California Adventure Part 2

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678) 02/12/2016 at 23:35 • Filed to: None

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Today was a long day but certainly a good one. We drove from Morro Bay to San Francisco via the PCH with some stops along the way in Big Sur, Pacific Grove, and Big Basin State Park. Pretty spectacular views along this journey. We have driven from LA to Monterey before and it was quite foggy, so we didn’t do too many other stops along the PCH.

We made record time, around 2 hours to get to Big Sur. Thankfully no RVs hogging the corners and really nobody at all out on the road. We left around 730 and it’s a Friday, so traffic didn’t amp up until well after Big Sur. In the park, we spent some time at Pfeiffer Beach. Quite the treacherous road to get down there, the suspension in the Mini had fun beating us up!

Although it was a short stop, after Bug Sur we spent some time at the Monarch Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. Naturally my sweet girlfriend posed for a picture in the butterfly they had out front. Quite a cool little place to walk around and see so many butterflies fluttering around.

The next excursion on the way to San Francisco was Big Basin Redwood State Park. The roads to get up there were a little crazy but much of it was pretty fun. I do not trust the front tires on this car at all so I’m not pushing it too hard. But it’s still quite fun and I saw quite a few other fun cars driving around up there.

These trees are just so massive! I’ve certainly seen pictures of Redwood trees before but seeing it in person gives a new perspective to it. Really reminds me of how tiny humans are and what a wonder nature is.

After more crazy narrow roads and a bit of traffic on interstate 280, we made it to our airbnb for the next few days. We are staying in Bernal Heights which is quite the hilly neighborhood! Driving up these Hills, I just imagined what it would be like on a bicycle or if it was somehow icy. I’ve also discovered that the Mini is equipped with Hill hold assist. That is like some voodoo black magic and really gets in the way when you aren’t aware of it. I actually stalled the car once because of not knowing what was going on with that feature.

Anyways, tomorrow will be a fun day of exploring the city mostly by car. Last year we had visited for about a week. That time we used public transit solely and it worked well. But this time we are curious what driving around will be like. At least until dinner time, then we will probably park back at the place and take the Bart back into the city.

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gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/12/2016 at 23:40

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Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/12/2016 at 23:42

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This is a good time of the year to do the drive from SF to Stinson Beach. I would stop at Miur Woods along the way.

The roads on the leg of PCH are top notch. Much different than the road south of the city.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nick Has an Exocet 02/12/2016 at 23:44

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Sunday is planned for Napa Valley with a stop in Muir Woods so we will definitely check out that area of PCH as well!

Liam Farrell > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/12/2016 at 23:58

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Definitely stop for lunch at the Sand Dollar in Stinson beach. They have great food. Also a cool little store is the flying pig ranch on the one.

Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/13/2016 at 01:06

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Awesome. Would recommend roughly this as your route: https://goo.gl/maps/SGHNgB277…

If you like cheese and wine (as opposed to high end outlets), head to Sonoma town center. You can walk the whole square, hit all the shops (antiques, cheese, wine, kitchen stores, art) in about 2-3 hours.

Ryanator122 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/13/2016 at 02:45

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If you're into hiking don't skip on Lassen national park. Come see us in real Northern California!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Ryanator122 02/13/2016 at 10:03

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Only doing some "hiking" this time around. At most a mile or two on mostly level surface. I'll be sure to check out some serious hiking some day though. Preferably with my hiking boots and camelback!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nick Has an Exocet 02/13/2016 at 10:07

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This is a perfect route and itinerary for the morning! Thank you for pointing out this stuff. I had the general route in mind but it's good to know an ideal route to take. Hopefully my front tires hold up lol

Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/13/2016 at 11:33

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No problem! Have fun! Post about it on Oppo!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nick Has an Exocet 02/13/2016 at 17:38

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Indeed I will! Should be coming up tomorrow night. Todays post will definitely focus on the cars and coffee, it was nuts!

Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/13/2016 at 19:36

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I’ve heard it’s good. I’ve never gotten over there. My Saturday mornings are usually spent grocery shopping, hiking, or catching up on work. Today was both of the latter. Had a catch up with a colleague this morning followed by a 6 mile ridge hike with a friend.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nick Has an Exocet 02/13/2016 at 20:33

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Weather was beautiful for a hike once the fog burned up. Definitely crazy to me to wear shorts in February! I can certainly do this West Coast thing forever.

Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 02/13/2016 at 21:13

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This is really not what the weather should be like for this time of the year. It should be in low/mid 60's and a bit rainy every few days. El Nino has kind of dialed up the crazy.

Not sure where you’re from but California shows well for tourists. It’s really not a good place to live. Many people who move here turn around and leave after a few years when they realize that they can’t afford much of anything. 2 bedroom apartment in SF is $4750/mo. The roads are pretty crumbly. The crime rates in the metro areas are beyond depressing - your car WILL get broken into eventually. SF has more human feces on it’s streets than some pre-plumbing societies. The lightposts fall over because human and dog urine has weakened them. I could go on and on. California has great weather and good views. That’s pretty much it.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Nick Has an Exocet 02/14/2016 at 00:09

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Well coming from the NYC metro area, pricing and crime is really not all that different. I don’t want to live in an urban area anywhere, so it would be no different out here. Realistically I will end up in the greater LA area since my girlfriend plans to stay in music or film marketing. We both really like San Diego too but it will be dependent on jobs. I imagined it wasn't nearly this great all the time though!