The second night’s prep seemed to go about 3x faster than the first night’s, and sleeping required much less effort for both Mike and myself. It may have been the peacefulness of being in the Los Padres National Forest and the lack of pedestrians walking by all night, or just the fact that this wasn’t the first time, but everyone woke up quite a bit more refreshed than the previous morning. A repack of some items and we headed just a few miles south to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
We spent several hours walking through the camp site area, but didn’t go off on any of the side trails. We quickly decided this would be a future camping trip destination for us (with tents), because there is so much to explore and see. The Big Sur river running right through the camp area in combination with the redwood trees, makes it just too amazing to see in only one day. Mike and Hazen got their fair share or more of attention from the campers that were up and about during our walk, and Gena and I got a healthy dose of beautiful scenery. With lunch hours arriving and starting to pass by, we headed to the lodge at the front entrance of the park area for a bite to eat. It’s very apparent after the fact, as it probably should have been before hand as well, that the lodge here is built to cater to the passing tourists with more cash, than sense of appreciation for nature. But, food is food, and we gave the fried artichoke hearts a try. We’ll give them a fighting chance when we go out to dinner and see them on appetizer menus from now on, so thats a good point at least.
Leaving the park area after lunch was a bit disappointing as we were really enjoying the whole area. Not to be outdone, the path to the south down the PCH was just as interesting it turns out! Again, gorgeous coast line to the right, and amazing mountains to the left. Eventually the mountains turned to rolling hills, and the jagged rocky coast line turned to soft sanded beaches full of surfers. Well, except the one with the Elephant Seals that is.
As the sun finally started to set once more, we finished the drive home by changing over to the 101 near Pismo Beach to speed up our pace a bit. A few hours later, we closed in on home and an end to our little adventure. We had a lot of fun, and saw a lot of interesting and unexpected things as you can see from the photo gallery we’ve put up. We intend to do these types of trips again, and often. Until the next one… thanks for following along, and we hope you have adventures in your future as well!