Left Coast Camping: Monterey & Big Sur

When this trip was first conceived I tried to get reservations at a regular campground in Carmel, California in order to attend the US Open in Monterey. Their normal rates were $80 per night (yes for camping) but for the US Open timeframe they were charging $200 per night - this sent me/us quickly to find other/better sources and we managed to get some California State Park campgrounds for around $30 per night - dry camping but that was fine with us.

Our First state park stop was a town called Watsonville that is about 15 miles north of the Monterey Peninsula, and the park, "Sunset State Beach" as the name suggest is right on the coast. A short walk from our camper offered a nice view!

Sunset State Beach, Watsonville, Ca.

US Open - as we rolled into this area it was unusually warm (low 80's) and local folks were really complaining about the heat - they should try the southeast :-)
The warm clear skies didn't last as we headed out to visit the links at Pebble Beach there was a heavy fog that they like to call a "marine layer" and the temps would struggle to get over 59 that day. We had a great time at the course - walked it completely and enjoyed the beauty of the place and this helped prepare us to better enjoy watching the main event on a larger screen TV at our friend's home. Another reason for visiting this area was to visit our old friend, Abe Vargas and his girlfriend Kathy. That evening after walking Pebble Beach we had a cook out at the campground where Abe, Kathy and our friends Rick and Terri Boehle (also attending the US Open) joined us for a nice cool cookout.

Sunset Beach Cookout

7th Green at Pebble Beach

US Open photo op

In addition to seeing the open and visiting with Abe and playing golf, we did a lot of touring and looking around this area - one day we drove up the coast (northbound) and visited Santa Cruz and went to Half Moon Bay (just riding and looking) to enjoy lunch at Sam's Chowder house - a nice (but very busy) restaurant right on the water. We went there for lunch but we had a very long wait and our intention to have lunch turned out to be an early dinner - no problem though as they had a bar with a band and some incredible views as we waited.

Waiting for our table and enjoying the view and the band

Sea Lions under the Santa Cruz pier

Bench with a view - West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz

The farming that takes place in this area is incredible - there are miles and miles of very pretty, well kept farms that are producing food for the USA and the world. We found ourselves many times looking at crops and trying to figure out what was growing there.....many of the fields were strawberries at this time of year but there were also many other crops. We stopped at a fruit stand on highway one just south of where we were camped to get some fresh produce AND because they had a huge field of something we couldn't figure out growing next to it - turned out to be brussel sprouts - pretty interesting how they grow on a pretty big leafy plant but the brussel sprouts grow on the main stalk. While there, Debbie bought an artichoke (also locally grown) but at the time I am writing this I haven't heard how it tasted - she hadn't cooked one before :-)

An interesting observation - there were many workers in the field harvesting the strawberries - it is obvious they are paid by what they produce/pick (versus by the hour) because they were literally running from the field to the trucks with the boxes they'd filled. Also noticed their automobiles (many of them) that were parked along the field were nice vehicles so hopefully/apparently they are well paid for their hard work.

Roadside fruit stand

Big Sur - Moving on after six nights in the Monterey area we are headed south on the coast on highway one to another state park in Big Sur. The coast road between the Monterey/Carmel area to Big Sur is amazing - filled with beautiful views of the ocean and cliffs/drop-offs of hundreds of feet. Before our visit to Big Sur is over we will travel these roads many different times - each providing a different experience because of the ever changing marine layer.

Heading through redwoods to our Big Sur campsite

This park is our first views of Redwoods as they extend from here to the north in a pretty narrow band - they are very large and tall but after the Sequoias the wow factor was probably not quite what it would have otherwise been.

Big Sur campsite - fog covered mountain in background

While in Big Sur we did some hiking - we took a four mile (round trip) trail that was called "Buzzard's Roost" to the top of a mountain that offered magnificent views (so they say) of the pacific ocean - unfortunately when we arrived it was so foggy you really couldn't see much at all except the movement of the fog....and that was pretty cool. The good news is that while we spent most of our time in Big Sur without a cell signal - we got great reception up there.....big price to pay for cell coverage.

Kathy on Buzzard's Roost trail

Creek/River across rom our campsite

While we were in Monterey the famous 17 mile drive was closed to visitors because of the US Open the entire time we were there so we drove back to Monterey one day (only about 30 miles) to do Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, and the 17 mile drive and it was a pretty clear day and we had a nice time doing it.

Coastal view

On the 17 Mile Drive

Iconic Lone Cypress

Hearst Castle - the castle is on our list of things to do but we have a bit of a dilemma in that it is 60 miles south of Big Sur but the GPS says it is nearly 2 hours drive (each way) - how can that be? Well we set out to find out and the road from Big Sur south was even more mountainous on the edge of cliffs overlooking the ocean. It is a fantastic view and an engineering wonder as to how they built and maintain the road there - they do have many rock slides that sometimes close sections of the highway.

Our day at the Hearst Castle was full since, in addition to four hours of driving, we decided to take two of the tours - the Grand Rooms and the Upstairs Suites. Again the marine layer had an effect on our view initially - as we drove up (bus) the mountain we didn't really get a glimpse of the "summer cottage" until we were there. The tours were great but some of the information was overlapping. Luckily since the second tour was a few hours later the fog had moments of temporary clearing by that time.

Hearst Castle

Neptune Pool

View of ocean from garden area

Indoor Roman pool located under the tennis courts

notice all the gold inlay!

Another highlight of this day was a roadside pullout just north of the Hearst Castle where the beach is a favorite spot for some Elephant Seals - AMAZING! We'd seen some sea lions at different spots and some of them are pretty large but these guys were huge. They had some volunteers there describing what we were seeing and answering questions.

Elephant Seals

Roadside Stop - Elephant Seals

A California difference - Walmart shopping - they don't give you bags for your groceries, they sell them to you for .10 each - but they are a bit sturdier bags. After forgetting to bring our bags back a time or two, we have now been trained to re-use and bring them when we shop. We just leave all the bags in the truck so we will have them handy when we shop. This is a difference that I like and agree with!

Next stop on the trip is more of central and Southern California.
Additional photos from this portion below: