My sister and her family may be heading south after her son’s baseball tournament in Monterey so here’s some ideas for Big Sur:
– Don’t miss a walk around Point Lobos reserve, on the ocean with its strange brown-rust-and-green seaside vegetation and rocky cliffs where otters and seals bleat as waves crash onto the rocks.
– We always enjoy eating at the rustic Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn. We found Cafe Kiva at Nepenthe Restaurant overpriced ($4 for a lemonade back in 2001) but what a view!
– At Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park our then-young kids loved crawling and stepping into the huge redwoods. Nearby is Pfeiffer Beach – another favorite on the ocean.
– The drive from Big Sur to San Luis Obispo took about three hours and is, of course, stunning. We really liked San Luis – a college town (cal poly) with a great midweek farmers market on its long straight main street (all the shops were open that night too). Also home to the wonderfully kitschy Madonna Inn – at least visit and tour the goopy public rooms and eat some pie in the coffee shop.
– Hearst Castle, again of course. We spent about three hours there with the kids, taking the tour and I’m not sure what else. gawking. dawdling.
