Big Sur

On Wednesday morning we slept in a little later than usual,before taking in a hearty breakfast at a Denny's Diner. We left Paso Robles heading south on 101 before turning west on 41 to Morro Bay where we picked up Highway 1 North to travel up the coast.

This is the fabled Big Sur coast road, but the interesting parts don't start until you get some way along. We stopped off 12 miles up the road at the pretty town of Cambria where we bought some coffee at a Mexican cafe. $2 each got us a huge cup of coffee which I have to say was very good, proving at last it is possible to get a decent cup of coffee in America.

From Cambria the land is initially quite flat and treeless. Gusty winds coming in from the sea were blowing us around and had us backing off the throttle a bit. We passed the entrance to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon, and the elephant seal colony a little further north, knowing we were coming back the next day to see these attractions.

From Ragged Point the road begins to climb as it hugs the hills that drop straight into the ocean. At the very top of the road we reached the home of Peter Fels and Pheobe Palmer. Pheobe had cooked us a wonderful lasagna dinner that we washed down with fermented beverages. After dinner conversation was lively and far-ranging before we eventually retired for the night, We said our farewells to Pheobe who had to take a two day trip into Cambria starting early the next morning.

On Thursday we slept in again, and were in no particular hurry to drive the few miles back to San Simeon to tour the Hearst Castle. This is an amazing complex built high on a hill overlooking the ocean. William Randolph Hearst amassed a huge collection of art and threw it all together here. The Neptune swimming pool is flanked by Greek columns and pediments, while the backdrop is a Roman marble structure. The walls of the main house are clad in places with choir stalls from a 14th century cathedral. It has tapestries that were owned by Catherine De Medici, and a huge collection of Greek, Egyptian and Roman marble statues. It is quite bizarre with its crash of styles. It is so far over the top that words simply fail to describe it... See http://www.hearstcastle.org/ to learn more about the place.

We made a short trip back into Cambria to pick up more beer and wine for the evening, and stopped for a while at an Internet cafe to download emails. Here we met John, who was impressed at how many beers could fit into a BMW top box, and we started chatting. He rides motorbikes and has travelled to Australia, so we had plenty to talk about. The cafe was about to close for the afternoon so we said farewell and headed back north where we spent some time watching and photographing the huge elephant seals that literally covered the beach. At times some of them would make make sounds like dogs barking, at others like people belching.

While we were at the seal colony we met Dana (I hope I spelled that right), a Harley rider who was interested in our bike because he is thinking about getting a touring bike. We had quite a conversation before taking off up the road together.

When we got back to Peter's he fired up the barby and Chris cooked the meat. Again, we had a wonderful meal and night chatting about all manner of interesting topics while downing a very pleasant (and large) bottle of wine.
 
This morning we were awake before the alarm went off. Peter was a bit later getting up because there had been a ruckus in his yard in the middle of the night involving his dogs and cats that cost him some sleep.
 
The fog over the ocean was particularly thick and persistent this morning. A couple of times it seemed to be clearing, only to thicken up again. While we were waiting for it to clear Peter offered us more lasagna for lunch, which no reasonable person could pass up, so it was around 2 pm when we finally said goodbye to Peter and headed north.
 
Further north the views became more dramatic and the road more exciting for motorcyclists - unless you get caught behind an RV or convoy of slow moving cars. We passed many motorcycles going the other way. Over here bikers tend to acknowledge each other more than in Australia, but then it's easier - because we are riding on the right side of the road. The standard "handshake" is to drop your left hand off the hand grip and extend your left arm outwards horizontally from the elbow.
 
We stopped at the iconic Bixby bridge to take photos and give our legs some exercise by walking around for a few minutes. We planned to stop in Big Sur, but it is less of a town than a series of buildings spread out along the road for several miles, and we were past it before we cottoned on.

We stopped for the night in Monterey at a motel we found on the Internet earlier today advertising $55 rooms, but when we got there the cheapest room we could get was $74. Grrrr!
 
Today is our 39th wedding anniversary, so we bought a bottle of bubbly and went for Chinese take away. The shop we went to marketed Chinese food like a burger chain, with set packages of one, two or three different serves along with a choice of fried rice or chow mein. When we went to choose the three serves, we had the choice of chicken, chicken or chicken. We may yet look back on it as the most memorable anniversary dinner we have ever had!