It was time for a Plan B. After looking at the weather forecast we wanted to get out of these Thunderstorms that were headed for SoCal for the whole Thanksgiving holiday. I looked at the radar, chose many areas and finally came up with an area that would receive a small down pour the first night, but other than that seemed clear. This place is located an hour south of Monterey Ca, and is on the Big Sur coastline just north of Gorda. It's called Prewitt Ridge and it lies utop a area of the Los Padres mtn range overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
We headed out of the rain of Orange County and headed northwest towards Santa Barbara. We knew it was going to be a long haul for two reasons. One was traffic because it was raining, never easy. Two was because it was a holiday weekend. One of the busiest holidays for traveling. We were weekend warriors again, it was official. Stuck in the rat race to get out of town like the rest of the lemmings. If we could make it safely to our destination i would be happy. Thanksgiving is the deadliest holiday for road travel out of all of the year.
The arrival to camp would be a tricky one. The dense fog was getting much worse and by the time we reached Morro Bay north of San Luis Obispo, we couldn't see but 30 feet ahead of us on highway 1. By the time we turned off Ferguson Rd to climb the mtn the visibility had suffered greatly. We were now looking at about 15 feet in front of us. This was hardest part of the trip too. Climbing up a steep mountain road with no guard rails from sea level to 3,000 feet in mere minutes. Later to come we would make it fine after avoiding hitting a deer and a couple squirrels. Once pulled off to the ridge route and hitting the dirt, we would soon find many burnt trees and twisty switchbacks. At one point i needed to drop the Atlas in low range because i didn't know how far out or how worse a section or two got. After about 10 miles of partial pavement and fog coated moist dirt we were approaching our GPS waypoint for camp. I just want to take a moment to thank Lowrance. Seriously, without my GPS, i would have never found this campsite. Basically what happened was we drove blind with 5 feet of visibility through the fog and arrived at camp practically running into our group buddy that headed up hours before us. It was crazy. I seriously don't think we could of found camp without the GPS. Everything looked the same. The funny part about arriving at camp was our sense of direction. Yes, we had the GPS and yes we had a compass.... and normally i have a really good sense of direction... but lets face it... after turning and twisting so many times and driving eight plus hours... i didn't know which direction the ocean was. So we setup camp the only way we figured the ocean would be. It seemed off the GPS it was straight out over our hoods....
It wasn't, as you can see..
The next morning we woke with some mild fog and a view of the ocean. This was the view to our RIGHT, not out front of us like we had thought.
Today was Thanksgiving. We would have two friends that would be arriving this day and one of them would be bringing the turkey fryer. Previous plans included everyone getting together for a Thanksgiving potluck of sort. Mashed potato's, veggies, Ham, Rolls, Stuffing, basically the whole nine yards. After relaxing all day we figured we should start in on the turkey. We didn't want to carve it in the dark or deal with the deep fryer in the dark either. James has done a few turkeys in the past so this was old hat to him.
James started off by injecting the Turkey and rubbing it down.
While the turkey was gaining flavor we were heating the peanut oil.
It was time to drop the bad boy in. This is the part that always scares me. If done right , (slowly and thawed), you never have to worry. Never rush dropping the turkey in and never ever drop a frozen bird in. You'll have a oil fire on your hands real quick. Very dangerous.
After the tension of dropping the bird in the oil bath.. it was time for a beer and some horseshoes. We all kept an eye on the deep fryer the entire time. There was always one person next to it monitoring it.
After 45 minutes (felt like eternity waiting while smelling the cooking) James pulled the bird out and man it looked great. We couldn't wait to taste it. We all brought a side, mashed potato, stuffing, ham, greens, rolls, the whole nine yards. It was a feast for sure. Pete and Missy even brought a couple pies!
Of course Pete had to drop anything he could find in the deep fryer before James turned off the heat.
Pelle enjoying the feast.
After some good eats, everyone was ready to relax and enjoy the view. This is what getting out is all about. Good times, good friends and good food. Exploring and enjoying each others company.
This was our ocean view at 3,000 feet from our chairs. It was rough, let me tell you.
The next day we made a trip through the Los Padres national forest over the ridge route and down into Gorda. It was like a dirt highway with some real scenic views. We left the Sportsmobile and the JK back at camp to hold our spot.
Yosh, Pelle, Dixie and I rode in James Grand Cherokee WJ. It was like riding in a limo. Very comfy.
Dixie didn't mind going for a ride one bit.
The views were spectacular. On one side you have the pacific ocean and the other you have the Hunter Ligget military range.
Once down the mountain we headed into Cambria for lunch, it was packed there. Way too many tourists. I figure the reason was because of the big holiday weekend. Yosh and I ate a little sandwich shop. I had to have my clam chowder. While James, Pelle, Missy and Pete ate at the BBQ spot.
Here's a shot of James's ribs.
After lunch we headed back to camp. The sun was setting as we climbed the mountain. The view of the sunset was incredible. If you look closely at this photo you will see Jupiter and Venus also. The next time these 2 will be in the same shot with the moon will be year 2065.
The next morning we woke up, made a killer breakfast and no official plans. Today would be for lounging , enjoying being away from the rat race and reminding ourself that tomorrow was when we'll head home.
Dixie had a exhausting time as she does on every trip. I wish i could be more like her.
Some more great views from camp. It never got old. Big Sur is a beautiful part of California, that's for sure.
Here's a cool shot of Pelle's 4 door JK sporting a Wild Boar roof rack and a Mombasa Roof top tent. It reminded me of the Earthroamer. Pelle seemed to like the setup and how couldn't he, it was quite the setup. Out back under the ez up, he had a full kitchen setup with working stove and sink. Out front he had stocked a full selection of beer thanks to Pyramid.
About mid day, a noticed a Landcruiser that i thought looked familiar. It ended up being a friend of ours from the Expedition Portal. Guy. He had brought his boys along and they were busy having fun exploring, hiking, taking photos and camping.
(dont ask me what the head is doing sticking out of the roof top tent)
Towards the end of the day we ran into some Paragliders. It was breath taking to see them run and jump off the cliffside and then land down in the field below. Total air time can vary, but the day we were out there it took these guys fifteen-twenty minutes to get down.
We spoke with the flyers. They have been doing it for about 1 year. They were equipped with 2 meter radios and all the safety gear needed. One guy even had a ipod with a radio strapped to his belt. Insane.
Side note: After we left to head home the next day, these people came back and one of them crashed. From what i hear that person is recovering and was very lucky. We found out from a local friend of ours after we arrived home. Hopefully they have a speedy recovery, they were very nice people.
A shot of the Sportsmobile up where the Paraglyders were jumping. It would be a nice place to camp if it wasn't so windy.
The last morning we woke up and the plan was to head out early to see some sites on the way home. We broke camp and headed down the mountain at 9am or so. We had a few things on our list to see. Waterfalls, Sea Lions and Hearsts Castle. We were going to try and make time for lunch in Pismo Beach also.
Our first stop was a hike up to Salmon Creek falls just off PCH.
Yosh excited to have made it to the falls. Seemed like a good amount of water was coming down.
Dixie looking at me like, where the heck are we? and what did you do with mom?
After the hike to the falls, we headed south on PCH to the Sea Lions. These guys were hilarious.
A male coming in from the ocean. Actually all the sea lions on the beach were male.
The view from the beach was Epic. In the distance you can see a lighthouse.
Some rock formations straight out from the sea lion area.
This guy was huge. The photo does not do him justice. He was heading back into the sea
This guy was starring right at me, or at least it felt that way. I named him Bob. I just fit for some reason.
This guy loved to scratch himself. It was too funny. They almost have like paws like a dog or a bear.
Even squirrels were in the mix. They weren't camera shy either.
After checking out the sea lions we hopped back in the rigs and headed south. Next stop would be Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Because none of us really felt like going on a tour, we just stopped in the gift shop and i looked at the castle through my binoculars. I shot this photo with a 200mm EF lense and a 1.4 "doubler" from the roof of the Sportsmobile. I was a good mile away from the actual castle as the crow flies.
After spending more money than we had, we headed towards Pismo for lunch. On the way we ran into a bunch of Zebras. It was really cool. Felt like we were in Africa. They are truly beautiful animals. We had to stop and shoot some pics. I mean how often do you run into Zebras on the side of the road?
Where's the Sportsmobile?
After visiting the Zebras we headed for our last stop. Pismo Beach. We were told by a local friend that there was a award winning Clam Chowder. That being my favorite soup of all time, we had to stop. The place is called Splash Cafe and its right near the pier.
The clam chowder was good, but it wasn't the best i've ever had. Pretty dang close though. However, that being said the bread bowls were amazing. The fish and chips weren't half bad either.
After stuffing our bellies and picking up some salt water taffy we hit the road for the final leg home to Orange County. The traffic as expected was terrible in Santa Barbara. There were accidents on just about all freeways. A few diversions thanks to the GPS and we were home safe and sound.
It was a great trip. Now time for those thanks, ... Thanks to Guy for telling us where the waterfall was, thanks to Tom and Linda for heading up with us last minute and sharing our adventure. Thanks to Pete and Missy for creating the master piece breakfast sandwiches, garlic mashed tater's and grilled mashed. Thanks to James for the turkey and hauling the deep fryer all that way. Thanks to Pelle for bringing more beer than we ever could of consumed and for the t-shirts! Thanks to Chris for recommending this spot in the first place, without him.. we may have been sitting at home in front of a tv. It's friends like you that are truly one in a million.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone