La Playa Hotel Carmel

We packed up and went for a practice trip down to Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur on Tuesday. The camp site was great; on the river with almost the whole park to ourselves. What a beautiful place to camp.
The tent went up without incident.
The food was great, thanks to Steve.....shrimp,asparagus and potatoes for dinner and breakfast burrito the next morning.

We have a ...

Finally left the noisy dorm room yay. Saw some massive waves along the coast towards Monterey. Stopped off in Santa Cruz, not much going on in Fall! Apparently it's wooden rollercoaster is a national monument! Got to Monterey and found a visitor centre for a map. Hotel man upgraded us to a deluxe king, had a microwave and a fridge! Watched lots of TV ...

... fab Pebble Beach golf course. We also saw Spyglass Hill golf course which I have aced on Tiger Woods but it looked a lot tougher in real life. There were lots of expensive houses with coastal views overlooking the distinctive cypress trees with the iconic lone cypress used for the pebble beach company. Once at the end of the drive you arrive at Carmel a quaint little town with lovely buildings and tree lined streets. We had lunch in a cute little ...

... at the gates of the Carmel Monastary with all of 15 minutes to see the grounds. Very lovely buildings with nice Spanish architecture, apparently founded in 1925. They've done a very nice job with the grounds, and the light was perfect. After leaving there, we decided to swing by the Carmel Mission (which was founded in 1771). I didn't expect to be able to actually go in since it was after 4:30, but we got there just before they ...

... with being a bit hotter - the bows it was served in were also cold. For main we had Prawn Tagliarini with tomatoes, garlic, shallots and white wine and Short Ribs (Ossobuco Style) with zinfandel glaze, mashed potatoes and asparagus. The prawns were tasty and well cooked. The pasta seemed a bit overdone and the sauce was flavourless. The rib was not really what I expected, it was basically ...

This part of the trip was already one of the greatest things either of us has ever done but the next day was the best day yet. We left beautiful Santa Barbara continuing on the 101. At Atascadero we took the 46 West which is a Classic U.S Route. You could see why as it meandered though wine country, vineyards stretching for miles until you reach this mountainous plateau which looks down to the huge ...

... the Big Sur along the coast. Its meant to be a spectacular drive with the road winding its way around cliff edges and over bridges that span very deep ravines, sounds great doesn't it!!??!! It worries Liz to know it was built by convict labour and not by proper road builders. The next day we left for Carmel, visiting Roaring Camp narrow gauge railroad on the way. Yes another railway but it was a chance to see some Redwood trees at the same time. Roaring Camp had the look of ...

Heading south I loved the town of Santa Cruz which was a real surf town & very cool. Nath & I walked for miles along the foreshore which was covered in pretty dune flowers & had lovely ...

... of c*mping, *nd just w*nted to get into my own bed, in my own room. We *ll did. So, I b*sic*lly drove ste*dily through Oregon, stopped once for g*s *nd necess*ries, stopped *t Rogue River for * while, to stretch out on the gr*ss under the trees, then the c*r eventu*lly climbed up over the Siskoyou p*ss *nd we *ll cheered for the poor c*r's efforts. My d*ughter took * nice photo of the sunset. We stopped *t *n *bsolutely disgusting rest stop in Cottonwood south of Red Bluff, CA, to ...

... has more roads and car parks than grass. I thought about going into the zoo but it was in the afternoon and was told that all the animals would be sleeping, which seemed a bit inconsiderate of them. The next day I met Leigh and Scott, friends of mine I knew from my days on the east coast, and had a relaxing day on the beach (after doing laundry at their apartment, of course). I managed to find one of three bars in the whole city showing the England - France game, but I ...