Day 21: Big Sur

Big Sur in the morning fog

We woke up relatively early because I still had to backup all my images from the day before. The air was chilly and it was a very pleasant experience to sit on the porch of our cabin sipping a hot cup of coffee while reviewing all the images from the day before. We left the hotel a little before 9 AM and started driving north along Hwy 1, while the morning fog was still lingering over the coast. I really like the contrast between the grey sky and ocean and the colors of the many wild flowers that can be found everywhere on the rocks.

The flowers along Hwy 1 by Polo Colorado Road

Along Hwy 1 there are no signs whatsoever to know where the good places to stop are, but usually wherever you find a few cars parked it’s a sign that there is a nice place to visit. This is how we found the amazing walk along the beach by Polo Colorado Road.

Beautiful flowers on the coast

If you happen to drive there don’t miss this walk. There are two paths, one staying up on the edge of the coastline and one leading to the sand of the beach. Take them both, like I did and you will enjoy some really spectacular views as you can see from the pictures on this page.

A view of the coast by Polo Colorado Road

We spent the afternoon driving along the Monterey Peninsula and then along Hwy 101 to Newark, CA where we had booked our hotel, a couple of minutes away from my wife’s cousin’s place. This was the end of our trip, essentially. We spent there last couple of days with them relaxing and preparing ourselves to the trip back home which happened last night on a red-eye Virgin America flight from SFO to JFK (by the way, if you ever happen to be able to fly with Virgin, do it… it’s quite a different experience than regular airlines, especially if, like us, you get Select seats - lots of leg room, free baggage, free drinks and food, free movies and TV and wireless internet on board).

Overall it has been quite a trip and an amazing experience. It felt a little like when you go to a new restaurant and, instead of ordering one single dish, you go for the sampler platter, with a little bit of everything. Now that the trip is finished, we already think about going back to some of those places during different seasons to get a better taste of them.

In the next few weeks I will be working in my spare time on the huge amount of images my wife and I have shot during these three long weeks and will try to edit a photo book with some of the best pictures. If you are interested, you will be able to see an ongoing selection of my favorite images on my photoblog.

Day 20: California Highway 1

A spectacular view in the morning fog along the coast on California 1

State Route 1, often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the state of California. It is famous for running by some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. After a nice breakfast at Morro Bay we started driving along Highway 1 in a dense typical morning fog that creates a very dreamy look that I really love.

Hearst Castle

In about an hour, including a few stops along the coast, we reached the entrance of the famous Hearst Castle. It’s an interesting place even though the tour was pretty boring (or maybe it was just our guide?)… Oh well it didn’t really matter because once we drove back onto highway 1 the fog had dissolved and the sun was shining on the beautiful coast.

Off Highway 1 opposite of Plaskett Ridge Road

One thing that I really enjoyed doing while driving North on Highway 1 was to stop every time I saw a path leading onto the edge of the coastline. Most of the time, if not every time, the path lead me to amazing views like the one above. Unfortunately my pictures fail to bring to the viewer the full experience of sitting there hearing the roaring sound of the big waves crashing on the rocks underneath and smelling the ocean.

The golden light of the sunset over the Big Sur coastline

Because we kept stopping every other mile to take these short hikes, it ended up taking us the whole day to drive from Morro Bay. Once the sun began to set the coastline was inundated with a gorgeous golden light as I never seen before. I had seen before pictures of it but nothing compares to actually see it with your own eyes. It just made me really happy as the picture below proves!

Yours truly... simply happy!

Day 19: From Yosemite NP to Morro Bay

On our way to Fresno, CA

Today the plan was a relatively short drive (GPS time about 3 hours only) from Fish Camp, CA (at the south border of the Yosemite NP) to Morro Bay, CA, finally reaching the Pacific Ocean! We left at a decent time without any special plans. I had no idea what to expect to find on the road nor whether it would have been an interesting drive or a boring one.

On our way to Fresno, CA

As usual, the road didn’t disappoint us, with golden hills covered with hay and sunburnt tall grass and some beautiful trees that reminded me of the beautiful soft curves of the hills in Tuscany in Italy during the summer, when the green of the grass leaves place to the more golden colors of summer.

Rowan Chase

Once arrived in the breezy little town of Morro Bay we where overwhelmed by the serene beauty of this little coastal town and its people. The lady at our hotel - the Anderson Inn - was the sweetest hostess ever, the people at the restaurant downstairs - the Galley - even better. And then, just in front of our hotel, we stumbled upon this gorgeous gallery, the Fiona Bleu, where we ended up meeting the owner and artist Rowan Chase, a very talented and inspirational artist who creates some of the most exquisite pieces inspired by the beauty of the sea and the creatures living in it.

Sunset at Morro Bay

After buying a couple of things at the gallery - I really wish I had won a couple of thousands of dollars at the casino a week before to be able to get one of Rowen’s amazing paintings to ship back home in Italy - we ended the day with a romantic dinner at sunset in the beautiful dining room of the Galley restaurant, with the scene in the picture above as our view from our table. What an amazing way to celebrate our arrival on the West coast, wasn’t it?

Day 18: Yosemite NP

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

This entire trip was planned around availability and best time to visit Yosemite NP. In order to ensure that Tioga Pass road was open we moved the trip from May to July. And in order to be able to ensure to have enough time to see everything we booked two nights at the Tenaya Lodge, a gorgeous lodge resort just outside of the park.

Had I known before how overrated this park is I would have probably booked only one night here and used the extra day somewhere else. Definitely a mistake I won’t be making again. I don’t even want to get into the details because I don’t want to put a bad note into this long adventure since now, while I am writing this, this is already in our past and we are happy to have left the park and already reached our next destination.

In case you are curious of the reasons of so much negativity on our experience at the Yosemite NP, feel free to contact me.

Day 17: Yosemite NP

Mono Lake

I woke up relatively early and drove to the lake to take a few pictures of the tufa formations. Then I went back to the room, had breakfast with Yasuko and then we left to drive through Tioga Pass and enter Yosemite NP.

Tioga Pass

We really enjoyed the drive over Tioga Pass. It reminded us of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in a less wild flavor. Unfortunately, because we happened to make this drive on a Sunday, the traffic was absolutely dreadful and it got worse and worse the closer we got to the Yosemite Valley.

Olmsted Point

The view of Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley from Olmsted Point was really great. Too bad that the sky didn’t put up any sort of show and was plain and bluish… nothing special, really…

Bridalveil Waterfall in the Yosemite Valley

We attempted to enter the valley and had lunch at one of the hotels there but after lunch the traffic was just too much and the temperature was pretty hot so we decided to take the drive towards the Tenaya Lodge, a beautiful hotel at the Fish Camp, the south entrance of the park.