California Coast Tour- January 2010

Tim and I were sitting around talking about travel plans. We wanted to do something and the ideas were quite varied. We talked about Florida, Texas or New Mexico. We decided to stay south because it is January, and most of the nation north of 33 degrees latitude are mostly covered in snow. We weren't sure if we wanted to fly all the way to Florida considering Mads has never flown and we wanted to adjust her on a shorter trip. We are also going to Texas in March, so it seemed a little redundant to go on vacation. Tim's captain, Shawn, has been saying we should borrow his trailer, so we decided to take him up on the offer.

MJ loaded up and ready to go!

Our very long rig.

ubiquitous leaving Temecula shot ($1 if you know what intersection this is)

Leo Carrillo SB in Malibu

Peaceful and serene, until 11pm when loud and obnoxious collegiates decide to descend upon the utterly empty campground and park RIGHT NEXT to us. I had to pray to God for forgiveness regarding my thoughts towards those people. They stayed up til around 2am; upon waking at 6am, they were gone. Demons? I think so.

Morro Rock (look at Squishy-face-so cute!)

This is the Kid Comfort III from Dueter and it is a nice ride for all involved.

the Mommy:

Bergon fam:

Tim gets really, really excited about large waves crashing into large rocks.

We drove up to San Simeon, and the weather that was supposed to last all week (rain) finally hit us. We took a short hike to the estuary and then read (I was finishing Breaking Dawn) the rest of the day.

our spot a San Simeon SB

we camped at San Simeo because it is the closest campground to Hearst Castle, the real draw for us to take this trip. Here is the castle from the courtyard:

the Neptune pool:

this is the "employee pool" blue mosaic and real gold accents:

back at the rainy camp, Mads practices standing:

"Hi Dada" (that is a Tim half-smile)

She did great in the pack! We had so much fun on our trip that we decided to extend it. We routed out a continued journey to Big Sur and woke up the next morning to sunshine and blue skies.

It was just our luck that January is Elephant Seal birthing all along the mid-coast. WE got to see thousands of seals and even some only a few days old. This little guy was stuck in a small stream and was quite annoyingly barking at his mother. Madeleine loved watching the seals and enjoyed hearing their shrill and guttural sounds.

an old school house in San Simeon heading North

our San Simeon campsite in the sun:

Mama & MJ:

Dada & MJ:

life loves:

Mads is gripping Tim by the hair here, she doesn't really know how to ride on shoulders yet =)

Stopping to see the Elephant seals, we had a snack. Tim had to close the door because the birds almost flew right in to take his sandwich:

I wanted to see if the bird would eat out of my hand, but Tim reminded me that I tell everyone not to feed wildlife, so I just ate the Doritos myself.

Heading towards Big Sur (Point Sur Lighthouse)

our campsite at Big Sur Campground (by the river)

the Redwoods by our site:

Madeleine enjoying the morning at the Bug Sur Bakery with Bongo.

Cutest baby ever; no, seriously...EVER:

rocks on the coast:

taking a little hike in the Julia Pfeifer Burns SP

at the waterfall:

yes, we did:

but only for a short and slow ride:

taking the tunnel to McWay Falls

In front of McWay Falls at the Brown homestead (Waterfall House):

At Pfeiffer Beach:

Back at the Big Sur Campground the next day, we let her touch the freezing river:

in the summer this place must be great for tubing!

Tim loves MJ:

He lets her do wild things like taste twigs:

baby lying on the grass as Mom and Dad eat In-N-Out on the way home:

We stopped in Salinas to see the John Steinbeck house; If I could build a custom home, this may be one of the choices:

On the return home, we stayed in Grover Beach, one of the "5 cities", including Pismo Beach:

At Grover Beach you can drive and camp out on the beach dunes. We decided not to chance it with a borrowed trailer and muddy conditions, but we did walk out to the dunes to enjoy the coastal view.

Sweet baby girl

We had a wonderful time and Madeleine did really well. She did get tired of her carseat, but the trailer was really the best. It was so nice to have all the modern conveniences yet still be "camping". I could definitely see us buying a fifth-wheel one day. Our sleeping on the ground days may be over =)

Love, Lauren