Hey, everyone! I hope you have a happy summer. We are in the middle of a road trip in California. In the first part, we drove to Santa Rosa to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum and hung out with my brothers in San Jose. In the second part, we headed to California’s Central Coast and visited Sequoia National Park. Very good.
California Central Coast
Mrs. RB40, I love California Central Coast. We went to college in Santa Barbara and always wanted to go back one day. However, houses in Santa Barbara are very expensive. That's why we're exploring other towns on the Central Coast of California to find a more affordable location. On this trip we targeted the Monterrey and the San Luis Obispo area.
Monterrey
A few years ago, my college roommate had a huge house in a beach town near Monterrey. Great because now we can stay for free. We walked around Carmel and Pacific Grove and then hiked in the Point Lobos Nature Reserve. Very good. Carmel has lots of nice shops and lovely homes. The beach is very busy. The Pacific Grove is also very good, not crowded. However, due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, the entire area is very expensive. I suspect people sold their homes in San Jose to make huge profits and moved to the beach. We may not be suitable here.
San Luis Obispo
After a few days in Monterey, we drove the 101 to San Luis Obispo. Mrs. RB40's cousin lives there and we want to catch up. We also wanted to visit Cal Poly San Luis Obispo because Mrs. RB40's father went there. It was a very neat campus. The town is only 10 minutes from the university. We like Slo. In the past, it felt similar to Santa Barbara. It's smaller, but cleaner and less busy. SLO seems to be a good town. The good thing is that the beach is only 20 minutes away. I don't mind getting settled around the SLO.
Pismo Beach and Morro Bay
We spent a day at SLO and stayed at Pismo Beach for a few nights. The beach is good, but very touristy. There are a lot of people there. Pismo Beach Pier is also neat. It seems this is a great place to go fishing. As we watched, a local caught several large mackerels. There are many restaurants near the pier. The guy at the information booth assured us that every restaurant was good.
Pismo Beach is very good. I think it's too touristy for me. I also like bays or bays, so boating is easier. Pismo Beach is open to the Pacific. This is great for surfing, but it is even harder for kayaks.
A few minutes south of Pismo Beach is Oceano Dunes Nature Reserve State Park. You can pay $5 and drive directly to the beach. I was worried that our trusted Mazda5 would get stuck, so we just walked a little bit. If we had four wheelers, it would be a cool experience. We also stopped in the Monarch Butterfly Ringle. The Monarch Butterfly isn't here now, but it's a nice walk. The entire area has a relaxing southern CA atmosphere.
Morro Bay
Morro Bay is about 30 minutes north of Pismo Beach. We've driven a few times, but never really spent much time exploring the town. It turns out that you can drive next to the Morro Rock. The bay is very large. We saw otters, seals, coagulants, pelicans, a swim falcon and a ton of squirrel. The bay seems like a great place to paddle and relax.
Oh, we found a good point in the Natural History Museum. Walk to the top of the mountain where the museum is located and you will get a beautiful view of Morro Rock.
Morro Bay seems to be a nice relaxing beach town. It won't be too touristy either. Now, Morro Bay is high on the list of places I want to move to. If I lived there, I would have been out in the bay all the time. Here, housing prices may be more affordable than Pismo Beach or Monterey. I have to study further.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
Next is Sequoia. We left Pismo Beach around 8am and arrived at Sequoia around noon. I thought it was a little late, but it was almost the perfect time. We were able to park at most famous attractions. It's busy, but overcrowded. We saw tunnel rocks, automatic logs, Morro Rock, General Sherman (the largest tree in the world) and various woods. Mrs. RB40, I love it. That's why I was so good at Sequoia's NP when I was young. This southern part is filled with great sights. However, the RB40JR was not impressed. He shrugged and said, “Oh, another big tree.” It's hard to impress a teenager. I think he will appreciate it even more when he grows up.
We arrived at Camp Lodgepole around 6pm. We still have a lot to build camps during the day. Our campground was great. We had to walk about 30 feet from the parking lot to our campsite. It's a little bit away from all other sites. It was near a stream and we could hear the water all night. Very good. We scalped the wood and fired. Expert tips – Check out the empty campsite. Often, they left wood on former campers.
The next day we stopped at several locations in Kings Canyon NP. We saw the Grant Tree in general and an interesting log tunnel. We didn't get into Kings Canyon NP. Next time, we will explore more. This is a huge park.
OK, that's it today. We are now resting in San Jose. Next week, we will be driving back to Portland. I can't believe that summer is coming to an end. Enjoy it as much as possible!
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