* Camping In Big Sur {Part I}
* Camping In Big Sur {Part II}
Mr. Weather Man was calling for rain on Friday. It was also the same day we were changing campgrounds (we weren't able to find a single site for three days straight, but I liked being able to check out different areas so it wasn't terrible, not to mention we are pretty self contained in the Adventure Mobile so it is fairly easy to move about from place to place).
I was up before the guys so hung out a bit my the fire before the drizzle started. I went down to the beach for a few, but with the overcast skies and rain rolling in I didn't stay down there too long. Thankfully the redwoods back at the site provided coverage and it wasn't terrible (although I could tell that the temps had dropped a bit from the prior two days).
Once the guys awoke from the slumber, we got some coffee brewing for Ryan and some breakfast burritos cooking.
After we quenched our hunger, we decided to check out some of the trails at the campgrounds. (Warning: The sign might have mentioned "No dogs on trails", but there is a possibility that we may have "missed" the sign... We were very sure to keep Walt on the trails, made sure he was extremely respectful of the area and picked up his poo! We also figured that since we were checking out shortly anyway that the worst they could do was ask us to leave a few minutes early.) We hiked down to the kilns. "The Rockland Lime and Lumber Company would load the towers of the kilns with limestone and use redwood lumber to stoke fires at their bases to purify the rock before it was hauled out of the canyon and down to the coast where ships were waiting. The lime was eventually used in cement and other products." As at the camp site, the trees provided coverage and we didn't get too wet on our hike.
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| If only we could get Walt to actually look at the camera for a picture... |
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| Water crossing! Walt didn't like that the plank moved and tried to get across it as quickly as possible! |
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| The old kilns |
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| Back at the beach before we checked out of the campgrounds |
We knew we would have a good three hours between when we would have to check out of our current site and when we could get into our new one further north, so we took our time and stopped at a couple of the road side "attractions" we skipped the prior day because of the crowds. As my mom always reminds me, "You're not made of sugar, you won't melt" - so just because the rain kept most people away, we were still going to make the most out of the day!
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| Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park - look at that pristine beach and waterfall... Probably because they don't let people near it! |
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| Not sure if he was a condor or vulture, but his wingspan was at least 6 feet (this picture was taken with the telephoto lens). |
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| Would be running over the Bixby Bridge on Sunday morning! |
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| We found a doggy friendly beach and Walt took full advantage of it! |
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| I told you... It was wet! But Ryan was thrilled to be able to use his gum boots! |
Although we heard amazing things about the Andrew Molera park (and beach) there was a STRICT no dogs policy (when we got out of the truck to check out the signs a ranger drove over to 'remind' us that we could hang out in the parking lot and that was all) so we ended up just making our lunch in the parking lot when we had a break in the rain and continued along our way... Maybe next time.
Our final destination was the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (which also happened to be the start of the Big Sur International Marathon and we didn't really realize). The rain was supposed to stop around 3pm, which was perfect for our check-in. We made it to our campsite to set up and get everything ready for another evening in the Adventure Mobile.
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| Hubby is a pyro, but at least it comes in handy while camping! |
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| My guys! They are the BESTEST! |
After getting everything set, we took a walk along the nature trail and around the grounds to get a feel for the area. I am not sure if you were around 'back in the day', but in 2014 when I ran my first full marathon, it was in Santa Cruz. The UCSC mascot is the banana slug (funny, right?!) but while we were there we didn't see any. I was secretly hoping to see some 'nature' on the trails and low and behold we came across a HUGE banana slug! {Apparently if you lick the bottom of them they will make your tongue numb, but since we didn't know this fact prior to our encounter we did not give it a try... And, let's be real, I doubt I would have licked the thing had I known any way!}
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| Instead of like a "slug" bottom, it looked like they had a billion legs... More like a centipede or something... |
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| He was a good 6 inches long! |
{I've gotta say, I MUCH PREFERRED Limekiln to the new campground. It was crowded, busy and felt like everyone was on top of each other. Even though we had a 'river spot', it was NOTHING like the site we had the days before. Don't get me wrong, it was still great, but in the future I think I would try to stay somewhere more like Limekiln than Pfeiffer Big Sur.}
For dinner we scarfed down some pasta (and apparently we really were hungry because I didn't snap a single shot of the meal) before eating the last of our Reese's s'mores! It is always a sad day when the s'mores come to an end, but I'll #KeepItReal and confess that I may have had two s'mores Friday night...
Before we knew it the day was done and we were climbing back into the Adventure Mobile for our last evening in the truck. (We figured that having a shower and a real bed the night before the race might be loverly - and boy were we right!)
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| Walt was OUT before we could even snap a quick photo! SNOOZER! |
What is your serving size when it comes to s'mores?
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