Pacific Coat Highway, Big Sur and Pismo Beach

The beds at the Comfort Inn lived up to their name and we had a great nights sleep until we were woken at about 0500 by some noisy swine in another room clumping about with their pit boots on.

We grabbed a light breakfast in the lobby then packed the car and were ready to go. Stopping at Target we grabbed a few supplies and then it was on to Highway One and heading south.

Stopping at one of the roadside shacks to buy some freshly picked strawberries and again they were lovely and we had polished them off before we had gone to far.

Just south of Carmel we picked up the Pacific Coastal Highway and were soon travelling on with the ocean on one side and the steep hills on the other. There are hundreds of little stopping points and vistas and we made frequent use of them to enjoy the views and take photographs as you can see from the handful below.

These are just a small selection of the ones we took on that stretch, as you can see the weathour remained fabulous!

After a leisurely drive we were soon at Big Sur and stopped at one of our favourite locations from last year, the Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant. we had a Pan con Tomato sandwich which was lovely and very garlicky along with a fantastic Plum Strudel, brilliant. Washed down with a cappuccino.

We popped next door to the General Store and post office where we purchased, wrote and posted some postcards home and then we were on to the next stretch of the Pacific Coastal Highway again enjoying the fantastic sights.

Eventually we reached the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookeryand stopped to admire these huge beasts.

After about six hours of leisurely drive we eventually reached our hotel for the night, we stayed at The Inn At The Cove last year and it is lovely.

After check in we visited the Shell Beach Brew House where I enjoyed a Firestone 805 Honey Blond and Victoria a Whitbier with Grapefruit.

We noticed that the Pizzaria in town had closed down so asked locals for some recommendations and they suggested Doughboys on Oak Park and Grant a few miles away, driving there we found it was closed on a Monday, Bugger! We had noticed another earlier so drove Ginos on five cities where we ordered our pizza and chatted to a lovely chap about things to do in the area.

We bought the Pizza back and sat on our balcony looking out for whales and drinking beer while scoffing the pizza.

There was not much whale and dolphin activity but we did watch a beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset.

Waking in time for dawn we saw some whales off shore, but after breakfast were treated to a whole pod of dolphins right under our balcony, well worth the wait.

Last day in San Francisco and on to Santa Cruz

Following on from where we left off on Friday evening.

Friday had been exhausting, dashing all over town and had taken rather a toll so we awoke quite late and had a leisurely toilet. We had hoped to get breakfast at the Boudin Bakery on Fishermans Wharf but by the time we arrived had missed that service by a couple of minutes. We also tried Applebees and Rainforest Cafe but their offering did not inspire.

Instead we bought a churro from one of the vendors and ate that overlooking the marina. It was a beautiful morning, much warmer than the forecast would have had us expecting.
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Carrying on up the Embercadero we checked to see is a trip to Alcatraz Island was possible. The next available booking was on the 31st August - in nine days time! Instead we took a look at the exhibits that were available including this fantastic model of the island, I imagined some brilliant Pulp gaming that could be done on this model.

Continuing to the Ferry Plaza we wanted to take in the Farmers Market that had been recommended to us so we completed our late breakfast with a coffee at Peets and then dove into the Farmers Market.

Wonderful sights and sounds with loads of stall selling their freshly grown produce and many others selling meals to go.

We did a couple of laps before deciding what we wanted to buy. First of all we bought some hummus and falafel for our picnic lunch the next day, then we bought a pound of grapes from another stall and half a pound of heritage tomatoes from yet another.

We then spied another stall selling fresh Vegetable Samosas so we had one each to keep us going spread with a lovely sweet chilli glaze and a mint sauce - fantastic!

We then stopped at another stall who was about out of their stock and purchased a large punnet of strawberries. These are the best I have ever tasted Victoria declared. Having had strawberries in the U.S.A. before I was wary, usually they are nothing but flavourless mush, but oh my was she right; they were bloody lovely.

We had spent a good hour on the market and it was now beer o' clock so we retired to one of our favourite bars, the Ferry Plaza Wine Bar where I had another pint of their delicious Fort Point Park Wheat and Victoria again a Sonoma Solstice Syrah,

Quite loaded down with shopping, I bought Victoria a great tote from Cowgirl Creamery (I carried the loaded bag though, gentleman and all that). We then picked up a half pound of coffee beans from Blue Bottle and purchased ourselves an Affogato to share on the water-front, it was delicious.

We had a slow walk back up the Embercadero where we popped into Boudin Bakery to grab a sourdough baguette for our picnic tomorrow. On the way to the apartment we stopped again at 901 Columbus for a happy-hour beer and then completed the short walk to the apartment.

I made some heritage tomato on sourdough for us both and Victoria said she was going to grab a shower. I was awoken by Victoria two hours later, I guess those beers knocked me out!

It was getting dark now and we wanted to enjoy some North Beach night-life. We walked up Columbus through Little Italy and loved soaking up the atmosphere. Just past the City Lights Bookshop we entered the famous Vesuvio bar (where Jack Kerouca would regularly frequent) where we enjoyed a pint of Anchor Steam and all the beat ambience.

After cutting through Jack Kerouca Lane we picked up Columbus again and passed the crowds outside The Stinking Rose before dropping back into Cafe Grecco for a cappuccino and a very tasty coconut macaroon.

There was one last mission for the evening, many people had told us that we should try a pizza from Tony's so we slipped down Stockton and Union and purchased a slice of Margherita to take out. This was eaten on Washington Square and oh my it was fantastic!

It was time to make our way back to the apartment on Jansen Street, just off Columbus and Lombard where we pretty much crashed out straight away.

We were up bright and early to make a start on the packing and left the apartment at about 0900 where we grabbed breakfast at 901 Columbus. Victoria had a cream cheese bagel while I had granola, yoghurt and strawberries.

By 10.00 we were picking up our hire car from Hertz on Washington Square, a rather dowdy Chrysler Sonic given some interest with Washington State plates, then back to apartment to load up our goodies and say goodbye to Peter our AirBnb host.

This is the first time we have used AirBnb but we will certainly do so again.

We drove out of San Francisco and picked up Highway One and after about three quarters of an hour were at our first destination of the day; The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. On our nights out in Nottingham we quite like a pint of their wares so while we are in California we thought it would be a great stop off point.

The bar is great and our server Zac was very helpful. To start with Victoria had a Sandy Beach Blonde while I had a Kolsch Style Ale. We were very tempted by food but we did have goodies from yesterdays trip to the farmers market. As I am driving my next drink was a IBC Root Beer, this had that lovely rich root beer taste I was after, Victoria sampled a 'Not For Sale Calf-Fine' which is a cold brew coffee milk stout and tasted lovely. For the last round I had their own  I.P.A. and Victoria a 'Not For Sale Saison'

Don't worry readers, we were not getting shit-faced at lunchtime, after the initial pint, all the other booze was were 4oz tasters.

We decided to take some carry-out, picking up a couple of bottles of 'Not For Sale Calf-Fine' and the IPA. We also cemented the reason for the trip and bought a dozen cans of the Mavericks Belgian Style Wit, one of Victorias' favourite ever.

So it was about 13.30 and we had spent over $50.00 in a bar, time to take a leisurely lunch on the beach. We enjoyed yesterdays purchases, tucking in to heritage tomatoes on sourdough, hummus and felafel, grapes and those lovely strawberries.

We then drove on for another 30 minutes arriving at Bean Hollow State Beach with is very interesting formations of Tafoni and toilets that would disgrace a Sealed Knot camp-site.

Finally, on to Santa Cruz and the Comfort Inn just off the Boardwalk where I am writing up this post and Victoria is grabbing a nap before an evening at the fun fair!

From Pismo Beach to Anaheim (via Michaels)

We had a pretty good nights sleep at the Best Western Shelter Cove and were up early enough for a breakfast of pancakes and syrup.

After getting our showers we went fir a walk around Shelter Cove, going down to the hotels private beach and a walk around Dinosaur Park before loading up the car and driving a few miles down the road to Old West Cinnamon Rolls in Pismo Beach for our elevenses.

Wow, these are lovely. Victoria and I shared one with Cream Cheese fristing and it was very tasty.

From Pismo Beach we stopped at a gas station and ensured that the tyres were all properly inflated and then got onto Hwy 1 and followed that through fields and vineyards until we pucked up Hwy 135 and linked up with Hwy 101 through Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to our destination for the next few days. The Annaheim Fairfield Marriott, right outside the gates of Disneyland. Sounds easy enough but it was over 5 hours and over 200 miles of driving.

After getting checked in and unpacked I had a special treat for Victoria,  after a few wrong turns we were at the Orange Field Mall and I took her into Michaels where she spent a good hour or so in her element!

Dropping the car at hotel we went to Downtown Disney and had a great dinner and drinks, topped off with a Banana Foster flambéd at the table by our server, Robert.

We crashed back out at the Marriott and was soon fast asleep.

Ben Lomond to Pismo Beach

After our excursion to Santa Cruz we crashed out back at the Fairmont Manor Bed and Breakfast for a solid nights sleep and arose at about 0800 in time to have a nice cup of tea before breakfast.

The landlady, Gail, had done a really tasty Artichoke Frittata with mushrooms and side orders of blueberry bread and cantaloupe melon. It was delicious and we scoffed it while chatting to the other guests, all eight of them attending a family wedding.

We packed our bags and loaded up the car, stopping for Victoria to put some postcards in the mailbox. We picked up Hwy 9 and were soon on Hwy 1 the California Coastal Route.

Bugger, just outside Carmel the tyre pressure warning light went off. We pulled over and checked and did not seem to have a flat, so we pulled into the next gas station (see I am going native) and checked the pressures. All seemed ok but the warning light stayed on.

The weather was rather overcast and misty at first, as you can see in the photographs. There are many places you can pull in along the highway to take in the sights, both out over the Pacific Ocean and inland over the Big Sur range. Some fantastic rugged terrain.

We eventually arrived at The Big Sur Bakery and Resturant, one of Victorias targetted stopping places and shared a rather delicious Apricot Strudel. They have a recipe book available and if they turn out half as nice; Victoria is having a copy.

The weather was now getting a lot clearer And we made several more sightseeing stops along the way including one to take our ubiquitous 'here are our feet' shots.

We eventually arrived at the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery where dozens of Elephant Seals can be found basking on the beach.

Back on the highway, we missed the Hwy 1 turn in San Luis Obispo but after a short detour around town we were back on the highway and were soon in Pismo Beach after about 200 miles of travelling. Google maps had a bit of a brainfart on final but we eventually found the Best Western Shelter Cove and were checked into our room.

The hotel is a wonderful location and the rooms look out over the Pacific Ocean. We planned to spend the evening on the balcony enjoying the sights. Popping into town we picked up pizza, olives and snacks for our evening fare. We also had the bottle of Piedra Sassi 2013 Central Coast that we had picked up at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco - this was very nice, I suppose it should be at $18.00/bottle. I also grabbed one of those monster 25oz tins of Budweiser they have here.

We had a wonderful evening watching the whales and the sun going down over the Pacific Ocean and getting a bit tipsy for the first time of the trip - probably not the last.

What a wonderful evening, how romantic. To top it off, the hotel maids make towel sculptures.