We were short on cash and trying to enjoy a well deserved vacation away from the Arizona heat. We decided upon or destination and compiled a long list of things to do in San Francisco once we arrived (like visiting fisherman’s wharf, Alcatraz and the golden gate bridge). We we stoked about our ending destination but the journey to that destination was beginning to wear on us.
In Adventures of traveling the pacific coast highway- Pt. 1 we got to enjoy the California wildlife, it was up close and personal when a bear came a sniffing up our tent in search of food that first night. Then in Adventures of traveling the pacific coast highway- Pt. 2 we tried to be good Samaritans by stopping to pull a fellow traveler off the side of a cliff.
Today I am sharing Adventures of traveling the pacific coast highway- Pt.3: Trying to get to San Francisco, Still..
The pacific coast highway is a pretty drive but I don’t recommend driving it for 8-12 hours a day. After all our fun with the bear and with the almost in big trouble motorcycle man we were ready for a nice calm drive to our next camp site.
N did some research online looking for campsites that we could reserve in advance for our week of camping and driving to San Francisco from Arizona. We were headed to San Simeon State Park where we had reserved a campsite, paid money and were expecting a nice location.
We pulled in to the site at about 6 or 7 pm and were very ready to pitch our tent, start a fire and chill out for a while. I was beginning to get grumpy, we were starving and really needed to pee also.
When we pull into the site to check in with the ranger we are grossly dissappointed. turns out the site is actually for those traveling with campers. There are septic hookups, picnic tables and nice paved strips for you to park your RV on. We arrived in a 4 door 1999 Nissan Maxima- NOT an RV!
Now I was fuming, we had driven ALL DAY to arrive at this site and it was not even close to a camp site. It was a park and sleep site, like a grassy parking lot with people so close to you! We decided we could not stay there and asked the site ranger to recommend a close camping site that we could use instead. That meant driving another 2 hours to the Big Sur campground that closes in an hour.. Oh, joy!
I was reminded of my craziness on this trip after signing up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter. You can win an IPOD Nano just by signing up! Offer ends Monday, March 31st, 2008 and you can also get some great info about travel destinations.
Some day it might be fun to try out Key West Snorkeling, we sure wont be driving there and camping along the way- it’s a bit far!
