radar base in the distance, and other hikers enjoying the spring weather. We headed down to the ocean and walked back along the beach. We even managed a half swim that
afternoon.
The next day we headed further up the coast to Oceano, on Pismo Beach. It was incredibly windy but there were heaps of kite surfers taking advantage! We walked along the pier past people fishing, and had an icecream before returning to the van.
Heading off early the following morning we took Highway One round the lovely California Coast. After stopping to watch surfers and drink a cuppa, we passed a colony of elephant seals by the side of the road. They were very noisy, mainly farting and belching by the sounds of it! Then we began the windy progress to Big Sur on the incredibly dramatic coast line. The road hugged the cliff edge, we even saw a digger motoring along to clear the frequent rock slides. After miles of breathtaking scenery we arrived at Pfieffer Big Sur State Park, full of towering redwoods.
That afternoon we headed up to Buzzard's Roost, an outlook over the park, although most of the walk was under the lovely cool canopy. Afterwards we cooled off in the river with a couple of american beers. We got some washing done as well and strung it up at the campsite.
The next morning
we set off to climb Mt Manuel (not pronounced like the waiter but like the instruction booklet apparently). It was a hot day and a fairly steady climb. We met few people along the way but saw more lizards, birds of prey, and luckily no mountain lions (apparently they've been spotted before). It was a 3 1/2 hour climb to the top, the last half hour of which Heloise felt the effects of the previous three hours, with very sore legs and feet! However Marsh remained upbeat and we soon made it to the top where the view was amazing. After wolfing down our lunch among many flying bugs, we headed back down, then afterwards cooled our feet in the river.
The following day we headed up to San Francisco, which is where we are now!
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Auntie Eileen
non-member comment
your travels
Hi there Andrew and Heloise,its lovely to be able to see the places you are visiting and read how things are going with you both.Have a wonderful time love from Auntie Eileen xx