California Trip Part 2: Big Sur

After our wilderness adventure in Corrizo Plains, we headed west in CA on Wednesday, July 23rd. We stopped briefly in the town of Cambria for a coffee, then drove up Route 1. We met Corbin and Claudia at Hearst Castle close to lunchtime. In all honesty I had never heard anything about Hearst Castle before but I quickly found it in my guidebook and read up. After learning any tour cost $24 per person (and this was a "state park") Keeper and I made the executive decision to sightsee elsewhere for the day. Corbin and Claudia stayed to tour the grounds (and said the castle was fabulous) and we headed north, through San Simeon and Piedras Blancas. We stopped and took pictures of the elephant seals (smelly and loud) and decided to go to Sand Dollar Beach for some coastal views. We hiked down to the shore and spent some time relaxing by the waves. We lunched at Lucia Lodge and then headed into our home for the next few days, Treebones Resort.

Keeper and I re-pitched our tent and were amazed at the view from our campsite. Corbin and Claudia stayed in a yurt. We decided to explore a trail through the resort and got as close to the shore as we could. We hiked back up to our campsite and had a dinner picnic of cheese, wine, and gazpacho that Keeper had prepared. We were up early on Thursday morning and made our way to the lodge for some waffles and coffee. The four of us piled into one car and headed up the coast for what we thought would be a day of serious hiking. Because of the wildfires, all of Los Padres National Forest was closed (no access to hiking trails) as well as some of the state parks further north as well. We ended up spending most of the day at Limekiln State Park. They had three relatively short hiking trails, so we did them all. We saw redwood groves, an impressive waterfall, and of course, the limekilns. I was more than thrilled to be wearing pants and long sleeves in the cool forest (these Phoenix summers SUCK!). We had a picnic lunch down by the water and stopped for another jaunt to the coast on our way back to the resort. Keeper and I decided a nap was in order and we woke up in late afternoon for some quiet reading at the resort. We had another picnic dinner (with wine) and borrowed some games from the lodge to play in Corbin and Claudia's yurt. We saw a pretty amazing sunset that night.

I can't get over how beautiful, quiet and relaxing Big Sur is. I was disappointed that some parks were closed, but in all actuality, it gives us an excuse to make another trip out there (when there aren't wildfires) and we will definitely stay at Treebones again!