Cloudy California

Day 25: Stops – Leo Carillo State Beach in Malibu, CA; Valera, CA; Big Sur, CA; Highway 1 and 101.

Run: Malibu Beach (2.5 miles)

After over 3 days without a shower, we decided to get dirtier before showering today with a quick 2.5 mile run on Leo Carillo State Beach in Malibu. The weather was overcast but the surfers were out early on this Tuesday morning. It’s great to finally be able to walk around in a t-shirt and shorts.

We quickly showered and got on the road to head up the Pacific Coast Highway (highway 1). But our car had been making strange sounds since Las Vegas so we stopped in Ventura, CA  for an oil and transmission fluid exchange and grabbed some breakfast at Pete’s Breakfast House. They served up the best strawberry jam I’ve ever consumed. We each smothered half a biscuit in jam and the other half in gravy. We still haven’t identified the source of the sound coming from our car.

Corned Beef Hash

 

 

Biscuit platter

We then hit the road again for the coast. And had some unfortunate weather for most of the trip. As seems to be the case whenever we visit the Pacific coast it was an overcast day with lots of fog. Still highway 1 was an impressive drive with gorgeous rolling hills and cliffs. The Big Sur area is definitely the best part of the highway. One man took an interesting mode of transportation along the highway, riding a unicycle with a backpacking bag and a cowboy hat. We accidentally took an extended detour at one point which resulted in an hour long spat in which I somehow ended up conceding to give Jeremy custody of our cat for a few weeks next year.

 

By the end of the drive Jeremy and I were glad to leave the two lane highway occupied by slow, bad drivers and get back on 101. We skipped Monterey and Pebble Beach because we had been there just two years ago, as well as San Francisco. We drove all day, 1.5 for Jeremy then 6.5 hours for me, and then another 5 for Jeremy. In the dark we got our first views of some redwoods and arrived at Redwood National Park in Northwestern California in a dense fog. We stayed at the very creepy Elk Prairie Campground which looked like a swamp covered in moss.

Must Eat: Strawberry Jam on a biscuit at Pete’s Breakfast House in Ventura, CA.

Must Do: Big Sur region of Highway 1