Jobob's California Coast Adventure

[cindysue]

Vets Memorial Park (Cindy, did you stay there?)

nope - we stayed at the Monterey Hilton. Nice hotel, but we were so exhuasted (did 130 miles that day) we just ordered some food from room service, then crashed. We sat in the jacuzzi the next morning after sleeping in, then did some shopping at some of the local bike shops before heading over to Monterey for some sightseeing.

It’s another ~ 40 miles from there to the campground at San Simeon State Beach, but from reading Spring & Kirkendall plus others’ accounts on crazyguyonabike.com and elsewhere (plus what we saw from our car driving down Rt. 1 last October), it’s a fairly rugged stretch of road with lots of rollers.

hmmmm, trying to remember this stretch...... perhaps this was the stretch where we were almost knocked over by cross winds. I do remember a lot of rollers but without my map in front of me, I just can't be sure (the map is at Andrew' place who is in and out of town until Saturday night).

There’s an RV resort at Avila Valley Hot Springs (south of SLO & north of Pismo) which has tent campsites and cabin rentals along with a swimming pool and a hot mineral spring pool – that could be well worth checking out !

just don't stay at Pismo campground - it was a bit of a dump in my opinion (and my BF, who is not quite as snooty (uh I mean picky) as me.

We’ll probably stay overnight someplace in Santa Barbara and then box up our bikes for the return trip on Amtrak to San Jose.

we stayed at the Santa Barbara Hilton - (the second of two nights in a hotel for our 5 day trip). It was stunning, with just a road separating it from the beach. Then rented an SUV for our trip home

I'll try to get some digi-photos of our trip from Andrew when I see him on Sunday
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found an old post: (not a lot of info here, and I never did post to crazyguyonabike which appears to be down at the moment)

The quick and dirty ride report is we did 130 miles the first day: San Francisco to Monterey. The route to Santa Cruz was a breeze. Then we had headwinds all the way to Monterey. I was pedaling down hill. I seriously bonked towards the end and basically drug myself into the hotel in Monterey. The next three days were much lighter. After touring 17 mile drive in Carmel (wow!) we headed to and camped out at Big Sur (50 miles), then it was off to camp at San Simeon (75 miles), then camping at Oceano/Pismo (50 miles), and finally to Santa Barbara (110 miles) where we stayed at the beautiful ocean front Double Tree Hilton Hotel. That night we proceeded into town where we must have ate 30-40 rolls of Sushi between the two of us!

I think my favorite day of the whole trip was day 4. It was a really relaxed day, traveling through the great little coastal communities of Cambria, Cayucos, and Morro Bay (I could SO live in one of these communities!). We stopped at a nice little cafe in Morro Bay and chatted with the friendly owner and one of her patrons about our trip. Then we proceeded to Oceano for the night where we met up with two gentlemen who were also on a tour to Santa Barbara.

On the way back to the Bay Area (rental car) we stopped in Paseo Robles for wine-tasting. Overall a great trip!

[SadieKate]

When I was driving between college and home during the last century, there as a really good ice cream place in Arroyo Grande. Fabulous milkshakes. Buddies at Cal Poly turned me onto it but I can't remember the name (remember it was the last century).

A google turned up this place: http://www.docburnsteins.com/. It looks fun and they have model trains. Toot!

[Adventure Girl]

there as a really good ice cream place in Arroyo Grande. Fabulous milkshakes. Buddies at Cal Poly turned me onto it

I remember that place! Was it called Bernardo's? Or something like that? The name is a vague memory for me from 20-something years ago. But I remember the milkshakes!

Edit: I just checked out SK's link to docburnsteins. That's the place! It began as Burnardo’z Candy Kitchen & Ice Cream Parlour.

[SadieKate]

When I searched I did find a Burnardo's. Hmm, do they have two locations? That was sooooo long ago.

[snapdragen]

I have a book you might want to borrow jobob......

[cindysue]

I have a book you might want to borrow jobob......

what's the book??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[snapdragen]

It's Touring the Pacific Coast or something like that. I think I heard about it here - so someone else must have it too?

[cindysue]

It's Touring the Pacific Coast or something like that. I think I heard about it here - so someone else must have it too?

yep, see: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=4772



hey jo - did you see my post about "cajun kitchen" on that thread? I highly recommend it while you are in Lompoc