Palo Alto to Oakhurst - 'the plans they are a changin'

This morning is Neil’s birthday, so we have woken up in a lovely little inn, about to head down for a cooked breakfast on the patio.  We are in Oakhurst California, about 3 hours north east of San Luis Obispo.  Our plans for the next week have dramatically changed and we are really excited for the coming days.

After picking up the trusty SUV, loading our bikes in the back and saying farewell to David, we set off from Palo Alto back to the coast.  Picking up the car took a bit longer than anticipated, so by the time we packed up and shared some lunch with David, we were leaving later than hoped.  We had planned to stop for the night at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, but due to our lack of awareness to what day of the week it was, we found a 6pm arrival on a Friday night meant the campground was full!  No more hiker/biker privileges now we have a car.  Our only option was to keep driving towards the next town and hope their RV park had sites. We pulled into the quaint town of Boulder Creek and were pleased to find plenty of space at the local campground “Redwood Resort”.  It was no resort as the name suggests, filled mainly with permanent residents in demountables and fixed caravans, but we were treated to the honeymoon suite, setting up tent in “Lovers Grove”.

The next morning we continued towards the coast along winding roads with beautiful scenery of the California hills.  It didn’t take long before we were reintroduced to the coastal fog at the town of Santa Cruz, a relaxed but bustling surf town. We had fun watching the surfers at the infamous "Steamer lane' from the safety of the cliffs above.

That night we camped in Monterey at the local recreation park/first-come first-served campground.  We had a nice evening walking downtown and along the wharf, enjoying some food at the annual Italian Festival we stumbled upon, and trying free samples of clam chowder at the numerous restaurants spotted along the pier. 

Unfortunately our sleep was terrible that night.  At about 3am the couple in an RV a few sites down from us decided to have a drunken fight that went on for a good hour before we fell asleep.  The next morning we walked past the hiker/biker site only to find our friends Grum and Juliet from New Zealand who we met a week earlier north of San Francisco.  They had had a rest day in Monterey and were setting off along Big Sur that morning.  We thought our sleep was bad – they had had two nights of drama.  The first night saw a woman call the police and ambulance as she was having a crisis, while the second night they had a post-war veteran suffering from PTSD experiencing terrible night terrors throughout the night.  Needless to say there were a lot of interesting folk residing in this campground.  After a good catch-up we all got back on/in our respective vehicles and set off towards Big Sur. 

It was such a treat to see Big Sur from the safety of our car.  The roads were windy and busy, cars fast and shoulder non-existent.  The entire coastline along Big Sur was magnificent – dramatic cliffs, amazing bridges, beautiful blue ocean and great marine life.  Due to our lack of forward planning we were burnt with a $75 campsite for the night as all the state parks were full, so the first night we camped near the beginning of Big Sur at a private camp ground.  It was a nice place by a little stream, but again we had noisy campers at 3am playing music, going through the recycle bin and overall making us feel uneasy. We had the bear spray ready!

The next morning we set off just after 11am and were able to get a beautiful site at Limekiln State Park about 30km down Big Sur.  It was probably the best camping we have had for a long while!  Our site sat right next to a serene running creek beneath the redwoods, surrounded by the greenest ferns and moss.  We had a really restful day, reading our books, playing the ukulele and going on a few trail walks that started outside our tent door. Neil was excited to find some young trout in the streams and of course we checked out the lime kilns themselves, which have been decommissioned for over one hundred years.

We then set off to San Luis Obispo where we were to stay for the next three nights with our friend Branden who we met on a tour bus through Botswana two years ago.   Along the way we stopped at a popular viewing point, and saw a huge amount of seals, including one massive elephant seal. 

We arrived in San Luis Obispo mid-afternoon, and after unpacking the car headed downtown for a look around and a beer at the Central Coast Brewing Company before meeting Branden and Christine (another friend we met in Botswana) for dinner.  It was great to catch up with these friendly folk, and we were quickly set up with things to do over the next few days in SLO. 

We had been feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of heading further south towards San Diego after we found much of the affordable accommodation and camping was fully booked along the coast, and what was left was really expensive (e.g. one night tent camping = $90!).  We also felt a bit disappointed we didn’t manage to fit in the Sierra Cascades and Yosemite National Park into our trip.  After an evening with Branden and Christine, we were quickly encouraged to forget Southern California, and head directly to Yosemite, Sierras and Death Valley instead!  It didn’t take much convincing, so there we had a new plan!  Hooray for flexibility!  

SLO is an small but impressive town, very bicycle-friendly, lots of eateries, cafes, breweries and shops.  A 15 minute bicycle ride south takes you to beautiful wine country (Edna Valley), while a 30 minute drive SW gets you to the beautiful coastal cliffs of Montana de Oro.  Following the recommendations of our great hosts we cycled the wine country (including tastings of course), had a beautiful run along the ocean, visited the weekly evening Farmers Markets held along the main street of downtown, watched a movie, cooked a meal, went out to dinner and the best part – finally got to try Branden’s ciders.  With a friend, Branden has started his own cidery – Jean Marie Cidery - which he sells in the local supermarket as well as to several local bars and restaurants.  It was really cool to hear all about his venture, get tasting commentaries and hear about their future plans!

We even managed to catch up with the Brits Philipa and Adam again who were passing through SLO on the bicycles (they had got back on the bikes in San Fran to reach LA).  Hope the last five and a half days flies by guys, you can do it!  Not long until cocktails in Vegas. 

We were sad to leave San Luis Obispo, although have vowed to return in the near future and have agreed that if we ever moved to the US it would have to be to SLO.  Thank you so much for all your help and hospitality Branden and Christine, hope we see you back in Australia soon.  Also, tell Quincy we miss him already!

Quincy - the best cat...acted just like a dog. 

So with a new plan at the ready, we left SLO heading north, before cutting east through the town of Fresno towards the great Yosemite National Park.  We are very excited – back in black bear country (these bears apparently rip off car doors to get your food), back in the mountains and ready for some walking!  We will spend three nights in Yosemite, two nights in Inyo National Park near the town of Lone Pine, head across Death Valley to Las Vegas for a night, followed by two nights in Sedona and Flagstaff in Arizona.  From there it will almost be time to jump back on the bikes!  Will write again next week…

PS - no time for photo captions today, sorry!!