Down Highway 1: Completing our journey through the U.S.

Down Highway 1: Completing our journey through the U.S.

 

Our trip through America is drawing to a close, after traveling 3.600 miles with Greyhound and another close to 2.000 miles in a car around California. I can’t really believe it, it doesn’t feel like almost two months. Monday evening we’re off to Fiji. It’s been a great time, and there is no better way to finish this journey than with a road trip down Highway 1 back to Los Angeles.

We started in San Francisco on Friday, unfortunately a foggy day, so we couldn’t see a lot of the coastline. But we did some stops anyway. We spent the night in Monterey. The next morning, Saturday, we drove on through Big Sur and made a couple of stops along the way. One was in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to have a look at the pretty McWay Falls that drop over a cliff directly on the beach. Later we took a break for coffee at a place called “Ragged Point”. If you ever go through Big Sur, don’t go there. We payed 10 Dollars (although the menu only said 3 Dollars each) for two coffee that were disgusting, absolutely undrinkable. Henry complained and at least we got our money back.

Further south we visited an elephant seals’ rookery. The beach was completely covered with these adorable animals. Since birthing season was just over, a lot of little ones were getting in and out of the water and learning how to swim. So cute!

The next night we spent in Atascadero, a town we’ve never heard of before and chose mainly because of the accommodation we had found there: we slept in an old RV. Haven’t slept that well for a while, although it got quite chilly that night. But it was quiet. We should get used to it, the week after next one we’re going to travel around New Zealand in a – considerably smaller – RV.

The next morning, before we drove off, we went for a short hike around Pine Mountain and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Before taking off we strolled through the town and had lunch at Sylvester’s in town, great burgers! The town and region are definitely worth a visit.

Now it’s our last night in the U.S., we’re in Ventura, only a short distance from L.A. again. On our way here we stopped in the small town of Los Alamos for coffee in a place called Café Quackenbush. Basically only because of that name, but the coffee was quite decent. We had told our navigational system to avoid motorways, so we ended up going through some very narrow lanes in the mountains around Santa Barbara, where we found the Church of our Lady of Mount Carmel in Montechito. A lovely building, so we stopped for some sightseeing.

Tomorrow, shortly before midnight, we will be leaving America for Fiji, where we will arrive early Wednesday morning. Since we’re flying over the date line, there is no Tuesday for us and thus no Saint Patrick’s Day this year. So for all of you who care about that: we wish you today already a happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The place we’ll be staying next, on Wayasewa Island, apparently provides electricity only from 6 PM to 10 PM every day. So I doubt they’ve got Wifi. Therefore don’t worry, if you don’t hear from us for a week. We’ll be lying on the beach doing nothing, enjoying the sun.

 

So here are some pictures of this road trip (including a squirrel, of course):

 

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