The time had finally arrived! Road trip for thanksgiving vacation! 6 days of epicness covering almost the entire state! When all is said and done we will have covered over 2,000 miles! quite the trip if you consider our drive across the country was just over 3,000 miles!!! We will have seen Big Sur, Yosemite Valley, visited Sarah’s Dad’s Cousins in Monte Sereno /silicon Valley, Driven the Avenue of the giants through the Redwoods forest, seen the Humboldt County Coastline, spent the night in Santa Cruz, and finally returned home to San Clemente.
Day 1 - 6.5 hours San Clemente to Big Sur
Alarms were set for 4:30 am and we were out the door shortly after 5am. We were on the road heading up to Big Sur, Our destination was Kirk’s Creek campground where we would spend the night in our tent camping high on a bluff overlooking the pacific ocean. On the way up we stopped in Morro Bay (where Sarah and I were engaged). There in the harbor inlet near Morro Rock we found three sea otters floating on their backs! Each of them had a baby resting on their chest alternating between playing and frolicking about in the water, to resuming their naps on their mothers chest! it was absolutely adorable.
The area was also crawling with tiny squirrel like creatures! curious of humans and looking for free food handouts!
Back on the road we continued our drive up north on the 1 highway. The coastline changes dramatically as you approach Big Sur and we took frequent stops to take photos of the breathtaking views. Around almost every bend you are presented with fantastic views. The drive is great as the highway hugs the cliff edge and winds up the mountain side, the Pacific ocean smashing on rocks FAR below.
We arrived at Kirks Creek campground and were amazed. Every site has a 180 degree view of the sprawling ocean beyond the cliff edge. We set up our camp quickly and took off on a hike down the trail leading from the campground down to the ocean. The trail was beautiful as it wound through the forest and crossed a small flowing stream. Further down the path we reached the ocean, where we found the stream flowing directly into the waves.
The area was incredible with pounding waves only a few feet away, large rock formations, and a tunneled rock archway. We hung around exploring and taking photos for quite a bit of the afternoon. We had the entire area to ourselves.
Later we hopped back into the car and drove north about a half hour to get to the coastal redwoods park. As we entered the park immediately the sun was blocked out by MASSIVE redwood trees towering far above us. We paid our day use fee, got to the parking lot and threw on our hiking boots. Upon entering the trail head we were instantly engulfed in another Redwood grove. It is incredibly mystical to be amongst the redwood trees. The air in the forest is damp and misty, The light is dark, there is bright green fern spread out everywhere! We hiked through many groves of redwoods until we reached a waterfall flowing amongst them.
If you look closely you can see me standing at the base of the tree!
We knew the sun would be setting soon so we made haste back to the car to drive back down the coast to our camp site. We stopped for a bit to take a few pictures of the beautiful sunset while listening to the seals bark on the cliffs below us.
We spent the night around our campfire making a dinner of Mountain House dehydrated Veggie Lasagna… Awesome, had a few beers/wine and turned in early.
That night was extremely windy and I had to get up during the night to re-stake out the tent to keep the vestibules from flapping! It was cold (though the warmest night of the trip) but our new light weight North Face Cats meow 20 degree sleeping bags (Christmas gift from my parents) kept us incredibly warm and comfortable. “Snug as a bug”. THANK YOU guys!
Day 2 - 6.5 hours Big Sur to Yosemite Valley
Happy Thanksgiving!
Alarms rang early! and we were up surprisingly quickly. I boiled some water for an oatmeal breakfast and coffee, we broke down the tent and packed the car as the sun was rising.
We were on our way! What a gorgeous morning, we were able to watch the sunrise as we drove up the Big Sur coastline. Such an amazing sight that words cannot properly describe.
we continued our way up the coast and finally began cutting inland across California. We traveled almost across the entire state to get to Yosemite! The middle of the state is quite empty, mostly farmland and a few mountain passes but it was gorgeous.
Happy cows come from California! Cows with a view of the Big Sur Coast.
About 40 miles before Yosemite the scenery changes drastically as you begin to cut into the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. We began traveling along the Merced river which paralleled the 140 Highway. The scenery was beautiful, tall granite peaks, lush greenery, flowing river below…fantastic. We also took notice that the temperature began to drop fast, and we even began to see snow through the trees and in some of the meadows.
We paid our entry fees to Yosemite National park, and within a few miles we turned off the 140 and onto the 41 highway. A short 11 mile drive up a winding road lead us to tunnel view. The spot of one of the most famous Yosemite photographs by Ansel Adams. Here is one from the even more famous Sarah Wenk.
The view was fascinating. From left to right as follows. El Capitan , Half Dome (far in the distance in the center), Yosemite Valley slicing up the middle, and Cathedral Rocks. We stayed at Curry Village roughly near the base of Half Dome.
After the overwhelming beauty of the view, the first thing you notice in Yosemite is the overwhelming number of people! Although we went during the least busy times of the year, there was still a tremendous amount of people in and about the park. It somewhat detracts from the experience seeing women in high heels and leather jackets, men with gel in their hair and cologne on doing the hikes we were doing; but Regardless Yosemite is an epic place, and would be my favorite of the entire trip.
After Tunnel view we drove down into the valley and checked in at Camp Curry, where we easily upgraded to the last available heated tent cabin. Previously we had an unheated tent cabin. Despite being a heated tent it was still absolutely frigid as open air is allowed to pass into the tent from the base, and the windows effectively negating the heater! We did as instructed and cleaned out the car of garbage and stored all our food and scented items in the bear lockers outside our tent cabin, then we set off to explore the Valley.
The first hike we did was out to the base of Lower Yosemite falls. This is not the season for the waterfalls. The falls are at their peak flow when the winter snow begins to melt as summer begins. The falls as we saw them paled in comparison the what they are capable of, and they were covered in tourists!
Beautiful nonetheless. The two staged falls Upper and Lower Yosemite falls combined are nearly twice the height of the empire state building and are the sixth largest water fall in the world!!!!! Unbelievable.
Next we continued through the valley and into some of the meadows where we were treated to fantastic views of Half dome. I couldn’t help but stare in awe at the size of the mountains around us. I was obsessed with looking at half dome.
Sarah was able to get close up to a few deer in the meadows to capture some awesome photos!
We continued driving around the valley which is essentially two low speed one way roads, one leading into the back of the valley and another that brings you around to the front. We were pulling over often to snap pictures of the sensory overload.
You are not allowed to cook in Curry Village due to the bear issue so we purchased and ate our Thanksgiving dinner in the Yosemite Village food court. A feast of a veggie sandwich for Sarah. and a Burger and fries for me. We plan on doing a late thanksgiving now that we are home and able too cook for ourselves!
After dinner we went to the Ahwahnee hotel. An extremely expensive lodge/hotel in Yosemite Valley that is considered one of Americas greatest resorts. We sat in the wide open “main” room near the larger than life fireplaces, bundled in our hiking gear, drinking the Ahwahnee wine and beer and making fun of the snooty rich people walking around in their suits and tux’s and listening to the pianist play.
On our way back to our tent cabin we walked back into the meadows to get some night shots. It was pitch black out but Sarah was able to pull all of the moonlight in by keeping the camera shutter open longer. I love this shot.
That night we went to bed thinking of bears. Snuggled into our sleeping bags in below freezing weather with our heater doing absolutely nothing, we remained comfortable. Sleeping bag WIN! At about 3:00am I roll over and hear “Pat, are you awake?” Sarah has been waiting for me to stir! she has to go to the bathroom and doesn’t want to take the dark dark walk alone. I don’t blame her! Id rather pee my sleeping bag than take that walk alone only to be ravaged by a bear who smells that leftover food court smell on my clothes or that tiny bit of beer I spilled onto my jacket and comes over to investigate me as a food source! We pull on layer after layer, grab the bear deterrent spray, headlamp, flashlight and step out the door. Terrified I’m convinced that we are now going to have our first encounter with a bear in the pitch black night!
We laugh and try to make noise on the way to the bathroom. I’m doing my “fake cough” as to alert any bears that we are on our way down the path. Alas we were able to accomplish our mission without incident.
Day 3 -Yosemite to San Rafael 5 Hours
Next morning we were up with the light and packed our gear back into the car we drove to a picnic area to make breakfast. Sarah found another group of deer and tracked them through the forest getting soooo close and snapping photos while I prepared oatmeal and coffee for us.
We sat and gazed through the meadows up at half dome sipping the coffee, then went and toured through the gift shops, got a few last minute supplies, and set off on a hike to Vernal falls up the Mist Trail, We hiked about a mile and a half until we reached the falls. Near the falls the path turns to a rock staircase that is cut into the cliff edge. The path then winds up above to the top of the falls. We took a small path that cut down directly the base of the falls near a beautiful pool that has formed under the falls. We had the whole area to ourselves and stayed for over a half hour snapping pictures, snacking and soaking up the views. The waterfall creates a fine mist that was slowly falling on us. Again we had to imagine what the fall would look like in full flow when it would cover the whole cliff face you see in the picure!
We hiked back out! I was completely satisfied! that is exactly what I wanted, hiking in Yosemite! a completely successful visit between exploring the meadows and valley, gazing at halfdome and hiking up to Vernal falls! I love this place.
We hopped back into the car and began our drive out of the valley. We were able to leave the park on a different road so we got to see new sights on the way out. Unfortunately due to snowfall and ice the Tioga pass was closed so we were unable to drive up to glacier point to see more of Yosemite’s stunning views. By this time clouds were rolling in and we were glad to have been able to see Yosemite under a blue sky! On the way out of the park we passed through gorgeous mountain passes in the high sierras.
And beautiful sprawling farmland.
Next we were headed back across California out towards the coast again to meet Sarah’s fathers cousin Joan and Ronnie over in Monte Sereno / Silicon Valley area. We drove about 4 and a half hours in mostly gray and rainy weather. Joan was nice enough to meet us at a location near their house and lead us back to the house down a VERY dark and winding road. I think we would have driven right past their driveway in the dark had we tried to make it with our GPS!
Joan and Ronnie were great, We stayed talking with them for a few hours! Joan fed us some great snacks and we made some really great networking connections for future jobs. Joan and Ronnie have a truly fascinating life. They were so sweet and it was great to stop in to meet family! A big thank you to them!
After saying our goodbyes we were back on the road again to knock off a few more hours. We drove through San Francisco and over the golden gate bridge in the dark. See the beautiful shot of the bridge below. ha ha! We found a relatively cheap hotel in San Rafael where we stopped for the night.
Day 4 -San Rafael to Patrick’s Point 5.5 Hours
Up Early again! A quick breakfast of Oatmeal and Coffee and we were on our way up the 101 weaving through the mountains and rolling countryside for a few hours until we reached the Avenue of the Giants. The Avenue of the Giants is a 31 mile section of road which parallels the main 101 highway and weaves through many groves of the Humboldt State park giant redwood trees.
This was a fascinating section of road, as it narrows to one lane in each direction with the MASSIVE redwoods bordering directly on the roads shoulder!
We pulled over at many of the groves and did short walks through them snapping tons of pictures. Sarah was in her glory! This was by far her favorite part of the trip. The redwood forests are extremely magical and mystical feeling. Enchanting!
As we hiked through each grove I had to keep reminding her that there were more and we could visit more groves on the way! Sarah could spend HOURS taking pictures of a single grove walking around wide eyed as she would hug and kiss the trees!
It is impossible to get over how large each tree is! We walked around in amazement in every direction we turned!
There were massive overturned redwoods that had fallen due to huge floods that had uprooted them. Moss covering their entire length strewn out endlessly on the forest floor. Green fern blanketing in every direction, sunlight just barely breaking through narrow passageways in the redwood branches towering above our heads causing beams to reach from the canopy to the floor… this was so amazing! Next we have to try to camp amongst the redwoods. Or maybe as Sarah suggests, we need to live amongst them.
We stopped at the Avenue of the Giants visitors center and poked around for a bit. Sarah got an awesome Redwoods T-shirt, and we did a another hike through the area that gave us glimpses of the eel river running through the redwoods.
After a few hours of gasping and gazing in amazement in the forest we were on our way up through Humboldt county and finally reached Patrick’s Point State park. Patrick’s point is a pretty large park, with a campground sitting right on a bluff edge with trails leading down to beautiful Agate beach below. The beach is known for having agate stones strewn about its shores.
We registered for our campsite and quickly set up taking notice that we were the ONLY people in the park that would be spending the night in a tent. Everyone else had campers. It was COLD. After setting up camp we took a hike down to the beach where we explored the shores searching for agates and combed through the tide pools. The beach was fantastic.
We drove over to the other side of the park and did a few short walks out to some scenic viewpoints. Wedding rock, and Patrick’s point. The sights were beautiful looking up and down the coastline. It was VERY cold as the sun began to set!
Take 8 was successful for the picture below as I would hoist Sarah up then run back to take the picture. Her hands got bruised up pretty good hanging from the tree for so long over and over again while I produced terrible picture after terrible picture!
As it began to get dark we hopped back into the car and took a drive about a half hour south back to the city of Eureka where we scored some beers at the Lost Coast brewery. Winterbraun for me and a Raspberry Ale for Sarah. The beers were great! and it was nice to get out of the cold and damp ocean air!
Upon returning to camp we immediately tried to light our fire which I had set up earlier with kindling and everything hoping to only have to put a flame to it when we returned. Big mistake, The air was too cold and moist to get the wood burning! It took us what seemed like forever working together to get the fire started, gathering small twigs, using our cotton ball and vaseline kindling! ripping all extra paper in the car to shreds in order to keep the small flames we had burning! Eventually the wood caught and we were able to stay warm all night by the fire enjoying a few beers and some wine. Excellent teamwork hi-five. Whisky shots also go quite a long way in providing warmth!
We briefly had to deter a band of marauding raccoons who had managed to slip by us and sneak into our bear locker to ravage our garbage which I had mistakenly left open because the ranger told me bears were not an issue here this time of year! They were quite adorable and almost managed to drag off the empty can of beans and camp towel that we had used to clean our dishes!
We slept easy that night listening to the waves crash on the beach below. Sarah proclaimed that this was by far her favorite day of the trip. Combining the Redwood forest with the Humboldt coastline, and tide pools at Agate beach had done it for her. She was in love.
Day 5 - Patrick’s Point to Santa Cruz 8.5 Hours
We got up and packed the gear at around 6:30 and headed back down south. This was the farthest north we would go on the trip. After grabbing some coffee and refueling we were on our way to hit California’s Lost Coast. It is called the Lost Coast because when they were building the main Highway along the coast they reached the Kings Mountain Range which was so impassable that the highway had to be routed around them. As a result there is only two or three SMALL rarely visited towns on the coastline here.
This was EASILY our most miserable section of the trip. The entire dip into and out of the Lost Coast section was approximately 65 miles. This took us over three hours as the road is a narrow, one lane, pothole ridden, twisting and winding, mind numbing, sun glaring, up and down with many gravel sections and hairpin switchbacks brutal stretch of what vaguely qualifies as even being called a “road”. I had to come to a full stop countless numbers of times because the sun glare made it impossible to tell which way the road bent, If I was going to sink a tire into a rim bending pothole, plow into the forest, or launch off a cliffside! We remained under 20 miles an hour for the duration of the drive through the mountain range. Sarah got incredibly car sick and was not doing well. The driving was just incredibly draining, especially when you look at the GPS and it tells you that you have 35 more miles of misery ahead of you with no end in sight for hours.
Sigh…. The drive into the coast was in-fact beautiful. There were open ranges of farms where the cows would cross right over the road, and when we reached the coastline the views were breathtaking. However it was totally not worth the energy draining and taxing effort that it took to acquire them, especially when you think that after 3 hours of this exhausting driving, we still had to go 6 more hours to reach our destination in Santa Cruz. We wont be going back!
After emerging from the Lost coast we were back on the Highway and heading to Santa Cruz. By this time the small hint of a cold I had was beginning to show more signs! There wasnt much more to see on the coast down and we reached Santa Cruz without incident. Exhausted we did a bit of driving around the city and returned to the hotel room to pass out.
Day 6 - Santa Cruz to San Clemente - 6 Hours
KITTY DAY! We were excited as by this evening we would be able to see Hoshi and Wabo again! They had probably thought we had abandoned them as this is the longest stretch of time that we have ever left them alone!
We packed our stuff and checked out of the hotel and took another drive around Santa Cruz in the morning light. We went over to Natural Bridges State park beach where there were a set of neat rock bridge formations right in the shore break on the beach. It was in the high 30’s low 40’s, we were bundled in winter hats and heavy sweaters as we watched some nut-job girl walk down the beach with a skimboard, ditch her clothes and try to skimboard in her bikini! CRAZY. She must have been out of her mind. She soon figured out that this was a terrible idea as the ocean must have been frigid. Error 404 common sense not found.
The night before we had stopped in a supermarket and had a free sample of clam chowder. This was all we needed to become junkies and were craving delicious clam chowder. What better place to stop than on the way south in Monterey at the Fisherman’s Warf where it is famous for numerous restaurants having fantastic clam chowder (recall our San Francisco trip!). It was about 8:15 and the warf was just opening, delivery trucks dropping of the days supply of fish and groceries the places was bustling in a way that we had never seen. We were the only two people there that were not working to open a business for the day. We found a restaurant that had clam chowder ready and we each ordered a delicious cup. We sat in the back overlooking the harbor and devoured the soup exclaiming how good it was with every spoonful.
MMMMM clam chowder for breakfast. We were completely satisfied.
That was it. Next stop. Home! but Wait! what trip would be complete with out a little encounter with the California state Highway Patrol! Sweeeet! I earned myself my first moving violation in years as well as a fix-it ticket for my modified exhaust system! Oh well… aintnobodygonnabreakamystride! we will deal with that later. This trip has been fantastic and we have seen so many epic sights, done some beautiful hikes, driven through amazing countryside, stood in towering redwood forrests scavanged through beautiful beaches and all in all had an amazing time with each other.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have found someone to share all of these amazing things with! We had a blast together… We have the happiest life.
We arrived home to find that Hoshi and Wabo were on their best behavior! No vomit! No peeing on the couches, no pooping out of the litter boxes, no tearing up the carpet! The one exception was that our tiny 4 foot fake Christmas tree was knocked over and there were candy canes strewn about the apartment! Apparently Hoshi had been using the tree laid on its side as his new bed as the tell tail signs of all is hair had become the new “Tinsel” on the tree! They were craving attention and were soooo excited to see us!
Its great to be home…. hmmmm… now where to next!
