The drive from Mojave to the coast took us through the fog in the mountains and the almond orchards outside of Bakersfield, tinged pink in full bloom and into the hills to the west carpeted with wild flowers.
We had wind and rain and sun breaks and just when we were beginning to wonder whether it was such a great idea to go to the coast at all, the sun came out for good. We spent the night at San Simeon State Park which is just north of the great little town of Cambria. Another storm blew through in the night and it poured and blew like crazy --condolences to the poor folks in the tents next to us! And then as the storm passed the temperature fell to 34 degrees--that's big time cold for a place you can hear the surf from!
The next morning, we put on our long johns and headed north into an absolutely gorgeous day.
This little guy came out to greet us and since he posed so nicely I couldn't resist. Doesn't he look like the head of a greeting committee?
North of San Simeon but south of Big Sur there are a series of beaches that are home to elephant seals in the winter. We stopped at the first turn out and found this big old guy taking a nap.
The males are supposed to be out at sea feeding at this point but clearly he hadn't read the instruction manual.
There's a major viewing area at the next turnout, complete with docent to answer questions and point out interesting things. Normally, both the male and female adults are gone out to sea at this point. But there were still a number of adult females lounging around with their pups.
The pups stay on the beach for another month or so teaching each other how to swim before they go out to sea to feed.
This pair were playing in the water falling from a big storm drain. They live on all the fat they developed nursing until they're able to figure out how to swim and hunt.
Wasn't it nice of this little guy to lift his head and give me the look?
It was cold and windy but sure worth the time we spent watching these guys. Not bad to see California Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions and Elephant Seals all in one trip!
Hwy 1 winds it's way up the coast until it reaches Big Sur and all those wonderful views.
When we stopped at this turnout, I was focused on the bridge in the distance and I didn't notice the waterfall at first.
Around the next bend there was a better view of the bridge and a perfect place for us to have lunch.
There were also wild flowers here and there. Like this
California Lilac (Ceanothus confusus).
And these California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica).
Even better were these Wide-throated Yellow Monkeyflower (Mimulus brevipes)--remember the red monkey flowers in Anza Borrego? Well these guys belong to the same genus.
And this Hillside False Bindweed aka Cambria Morning Glory (Calystegia subacaulis ssp. subacaulis).
The surf was up and the water was a wonderful combination of colors. Needless to say I took way too many photos.
But who can resist views like this?
We camped that night at Big Sur State Park which is in the heart of Big Sur. There are redwoods in the campground itself and we camped in a sunny meadow where we could get warm and enjoy the late afternoon sun.
We drove north the next morning to Pacific Grove for a stroll along the beach. There's a great walk that goes for several miles with continuous ocean views. The surf was still up and I took a whole lot of photos before I got this one with the water boiling and crashing on the rocks.
The cypresses stood still for me without a problem!
There was a flock of cormorants on the rocks and I guess this guy was trying to dry out his wings. In any case he held this pose for a long time.
We'd spent 7 nights in a row without an electrical hook up and the forecast was for another cold night so we decided we'd head inland and find ourselves a campground with electricity for a change.
We stopped for lunch in the San Jose area and I shot this photo of a wonderful old live oak.
That night, we ended up in the wine country in the hills above Cloverdale in a campground with electricity, WiFi and a view.
The lawn here was full of daisies that were much bigger than your usual lawn daisies.
And there were deer that strolled through the next morning as we were packing up to leave.
The weather forecast was for sun in the morning and rain by late afternoon so we high-tailed it north to Redway in the Redwoods so we could get a hike in before it rained.
We ate lunch and then drove the old Avenue of the Giants up to the visitor's center for Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The last time we spent time visiting here we hadn't been able to hike in the Rockefeller Forest in the north section of the park. So we picked up a trail guide for the Rockefeller Loop and the Big Tree Area. Here's Walter at the beginning of the Rockefeller Loop.
The redwoods aren't easy to photograph because they're so darned tall. But you can get the flavor of the hike from this one.
When we finished the loop we drove out the Matiole Rd to the Big Tree parking lot and wandered our way down the trails.
After a while, we found a tree labeled "Tall Tree". At one point they thought this was the tallest of the redwoods. In 1957 it was measured to be 359.3 feet tall, 42 feet in circumference and 13.4 feet in diameter. Needless to say it's gotten bigger.
Just look up and you can tell!
Every once in a while the sun would break through and light things up.
The trillium were in bloom.
And there were Milkmaids (Dentaria californica ssp. californica) too.
The trail lead to Bull Creek. In the summer you can cross the creek and follow the trail through more of the groves. But the bridges don't get put out until June so we stayed on our side of the creek.
On the way back to the car we discovered this old tree whose center had been burned out but was still growing. The little kid in me thought it made a great cave!
We got back to the trailer just before it started to rain that afternoon. And boy did it get down to business. In fact, the next morning it was pouring when we had to hitch up the trailer and we both got soaked. It poured most of the way up through the redwoods but by late afternoon it had changed to showers. We camped that night at Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast. The campground had a little sliver of beach view.
And then we got a wonderful sunset out of the deal too.
The next morning we had sun for a few hours in which to enjoy the beautiful southern Oregon Coast.
Once again we had high surf. I love how you can see the mist above this wave as it crashes over.
At Reedsport we turned inland and drove along the Umpqua River. This is a lovely scenic drive complete with Elk!
We stopped at a bend in the river for lunch and got this row of daffodils as a bonus.
From here we went on to Eugene for the night and discovered that the lambs and ewes we'd seen on our way down were gone--moved to another field no doubt. Tired and happy, the next morning we drove I-5 home to Monroe.
This trip wasn't a big wildflower trip but we did get to see a lot of different kinds of daisies. Being as how I have a great fondness for them I made this little montage of daisies photos I took this trip.
Daisies always provide a bit of sunshine even when it's cloudy so they were very welcome given some of the wild and wooly weather we had this trip.
I hope you enjoyed riding along with us. I certainly enjoy sharing our adventures with you.