Pancakes to Skunks

After a wonderful night of sleep in a bed, we head downstairs and find our incredible host Bill already making breakfast. He is preparing aebleskivers, a Danish breakfast food which is essentially a spherical pancake. This was especially exciting for Danny and Leslie because making this type of pancakes is a thanksgiving tradition in their family. 

After packing up and fixing an unfortunate flat tire, Bill escorts us out of town on a beautiful quiet road. 

Bill and Kandy, we can't thank you enough for your incredible generosity! It was such a pleasure to meet you two and Olive.

After Bill turns back to head home, we take off on route 1 for about a mile before turning onto Harris Grade Road. This little back road has very little traffic and takes us over a fairly easy pass into the town of Lompoc. Even though it's still a bit early in the day we decide to have lunch because we won't be seeing another town for a while. Leslie treats us to quesadillas and nachos at a delicious little Mexican place.  Thanks Leslie!

After lunch we pick up enough food to get us to Ventura and hop back on the road. It's not great riding through town on the trafficked streets, but once we're away from the strip malls we have a large shoulder to ride on. All afternoon we trek across rolling hills covered in dry grasses and dotted with shrubby trees. Most of this area appears to be used for ranching. There's a fair amount of traffic, the road is bumpy, and we have a headwind so it's slow going. 

It's a relief when we descend back to the coast. All along the coast Route 1 merges with the 101 (a larger highway) so there's a lot of traffic. However, there's a nice shoulder and we develop a bit of a tailwind.

After a little over 50 miles we stop to camp at El Capitan State Beach. For $10 per person we are unimpressed. The hiker/biker area is the part of the campground farthest from the entrance, it's right next to the road and train tracks, and showers cost extra. 

We do get to watch the sun melt over the ocean in a vibrant display of color and meet another touring cyclist named Scott. Over dinner we sit and exchange stories. Originally from the UK, Scott has toured down the east coast, across the US, and now up the west coast. He's been having a fantastic time bicycling and we greatly enjoy chatting with him.

As we get ready for bed we notice a skunk sniffing our stuff. We carefully shoo him away, but a few minutes later he's back. Danny and I decide to sleep in the tent with Leslie tonight. Moving my shoes I notice that there are cockroaches crawling into them. This campsite gets better every minute.

Aiming for our friend Karis's house in Ventura tomorrow! Can't wait.

Miles and Miles

Part of our criteria for selecting a hotel is a continental breakfast.  We eat so much; why not take advantage?  The one this morning was great, and after filling our bellies, we set off.  The road paralleled the ocean, giving us great views of spectacular Morro Rock, which we compared to a smaller, half-submerged Half Dome.  Then we headed inland.  Route 1, the Cabrillo Highway, was now a big, busy road.  Fortunately the shoulder was big as well.  We stayed inland for awhile, following frontage roads when the 101 merged with the 1 and swelled it to a massive freeway.  The signage was super easy to follow, even when passing through downtown San Luis Obispo.  We didn't linger long away from the coast, only stopping for a long break at lunch.  Dinosaur Cave State Park provided us with beautiful views and a shaded gazebo, a godsend on this hot, cloudless day.

After lunch, the road turned back inland.  Our shoulder dwindled, even disappearing entirely at times, and the scenery consisted of farmland, namely sprawling fields of lettuce.  To call the riding mind-numbing would not be much of a stretch, except for the traffic, sometimes trucks, which kept us on our toes.

Just before we turned off of highway 1, we began talking with a German traveler, Kai, who was wrapping up an around-the-world trip with his 50cc car.  A very small car.  We enjoyed talking with him for a bit, especially seeing his eyes light up when telling us about the "shrubberies everywhere" (meaning the fields of lettuce) and that he would love to just hop a fence and grab some.  I wonder if he's seen Monty Python.

63 miles from this morning in Cayucos, we pulled in to the driveway of Bill, who, with his wife Kandy, would be our host for the night.  We shared a delicious dinner and had a fantastic time making cookies (not to mention eating them), talking, watching the culmination of the World Series, and even dancing in the kitchen.  

Magnificent Route 1

Today's scenery was magnificent. The three of us hugged the coastline for the entire day, mesmerized by the rocky intertidal and the vast expanse of ocean.

We climbed and climbed and climbed all morning, although there were some downhills and an incredible tailwind. The wind certainly made the 60 miles go faster.

Lunch along the way was at an elephant seal rookery. There were hundreds of them along the beach. Although most of then were juveniles they were still huge! We watched as they splattered themselves with sand and some of the males practiced fighting. It was interesting how close they lay together on the beach, even though they are solitary at sea.

Down the road we passed Hearst Castle, a national historic mansion (costing 10 million to build over 30 years) perched on a bluff overlooking the ocean. On the surrounding ranch we were surprised to discover zebras grazing among the cows. 

We ended our day in the small town of Cayucos where Danny and Tamara took a dip in the ocean- brave souls. 

Cayucos is the home of Brown Butter Cookie Company. We took full advantage.

For dinner we ate in an interesting restaurant with both Mexican and Italian food. 

More adventures tomorrow! 

-Leslie 

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.

Three By the Sea, October 26

After a delicious and filling continental breakfast, we said goodbye to the comfy hotel and biked a short distance to Trader Joe's to pick up some groceries.  Then out to the coast!  Sea lions lounged casually by the pier, and everywhere were birds of all kinds: pelicans, cormorants, gulls, grebes, and more.  The water of Monterey Bay was calm, and there was a slight breeze from the north.  We took the coastal bike trail along the peninsula, stopping along Cannery Row to soak in some history, and stopping again more and more frequently to marvel at the deep blue water and the pounding surf.  10-plus foot waves pounded the rocks; this was not a shore for swimming.  

But, with the path and the general air that here was not a place to drive hurriedly through, it was perfect for biking.  Not to mention the tailwind!  We passed Pebble Beach golf club and a number of overlooks along 17 Mile Drive, then, as we were figuring out how to get to highway 1, a cyclist asked where we were headed.  We told him highway 1, and he said to follow him; he would show us a much better route.  His name was Kevin, and he and his riding buddy Angus rode with us along the Carmel seashore, even pointing out interesting spots like a Frank Lloyd Wright house designed to look like a ship and Clint Eastwood's restaurant.  Then he gave us directions to Safeway to get water, and as we were repackaging food, he showed up and chatted for awhile.  Thanks, Kevin, for showing us around Carmel!

We stopped for a beach lunch a few minutes later and enjoyed the warm sand and the crashing waves for over an hour.  Then back to the road.  The closer we got to Big Sur, the  steeper were the cliffs above the ocean.  This road was unlike any we had ever biked.  

The wind was whipping around like crazy (fortunately a strong tailwind for most of the time), causing huge waves to crash on the rocks far below and send spray high into the air.  We reached Big Sur around 4:30 and set up camp at Andrew Molera State Park.  We're far from the beach, but that's okay.  We enjoyed polenta, rice, and refried beans for dinner, then Tam pulled out a surprise box of Oreos for dessert, which we happily dug into.  A wonderful first day on the coast!