Sespe Wilderness - March 2015

A few miles north of us lies the Los Padres National Forest - the 33 Highway will take you up and over 3500ft and the mountains at the back get up to 6000 or nearly 7000ft. So when it's cold (California cold, that is, so kinda cool to everyone else) and it rains, we get snow up on the mountains behind the Topa Topas (which are at the back of Ojai. One cold March morning after some rain I drove up to enjoy the crisp air and beautiful view. Yeah I know it's lame snow, but it's California and it's mega drought.

These pictures are mainly taken looking across Piedra Blanca, the Sespe Creek and the Sepse Wilderness towards Pine Mountain and Thorn Point. 

San Luis Obispo and Solvang

The final leg of the journey was a drive home, stopping first at San Luis Obispo, another of the mission-towns established up the coast of California by Fr Junipero Serra. We also stopped at Solvang for lunch, a Dutch-inspired theme park of a town. We ate at a German cafe, go figure.

The Mission at SLO

Solvang

Cambria - Elephant Seals

At the end of the Big Sur drive we passed Hearst Castle on the left but stopped for the Elephant Seal rookery just north of San Simeon. After that it was a short drive to Cambria for an overnight stay.

Monterey and Big Sur Coast

After Yosemite we headed West across the Central Valley to Monterey. This was passing through John Steinbeck country; a lot of his works are set around this region and there is a memorial to him there. After lunch we headed down the coast road (Hwy 1) along the stunning cliffs of the Big Sur Coastline.

Looking north across Monterey Bay

 Seals and Sea Lion's know when the fishermen have arrived...

Cannery Row, as in the Steinbeck book title...

There are a few State marine parks along the coastline in and around Monterey.

Skipping the 17-mile toll-road that goes through some uber exclusive real estate including the famous Pebble-Beach golf course, we rejoin the 1 and discover some stunning scenery easily the rival of the Great Ocean Road.