Monterey + Big Sur return trip

On the way back to LA on Sunday morning, we stopped in Monterey to have brunch with Rachel's cousin and her husband. The sea front at Monterey is quite touristy but lots of fun. We walked down to the front, sampling the clam chowder from every restaurant along the way to decide which was the best.

To the sea front

Parrot display

Monterey Bay

 The marina was very pretty (and finally the weather started to clear a bit).

Sea Lion pile

Poser!

Shark imitation competition

 Lunch was very nice on the harbor front.
After lunch we started the drive back. It is ~400 miles from San Francisco to LA and Sunday we did the whole drive. It took about 10 hrs in total. But it was along the Big Sur again and the weather was a lot better this time. So we stopped at some of the vista points on the way for photos.

Little flowers

The Big Sur 

In the sun

One of the many beaches

 At the base of the Big Sur we stopped at Morro Bay before getting on the Highway.

Morro Bay

 There wasn't a lot there. They had a nice little restaurant on the bay front with a live band and we stopped to try some BBQ oysters which were a lot tastier than I expected.

Live music at the restaurant. 

BBQ oysters

 We had a little walk around to stretch our legs and get an ice-cream.

Confused pigeons.

 The way back took a bit longer than expected mainly due to a fire. I think everyone was stopping in case it was a wild fire. It turned out to just but a gas company burning off some excess we think. Still everyone had to stop and look and delayed us ages!

Fire!

The trip was a very long weekend but worth it! I want to go back to the Big Sur and spend more time there. It's so pretty and wild. I loved it!

The last few days on LA were working and getting everything sorted. I am going to miss the suns and warm. It's raining already back home! :-( But now to start planning the next trip!

San Francisco

We didn't sleep very well Friday night so got up a little later than planned and found a Denny's for breakfast. After looking into parking in San Francisco we decided we weren't that rich ($9 a hr seemed the usual), and found that there is free parking at the BART train stations and it is only a ~$10 round trip. Prefect. We got in at about noon and walked over to the wharf. They had some great markets on along the way. 

Alpaca wool. So soft!

 There were also lots of street performers out. They were better than the ones in San Diego as they were more original. This guy was our favorite. He had all these peace signs out and was just happy drumming away!

Peace drummer.

 One thing I wanted to do was ride the trolleys. But the queues were so long, it wasn't worth the wait. Still I did manage to get a photo.

San Francisco trolley

After getting some bits at the markets we walked along the front to Pier 39, famous mainly for the sea lions. We found a cruise that went around the bay, the bridge and Alcatraz. So we got to see a lot without having to walk too far!

Pier 39

San Francisco skyline

Golden Gate bridge

Bridge close up 

There really is a lot of fog!

 There were lots of kite surfers (I think that's what you call them). It looked a lot of fun. Though a few came a little too close to the boat at times.

Kite surfing

 We sailed around Alcatraz. It would be fun to visit but we didn't have much time and you have to book weeks in advance. The cruise had a narrator but there were a lot of people on the boat and it was really windy so we didn't hear most of it.

Alcatraz

Housing block 

Run down

 We got a good look at the sea lions on the way back into the harbor.

Sea lions.

After the cruise, I had to get a hot drink. (Rachel thought it was very funny and British that my first thought was a cup of tea. But the wind was really cold on the boat!)
Rachel really wanted to find the parrots (they got loose years ago and someone fed them and they spread wild in a few parts of the city). We found the first street and nothing. So we had to go up Telegraph Hill. It was a big hill. :-( But eventually we did manage to find a parrot. There was another somewhere but we couldn't see him.

Passion flower 

Parrot

The walk up the stairs was actually very pretty with some nice views and pretty flowers.

Stairs up 

Nearly there

One of the best things about San Francisco I think is the architecture. I love the differences in the building. They are all difference colors and shapes. It's very cheerful. (If you have ever seen Charmed, I love that house!)

love the buildings

 We wanted to go to Golden Gate Park (oddly no where near Golden Gate Bridge) but needed a stop first. We found a great little bar with live jazz/blues/country music and stopped for a rest and cold glass of wine/beer.

Jazz band

 We ended up getting a taxi to the park. We just couldn't face walking it and the bus system is very confusing. The park is nice, and home to the Science academy. Unfortunately we have very bad timing. Everything had just shut.

Golden Gate park

 We really wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Gardens. But they shut at 6pm. The doors were cool!

Tea garden doors

 There were some interesting/questionable statues in the park.

Lady sphinx?

Not idea what the kid is doing or why no one has any clothes on.

 We found the lily pond and it was under construction! :-( But the conservatory of flowers garden (there was a private event on in the actual conservatory - our timing sucked!) was very pretty.

Colorful

Conservatory gardens 

Clock

 We needed up at our sushi restaurant very early! We were so cold!  But as we were there early we went next door for a hot sake while waiting for our table. Great way to warm up. :-)

Lots of sake choices

Thanks to Groupon we had a voucher for $70 worth of sushi! So we indulged in a sushi feast. One of the main rolls was a snow crab and soft shell crab roll, which was enormous! It was really not elegant to eat but very tasty.We ate a LOT of sushi. It was amazing

Spider roll

 And then the highlight of San Francisco. Opposite the sushi restaurant was a dessert lounge. It's like a cocktail bar and they do sell cocktails but they also sell desserts! It was amazing! There should be one of these in every city and town across the planet. It's a brilliant idea. They also had a bunch of board games you can borrow and play. Seriously. These should be everywhere. I would happily spent many nights here!

Desert

The Big Sur

On Thursday last week we headed to Santa Monica, north of LA, to spend the night before driving north along the coast in the morning. The sunset was very pretty on the way. We still haven't managed the sunset over the sea.

Palm trees

Sunset view

Our hotel was ok but the whole area smelt really bad so we got a scented candle for the room as well as BBQ ribs and the trimmings to microwave for our dinner. 

We set off in the morning up the Big Sur. This is a drive I have been wanting to do for years. I have read loads of books set in this area and they have always described it as amazingly beautiful. As with the rest of our time in CA, the weather was not great. I think people have been lying about Californian weather personally. But it was still pretty. It got even better the farther north we went.

Beginning the Big Sur drive

 Our first stop was by accident when we saw a sign for Elephant seals. But as soon as we got out of the car, these little guys came to say hi.

Californian ground squirrel

Looking for food

There were loads of people down the path so we followed them (and the noises) and found the Elephant seals. It was mating season so some of the guys were duking it out in the water, fighting for their mating rights I guess. There were some trying it on land, but they are big creatures and the land fights usually lasted about 10 secs before they needed a rest.

Serious fighting

And serious napping!

So lazy!

He's a alive. Honest. I saw a flipper move. Once.

They were so lazy! They mostly slept and made some questionable noises! The most activity most did was occasionally trowing some and over themselves.

There were masses of them lying near the waters edge. Apparently getting up the beach after a swim was just too much effort. Which was fine until someone of the beach wanted to get in the water. Then they had to climb over the others. Which took about 20mins with naps on top of other seals at regular intervals.

Blockade

There was also a cute little baby (who hadn't grown his nose yet). He was shuffling up the beach, a lot more active than the others. But he had no one to play with so eventually just lay watching the water and running from other seals coming out, trying to get them to chase him. He did not succeed in getting any of them to play but he kept trying.

Baby

We watched one trying to move up the beach. It took some time. They were so cute to watch, we stayed a while taking photos and laughing at them.

On the move

Our second stop was at Salmon creek Falls.

On the way along the Big Sur

 We parked on the road and hiked to the falls. It was more climbing than hiking though in parts. There were lots of boulders we had to clambered over.

Easy part of the hike

 Finally we found the waterfall. The path was not exactly marked or obvious and I think most of the time we just headed in the right direction and hoped. When we found the falls, they weren't as described. We had to climb to get to it. The first meter or so was sheer and required some interesting maneuvering. Which was fine for Rachel as she climbs a lot. It was a bit trickier for me as I had no idea how to climb like that and she had to help me. But it was worth it.

Before the climb

On the there side

The pool under the waterfall looked really inviting so we changed and went for a swim. It looked inviting. It was actually really cold! But once I got halfway in (I am not very elegant so that bit was kind of quick), there didn't seem any point in not going in completely. Rachel took more convincing and a lot more time, getting in slowly. 

Still not convinced

The waterfall wasn't as big as described but California is in a draught so it wasn't a surprise.

Under the waterfall 

View of the rocks and valley from the waterfall

The rocks around the waterfall weren't as slippery as we expected. Still Rachel was more brave than me and went up to the top. I knew my balance and grace. And I can't afford to get air lifted out!

Exploring the waterfall

Rachel being braver than me.

I did managed to jump from the ledge. Which was probably not a great idea as parts weren't very deep. I did check it out before. Still I was very relieved when I didn't die!

Survived the jump

After our swim we had to spend some time warming up on the rocks. And fending off the advances from the surfer guys who were cool but seemed more than a little stoned!

The only bad part was I bashed my foot (once again showing my usual grace and elegant). My toe is now black and the bruise spreading up my foot. :-(

The second stop was at McWay falls. We had intended on going there on the way back but got the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park mixed up with the one we were looking for, the Pfeiffer big Sur State Park. But it was only a short walk to the view the falls so decided to see it then as we were already there.

MvWay Falls

You can't get down to the falls. The beach is protected. But the view from the path was still pretty. There was also a huge rock I thought looked like a frog. :-)

Beach waterfall

Frog!!!

Finally we found the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They had a short trail trail there through a redwood grove!  I was expecting big trees but they were amazing. So much taller and wider than I had expected.

Redwoods

Looking up.

 They don't often grow from seeds but spilt and grow in close groves.

Twin trees

They often had little scrubs around the base. They were filled with spider webs. There was no way I was going near these!

Lots of spider webs! Eeck!

 They were so big, in the photos the size doesn't come across. So Rachel helpfully stood in to show scale.

Wide trees

And really tall trees.

As we were there, we decided to do the valley and falls trail as well. There were more redwoods along the way.

Pfeiffer falls

 And it was all going well. Until I realized the distance quoted was as the crow flies and did not take into account the vertical. And there was a lot more vertical than I like. Still the views were good. And I stopped to take photos (and catch my breath) an a regular basis.

View part way up

Colors

View at the top of Pfeiffer Big Sur Valley

It was a good walk. And we were very mucky when we got back. But they didn't kick us out of the gift shop so maybe we weren't that bad. We were staying that night just outside San Francisco (in San Francisco was way too expensive) so we still had a few more hours driving.

Big sur at dusk

We did managed to find a decent radio station, called Bob FM. THE best name for a radio station. Ever!

Bob FM!!!!!

We stayed in a Motel 6. It was basic and cheap. Unfortunately the first night the couple in the next room there arguing until 5am. And smoking outside and the smoke was wafting into our room. Neither of slept a lot that night. (The second night was better. The new couple were enjoying themselves more. And that has a time limit!)