Pacific Coast Highway

Upon leaving Portland, Stephanie suggested we take the longer route to San Francisco and later to San Diego to enjoy the breathtaking views of the Pacific Coast Highway.  Thankfully, we decided to follow her advice and take the slower, longer, windier route down the coast of Oregon and California.  For the trip to San Francisco, we got a somewhat late start, but had just enough daylight to catch some amazing ocean views, complete with cliffs and even some ocean spray on the windshield in the lower spots.  We opted to leave the PCH for a 31-mile stretch of the old Highway 101 now lovingly called Avenue of the Giants, which parallels the PCH.  And giants we saw.  Huge, awe-inspiring redwoods on every side of the vehicle.  It was very slow going, but so worth it.  Unfortunately, we didn't stop to take pictures until it started getting dark, so they aren't that great.  But, I will never forget standing at the base of the giant and staring up with my head as far back as I could get it in order to see the top.  Some facts about coastal redwoods for your reading enjoyment:  They are the tallest trees in the world, reaching as much as 350 feet or more.  Some weigh as much as 500 tons!  Most live 500-700 years, with some living as long as 2,000 years!  They only live on the west coast of the United States.  Okay, now that I am done with my little science report, here are some pictures that we were able to capture with our finicky camera.

Monster Tree!

There's that tongue again!

We also enjoyed viewing Sonoma Valley and all the beautiful grapes from the RV with sadly no stops.  Are they generally accepting of babies and big dogs at wineries?  We thought not, so we carried on.  Our stay in San Francisco was largely uneventful.  Partly because I was in mourning for leaving my nice house and friends behind in Portland, and also because of the foggy, cold, rainy-ness of it all.  We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge with me singing the theme song to Full House and Sean directing me to "clench your fist and punch yourself in the face as hard as you can."  He even showed me the motions as he described it.  Stand back ladies, he's all mine.  Sadly, we couldn't see much from the bridge, and the fog persisted much of the week.  We were both happy to hit the road again after the event in San Francisco.  Back to the PCH it was for us.  I spoke with a competitor's wife, who lives in Monterey, who urged us not to take the PCH through Big Sur.  She told us it would be a nightmare with our large vehicle and trailer with all the hairpin twists, turns, and up and downs.  We didn't listen.  And despite the drenching rain for the next two days as we drove through, which made it difficult to see much of anything, we were still happy we took the PCH for two excellent events that transpired.  First, we drove by an overlook that gave us a view of a cove at the base of huge cliffs.  The water in the cove was turquoise blue like you would see in the Caribbean.  And to top it all off, there was even a waterfall as I exclaimed to Sean that was "straight out of Lost."  Okay, it was more of a squeal than an exclamation.  In any case, I insisted that we turn around, find a spot to park, and hike down to the waterfall despite the drenching rain because you only live once. Lucky for me, Sean shares this philosophy on life (hence our crazy, somewhat risky adventure).   As it turns out, you can't hike down to the waterfall.  Something about trying to preserve it for all to see and enjoy.  And, Sean did make fun of me for calling it straight out of Lost, as it is somewhat narrow, and it does look like it could be coming from a drainage pipe with all the pouring rain.  BUT, I did win that debate because it is in fact created by a spring-fed creek.  And it is gorgeous!  So even though visions of standing beneath the waterfall mist were crushed, there was a nice trail that led around to a perfect picture-taking view of the falls.  It really was beautiful--even in the yucky, cold weather.  In case you are interested, the falls is called McWay Falls located in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Hiking out to the overlook.  Daddy and baby in his rain covering.

So wet!

McWay Falls

Not quite as pretty as in person! 

Fun in the rain

My loves and the waterfall!

On the way back to the RV

Another of the reasons that we were happy we took the PCH was because on our way to just another RV park for the night, we glanced down from the highway to a road that paralleled the ocean.  Parked along this road were many, many RV's.  We're talking oceanfront property.  We saw it and had to stop.  The sites had no electric, water, or sewer hook-up.  Thus the cheap $27 per night price tag.  Rincon Parkway, can we stay forever?  We picked a spot, parked, and enjoyed this view from my seat in the RV:

No zooming in--this was what we looked out our window to for two days!

If he didn't love the beach so much, he probably wouldn't have made it.  He went halfway down and back up several times.

Throughout our time there, we took several walks on the beach:

Little's Little's first trip to the Pacific Ocean

 Cooper got to give the death stare to lots of seagulls:

My favorite part of Rincon Parkway was that we had the opportunity to see the sunset because the rain finally stopped for the day that we spent there.  I am a tad embarrassed to say that I can't recall a time I ever really watched the sun set.  And I am quite positive that I have never seen a sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  So, I insisted that we pull out some chairs and enjoy the incredible sunset.  And of course, we couldn't do that without Sean throwing together some appetizers.  He put together some veggies and a yogurt dill dip as well as crackers with jalapeno jelly and mascarpone cheese.  Oh my goodness.  Have you ever had that jelly and cheese combo?  It is like heaven in your mouth.  It was the perfect little day (oh, I forgot to mention I actually slept every time the baby slept that day.  That was a first, and it helped this exhausted mama immensely.)  And of course, we enjoyed an amazing ending as the sun slipped beneath the horizon.  We count our blessings every day.

Our sunset and snacks!

It wasn't really that cold, but Sean dug out the suitcase from the trailer for something, and it was like Christmas!  Yay warm, snuggly coat!

My favorite snuggle buddy

Okay, bear with me.  I took a lot of pictures of my first sunset!

So high up in the sky, but it set so fast!

My favorite pic!

Don't go yet!

Almost gone

View of Channel Islands National Park.  We thought they were clouds the first night we were there. 

Finally, before we left to visit our great friends, Cate and Jerry and their sweet kids outside of San Diego, Sean had to jump in the COLD ocean for a quick swim.  

Doubting his decision as he quickly lost feeling in his calves.  Chicken dog making a great decision to stay put.

And, he's in!

We will be heading to San Diego this weekend for more fun times after a great week with Cate and Jerry's family.  It's always so hard to leave our friends!  But, we are enjoying every minute!