The rest of SC, Monterey, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, and a little San Luis Obispo, CA

Well we have seen some beautiful things. The last day in Santa Cruz was particularly nice out and we walked around where the surfers' museum was and the pier. Had some good food on the pier and watched the surfers hit some huge waves.

Some Sea Lions chillin under the pier

Surfers' Museum 

Anna probably won't like me posting this one :)

From Santa Cruz it was a quick little ride over to Monterey. I have made this trip many times when I was working with Walton Engineering. For awhile, once a week I would spend the night in Monterey. We arrived about mid-day and decided to go straight to 17mile drive. You have to pay to go down the road but if you stop at one of the shops on the road you can get a refund if you spend more than 25 bucks. We decided that was a good idea. We stopped and meandered around the beaches and checked out the awesome sites. The lone Cypress tree was particularly cool. Its amazing to see how powerful the ocean can be.

This is on a beach near Pebble Beach
it was a good walk

Anna with the Lone Cypress in the background

We chilled on a terrace at the Pebble Beach Golf Course
Anna and I shared an appetizer and I had a cigar

We headed back to Monterey and went to the major shopping plaza there. We walked around and then went and saw the movie Tangled. Excellent movie btw. We then went and shacked up for the night near the hotel I used to stay at all the time.

Next morning we had some Denny's because it was right by us then took the bikes down to the wharf. When we went to lock up the bikes we spotted this big jellyfish in the water. Wow I thought, then I continued to look and found an insane amount of jellyfish in the harbor. I ran out on the launch ramp dock and was just looking at all the wildlife. As I stared at the jellyfish, a school of sardines swam by really quickly followed by a bird underwater! The bird eventually caught a couple and had a meal it was awesome to see.

Not close to how cool it was in real life

We walked a ton on the wharf then to Cannery Row then all the way down to Pacific Grove. There was a wildlife refuge on the way to Pacific Grove where tons of sea lions were just sleeping. We watched them for quite awhile before heading on.

See that huge one sleeping on the seaweed?!

Showing affection at the Maritime Museum

We eventually headed home after a really long day of walking. We hung out at a Safeway Starbucks had some soup and bread and surfed the net. Next day we planned on going to the Carmel Mission then to Big Sur. On the way we saw some huge waves



The Mission was beautiful and it is still used by the Catholic church so the Sanctuary was in full Catholic splendor. It is amazing to see the artistry that exists in the Catholic church. It's nice to have but I know we heathen Protestants aren't into all the pomp and circumstance. I guess I am happy that these commissioned art pieces exist though.

Some of the cool merchandise in their store.
They had a St. Christopher necklace with
a rollerblader on it so I had to get it :)
St. Christopher is the patron Saint of traveling
btw

Some Holy Water

The Sanctuary amazing

Very cool sketch of what an artist
thinks Jesus looks like

The cemetery with tons of abalone shells around the graves

Onto Big Sur.

I never knew much about Big Sur and I didn't know what to expect. Anna just told me there would be 2000 ft cliffs we would be driving along. This didn't make me and Maander happy. Well it was all good and the views were amazing. I seriously saw some of the biggest waves I have ever seen. We went to one of the very few RV camping spots in Big Sur. It had few amenities and you had to pay for the showers and it also costs 45 bucks! Rip off but I think they know they are basically the only place within 30 miles in either direction. We rented a movie from their store, Brothers, it was good then headed to bed.

We enjoyed the views

We think this is supposed to be the famous bridge in Big Sur

Maander enjoying the view too

In the morning we went and saw the only waterfall that falls directly into the ocean in California, here is a picture:

What was that? You can't see anything? You say it's too foggy? .... Oh yea that's right it was ridiculously foggy. Hell, it was hard for us to see it as well. We hung out and walked the trails around Pfieffer State Park in hopes that the fog would burn off and we could get a better view. We didn't get a better shot.

I found a walking stick and here I am utilizing it.
Amazing!

Some people lived by the waterfall in the 1930s and 40s.
The lady gave the land to the state and ordered they
get rid of her house.

Anna doing a self Cheese

Onward ho to Hearst's Castle. The tour wasn't cheap but it was a must see. Here are some photo's

Huge outside pool they rebuilt 3 times before they were happy with it.

One of the guest house rooms

The main house Casa Grande

The dark brown is wood with some intricate carvings

The inside pool. What I would give to be able to dive off that platform

It was foggy all day and we got some amazing pictures when we were high enough where we were above the fog. It was as if we were flying above the clouds.

On our way to Hearst's Castle

This is from Hearst's Castle looking towards San Simeon.

So originally we planned on staying in San Simeon for the night but it was actually a pretty small town and felt that it would have been better just to keep on keepin' on down to San Luis Obispo. By the time we were done with the tour it was dark and the fog was pretty bad. I did not want to drive in this fog but by the time we started trucking along a ways is when it got really bad and I was regretting it a bit. We made it to Morro Bay and stayed the night there grabbing some coffee before we headed to bed. The next day I successfully fixed the inverter and we explored a bit. It didn't last long because everywhere we went looked like this:

To San Luis Obispo! Or if you are in the know it is actually called SLO. My friend who is an alumni of Cal Poly suggested some places to check out so we went to Firestone Grill and I had the must have Tri-tip sandwich which was amazing. We just explored the rest of the day and visited the mission that is in town as well. The mission here isn't quite as amazing as in Carmel though.

Well we are going to explore some more here in SLO and go to a caroling thing tonight. Then it is off to a KOA down the road a ways and then Pismo Beach see ya later peeps! Peace

Anna acting like an alcoholic at Frog and Peaches
with her pear cider