Today started early as any other day in the strip… We left the city of Oxnard and grabbed breakfast on the road at a coffee shop and McDonald’s. Our goal today was to get to Pinnacles National Park and then to Monterey and Point Lobos State Park. The beginning drive featured about 50 miles trek along the coast which was splendid.
We went to the grocery store and a small Mexican meat market to grab some very cheap food for dinner and put in the cooler with some ice. We were also driving through a little bit of wine country as which was the beginning of what would be Californias wine region. After about 2 1/2 hours of driving we finally reached the national park.
We had about an hour to spend here so we ended up coming in the west entrance which we learned there is no connecting Road. Unfortunately we had to learn that there was the campsite on the other side of the park. This forced our hand because it was a 2 1/2 hour drive back to the other side of the park in order to camp. So we decided to do a hike (actually two small hikes) which were a loop and from there we went to Monterey. The park itself featured large boulders and Lava cliffs. In my opinion they would be more impressive as national monuments.
We did not think this was the most impressive park but nonetheless we thought it was at least something to cross off the list. One of the features of this park was getting to climb into a cave under boulders which was pretty neat I will say. There are over 20 miles of trails here and we wanted to get to the top but turns out we were a little too tired and time was getting late, so I had to head back to the car.
From there we went down the Monterey Peninsula. Our goal was to see Point Lobos State Park… And Drive down to Big Sur. We wanted to see Mcway falls and the Hearst castle however due to landslides at two different points on the Pacific coast highway, it prevented us from driving up the coast which is why we went to Pinnacles in the first place.
We decided to go to point Lobos State Park and which features a loop trail with some spectacular scenery and a rock worth the seals around the middle of the day. It’s a very dramatic park with steep cliffs and a view of the waves crashing all around you and the coastline. There was also a side trail that winds through big coastal trees that featured this red mold/algae that almost looks like rust on the great trees. It looked eerily creepy, almost like a Game of Thrones scene as you can see from the pictures.
From this point we ended up having five minutes left in the park before it closed at 6 o’clock which is pretty standard operation for us as we use our minutes wisely. We decided to go south all the way down to Big Sur until the landslide prevented us from going any further, which was about 35 miles south of Monterey. So we got about 35 miles of the best views the highway and offer before we had to turn around. Unfortunately the beginning of the drive was at dusk and there was fog coming in so we can only see a little bit of the coast but on the way back in the sun finally burned through the fog and presented us with some spectacular views.
On the way down to Big Sur there’s a lot of trees and a lot of opportunity for camping so we thought we would have a chance but turns out our campsites were full. So after driving along the coastline and taking various pictures we turned around and were looking for dinner. We settled on a great restaurant and decide to treat ourselves to the Rocky point grill. This was a dramatic cliffside restaurant that overlooked a great view of the coast. It’s no doubt a little expensive relative to our budget, but it was well worth the price for the view.
We got to see a spectacular sunset and enjoy some great walking trails that went straight to the water. I highly recommend this restaurant even though the cost is substantial. With it getting so late and dark we decide to not look for campsite and just relax and instead found a cheap hotel in Monterey for about $90. Our next day was to go to San Francisco and get ready for July 4!
July 3 Expenses
20.26 gas
4.20 water
3.50 mcdonalds
18.63 subway
22.72 gas
8.35 snack
90.02 hotel
10 point lobos
97 dinner on ocean at rocky point grill
Total – 274.68