After our stop in Bodega bay we turned south along the coast. We did manage to find another seafood restaurant, Marshall store . The oysters I had here were much higher quality, but the star of our lunch was the smoked fish plate. Smoked oysters, mackerel and salmon were all exceptionally tasty, and the view over the foggy bay gave us a Pacific Northwest kind of feel.
We followed south to Point Reyes national seashore, this turned out to be a not so pleasant detour. I admit we only saw a third of the park, but that third was along a crumbling very rough road that passed through bare pastureland and rundown farms. The lighthouse point was nice, and we had a nice walk to the point itself, it didn’t make up for the rough ride in. We did see some elk which was cool but probably I wouldn’t come back.
We stayed the night in nearby Samuel P Taylor state park, which was a really nice little campground tucked in the redwoods. I had a hike to the top of the hills the next morning which gave nice views of the bay.
< sam p views>
The drive south over the Golden Gate bridge and through San Francisco didn’t give me much of an impression as I had to deal with the heavy traffic and narrow roads, San Fran streets were not made with an RV in mind. We drove all the way south of Santa Cruz to find a campground on the beach, but we found an empty campground there, aptly named Sunset Campground. We had a nice walk along the beach as the sun set.
Our next day brought us inland, first to Hollister for a look around, and then up into the hills to Calera winery, a recommendation from my sister. The wines were excellent and the young woman guiding us through their wines was the most knowledgeable we met. We ending up spending quite a bit here on some nice Pinot Noirs to enjoy later. Definitely check them out Calera Wines if you are in the region
We then headed into Gilroy to meet with friends of Charissa’s parents. Mike and Carol were a treat to hang out with, they took us to a local place for dinner, and then we hung out with them at their place into the night. They were nice to put us up at their place and it really nice to spend a night outside the RV, which just barely fit into their driveway.
The next day we headed down to Monterrey, parking there turned out to be super expensive, despite that the aquarium was very enjoyable to see. From there we headed south to Big Sur, it being a Saturday the few campgrounds in the State Park were full, we got the last place at Fernwood, which was at the highway robbery price of $90 a night. The spots were packed in, but it was right next door to a restaurant and bar. We got drinks and spoke to a few locals, so it was good to hear their perspective on the place. Heading south the next day along highway 1 was slow going with lots of hills and narrow curves as it followed the coast. We found a beach and a campground on the beach, though the flies made these beaches less pleasant. Big Sur is an interesting place, development has been blocked over the years by the landowners and locals, leaving it the most restrictive place in the US to do development. This means there were very few campgrounds, hotels, restaurants and services along this whole route, and nearly no resorts. It is nice to have such a wild coastline, but on this busy weekend it made it tough to find spots for the old RV. I could see coming here for a week and enjoying the coast, but it didn’t work well with our way of slowly making our way down the coast with no reservations.
That was just the first half, continue on to the second half here
