Most of the day was spent driving from Los Angeles to Big Sur. We left Phillip’s around 9:00 and picked up a bit of traffic getting through Los Angeles but being able to drive in the car pool lane helped a lot.
We didn’t try to go up to see Hearst Castle which I have on good authority was the inspiration for the dining hall at Hogwarts although we did stop in the parking lot. Managed to find a few more license plates for my collection.
We stopped at some incredibly cute and picturesque places along the way, Los Alamos (not the one in Mexico) and Harmony. Harmony’s claim to fame is being the smallest town in California, population all of 18. Word to the wise though if you are in dire need of a pee break do not choose to stop here, they have porter potties and pretty grim at that. Fortunately they also have a wine estate with an excellent Pinot Gris and rest room (this trip is soon going to be named “how I saw America from the inside of a rest room”- for the record it wasn‘t me who needed the loo desperately but the youngest member of the group).
Yup, that’s all of it
Sadly the weather didn’t play ball and it felt very much like driving through Misty Cliffs in Scarborough only much more of it. We stopped at Napenthe for what turned out to be a very expensive glass of wine and beer – R100 and R50 respectively, eeek.
The entire place is like a fairy tale.
We made camp at the Big Sur Campground making good use of the laundry. Have no idea how we managed to have two full loads after 5 days but we did. Left the washing drying in the dryer and after J & T had rescued their ball from the river below (much hilarity involved) we headed off for supper at The Big Sur Bakery, again expensive but the food was really good. Jessica and Tamsyn had the hamburger special, Wouter the tuna and I the roast chicken.
The campground’s rule of no noise after 22:00 was surprisingly adhered to despite the park being chockablock full with loads of kids and dogs. That is something we’ve noticed rules seem to be followed as a matter of course with very few violations.
Wouter had organized tents and sleeping bags to be delivered to Phillip’s, the tents are a little on the small side but the sleeping bags are divine, really soft and warm which was a good thing ‘cos it gets cold up on the mountain and the mattresses we have aren’t the softest.
