California, Gap Year

California Part Five: Big Sur, Pismo Beach and Los Angeles

April 2010

After our stay in Monterey Bay,  the Gap Year Buddy and I woke up early, made some pancakes and hit the road in the Californian sunshine. Our route was taking us through the Big Sur, alongside the coast. It was amazing; roads cutting through big red rock, big green, rolling hills, clear blue sky and the turquoise ocean hitting huge rocks that were rearing out of the sea. We even saw a pelican. We then found stretches of beach where masses of seals were sunbathing.

Finally, we arrived at Hearst Castle. We had hoped to just be able to wander around but were told we’d have to take a tour. This didn’t turn out to be a bad thing, partly because our tour guide was really good and got everyone involved but also because the house itself was five miles away from the visitor centre, up in the hills, and I definitely didn’t fancy walking that far.

The “castle” itself was not what I expected. I expected a National Park/English Heritage-esque, big, old, grand building. Instead, it was a house – not a castle – with Mediterranean-inspired architecture and filled with art from Italy,  Spain, France and Holland. There were both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, which looked exactly how my future pools are going to look, when I build my own castle (watch this space). It was like something in a Roman emperor’s palace.

Once the tour was over, we hit the road once again, until we reached our ultimate destination for the day, Pismo Beach, which seemed nice. After popping to the supermarket for essentials (like crisps and biscuits), we settled into our tent for the night (at about 8.30pm as it got dark and we couldn’t do anything else), after having to spend the evening sitting in the truck to escape the many mosquitoes, determined to eat us.

We made a mad dash into our tent and fell asleep, only to be awoken a few hours later by an army of raccoons invading our campsite, trampling over our tarpaulin. Waking up to the sound of screaming and banging was rather disconcerting if you’re not aware that racoons are a thing – which we weren’t. It sounded as though someone was trying to break into our truck. Or a bear (obviously, it was not going to be a bear, but when you’re half-asleep, your mind likes to freak you out – or at least mine does).

The next morning, the campsite seemed unharmed, but the identity of our visitors was unveiled when a raccoon was discovered by some kids in the bin next to our tent. It later got poked out by the park rangers. Here’s a tip for you, don’t camp next to the bins. We thought we were being smart, setting up close to the showers and loos. We hadn’t thought about what would get attracted by the trash.

That day we went to San Luis Obispo. We parked up and wandered around the shops on Higuera Street. After a bit of window shopping we went to the Natural Cafe for grilled cheese sandwiches and then returned to the shops. Before leaving we stopped off for smoothies at Jamba Juice and then went back to the campsite and wandered up to the beach where we tried and failed to make sandcastles using our leftover smoothie cups. Annoyingly, it was really windy so we couldn’t stay for long and sunbathe. Instead, we watched people out windsurfing and then went back to the tent.

We later discovered that we had a frisbee in the truck, so we played with that before heading out for a Chinese buffet dinner. After another early night, we had a raccoon-free sleep and in the morning set off for LA.

Our journey took five hours but we did stop off in for lunch in Santa Barbara. It was a lovely place, especially in the sun, it was a shame we couldn’t stay for longer. Whilst walking along State Street, we found a burger place called The Habit, which was tasty and well priced. The service was also prompt so we weren’t there for long.

After a few more shop-stops, we left and eventually found ourselves navigating through traffic in Malibu and then soon made it to the Gap Year Buddy’s cousin’s house, where we’d be staying for a few days. It was so nice to have a night in an actual bed, a decent shower and no raccoons or mosquitoes – by this point, we were both covered in bites. That night, we all went out for dinner on the pier in Santa Monica – another lovely area.

The next day, the time had come for us to check out Hollywood Boulevard. We parked for 2 hours – at the mere price of $20. We spotted the Hollywood sign, far off in the distance, had lunch at Johnny Rockets – a proper American diner (where I bizarrely decided to be healthy with a toasted chicken sandwich and OJ while the Gap Year Buddy went for a much more sensible loaded hot dog and milkshake) – and saw the handprints, footprints and signatures of celebrities outside the Chinese theatre and some of the names on the Walk of Fame.

We then wandered down to Sunset Boulevard, which runs parallel, and walked to the Guitar Center.  There we found the handprints of some of the musical greats, such as Queen, Jimmy Page and ACDC. There was also memorabilia, including  Bob Dylan’s hat and harmonica, Kirk Hammett’s guitar and a Jimmy Page signed guitar. We got very excited. We both thought that Hollywood itself was overrated so this turned out to be the highlight of our day.

Soon enough, our 2 hours of parking were up and we didn’t feel the need to renew it so we went back to the house and sunbathed on the front lawn. Later, we all headed out to the Tinroof Bistro in Manhattan Village for dinner. It was yummy.

The next day began with an early and breakfast at a bakery. We had cake for breakfast. I love America.

Read about the rest of my trip:

2 thoughts on “California Part Five: Big Sur, Pismo Beach and Los Angeles”

Leave a comment