Big Sur, October 27

We start our day by climbing through the forest, passing redwoods left and right, to arrive at our first destination: Big Sur State Park. Here we walk around for a bit enjoying the magnificent redwoods and the Big Sur river. The forest is beautiful, but I really want to see the beach. I convince Danny and Leslie to take a 4-mile detour to Pfeiffer State Beach. Once arriving, we all agree that it was worth it. The wind is blasting and the tide is up. Huge waves are crashing onto the jagged rocks and sending up clouds of spray. Out in the water are featured boulders created from bulbous jumbles of rocks. There are three arches in these boulders, windows to the ocean beyond. It's great fun to watch the waves roll through, bouncing off the sides of the arches and creating showers of sea foam.

We run through the water; the sand under our toes is streaked with glorious pink patterns.
I would happily stay here all day, but there's more to explore. We climb the hill up and away from the beach, then climb some more. Spotting a post office on the side of the road we stop to mail a few things ahead and to enjoy lunch. We eat in a garden of giant cacti outside of a little cafe. It's lovely.
The hill we're been climbing all morning ends shortly after lunch. Suddenly we're out of the forest and have a spectacular view of the ocean. The tremendous expanse of blue is positively sparkling in the sun. All afternoon we bike on a cliff overlooking the ocean, waves crashing on dramatic rocks far below. We stop at Julia Pfeiffer State Park to walk out to an overlook of a 50 foot waterfall. Once this waterfall poured into the ocean, but a landslide about 30 years ago created sediment that has now formed a small beach under it. The black cliffs,  delicate waterfall, aqua blue water, and soft sand make this cove look downright tropical. Staring down at this beauty Leslie comments that it's hard to describe in words- and it is.

Our final miles of the day are illuminated in the gold of the setting sun. Now we're camped at Limekiln State Park, eating dinner on the beach as the sun sets over the restless waves.