We set out on our bicycles the next morning to explore the nearby town of Pismo Beach. It was a short ride less than 5km but the road was fairly busy with fast moving traffic so not really an enjoyable ride. Once we got to Pismo Beach we stopped at a very popular spot for cinnamon rolls, reportedly the best in the world. They were in fact very good and lived up to their reputation. We had one regular one and one covered in walnuts; as a result we were pretty full and not hungry for lunch for some time. We spent a few more hours looking around Pismo Beach, walking down to the ocean and out onto the very nice pier. It was actually quite cool because of the ocean breeze and neither of us brought a sweater so we didn’t linger as long as we might have. We decided to ride back to the campground via the beach; this was much nicer than the busy road we had taken on the way in.
That afternoon we decided to hop on the motorcycle and head to a hot springs a little past Pismo Beach. It was not the nicest hot springs we have ever been to but the water was hot as promised and refreshing, and the price was right at only $8 each. After we’d had enough hot springs we rode a little further down the road to the town of Avila Beach. It was cute and had a nice little pedestrian area down by the waterfront. We made it back to Pismo Beach just in time to watch the sun set over the ocean from the pier.
The next morning we packed up and left Oceano and headed North. We stopped in the historic town of San Luis Obispo for a short walk around town and a quick lunch of Mexican food. Our next stop was in Morro Bay where we found a place to park the RV next to the water and launched our Kayak in the bay. The current in the bay was actually quite strong but we did manage to cross the bay to the sand covered island on the other side adjacent to the Morro Rock.
After a quick stop for groceries we resumed our Northward journey stopping for the night at San Simeon State Park. It was just across the highway from the beach, where we got to watch a magnificent sunset.
The next day we drove the RV and motorcycle separately up the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur. The drive was spectacular and we made a number of stops along the way to enjoy the scenery. We camped for the night in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
We decided the next morning to go for a hike before departing, so we were up bright and early to hike to the top of the hill next to the park. At the top we had a view of the Big Sur valley and the ocean on the other side.
From there we continued on to the town of Monterey where we planned to stay at a city-run campground in a local park. We lucked out and managed to get one of the few remaining spaces. That afternoon we rode our bicycles into town and along the waterfront. It was quite hot and we were dreading riding back up the hill to the campground. Luckily some nice people gave us a ride!
We were worried about it being as hot the next day so we’d made a reservation at a doggie day care for Misty as there were no hookups at the park and no air conditioning for the RV. Of course after we dropped her off we realized it was not nearly as hot as the day before. We spent several hours visiting the world renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was very pricey but well worth it with some of the best marine exhibits we have seen anywhere. Plus they are non-profit and put a lot into research and education.
That afternoon we picked up Misty and drove along the coast as far as we could, unfortunately we couldn’t go all the way to Carmel by the Sea because the US Open had closed several of the roads in the area. We went there anyway via a different route and went for a walk around the town and along the beach.
The next morning we headed out early for a long drive to Kings Canyon National Park, about 4 hours away. We hadn’t been able to make camping reservations and hoped to get one of the first come first served sites. What we didn’t know until we arrived was that many of the campgrounds had been closed due to the late spring and threat of falling tree branches. We had no choice but to drive the RV all the way to the far end of the park, about an extra hour, where there were still plenty of sites due to the remoteness. We took the motorcycle for a short ride to see a few attractions. On the way back to our site we turned a corner and saw a black bear walking along the side of the road just feet away from us!
We decided that we didn’t want to spend a second night in this area and would head back to the main area of Kings Canyon hoping to get a site. We lucked out and got one and after setting up camp went to explore the southern part of the park. We rode the motorcycle down to the Sherman Tree, Morro Rock and the ‘auto tree’ – a large sequoia tree which had fallen over road and had been made into a tunnel. We probably spent longer looking around than we should as it was starting to get dark by the time we headed back and we spent the whole ride back worried about wildlife jumping out in front of us.
