Big Sur in July!

Hey West Coasters!

I've learned in our short podding life that plans for state parks in CA must be made well in advance! It's my backyard and I never knew how popular the campgrounds were. We spend most of our free summer time in Tahoe. We did enjoy the Central Coast over winter break. You should definitely bring layers for the coast in summer, though. Foggy and cool (why we escape SF every summer) but you'll enjoy the scenery as long as you're warm:) Oh, and having driven from KY back to S F last summer, I think you will need those 5 days. Nevada seems endless and it's windy quite often, so it might slow you down or at least kill your gas mileage. And the weather in the plains can be challenging if you hit thunderstorms and hail. Have a good weather radar app available.

I guess you could say the California coast north of San Francisco is our stomping grounds. I see on your itinerary that you will go from Monterey to Jed Smith Redwoods, which I'll add is one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. That's a long haul for one day. I would recommend stopping on the way for the night. There are great places on the way. Here's a few. Bodega Dunes Campground. You can have some killer cioppino soup at the restaurant that was filmed in the movie The Birds. Still Water Cove Campground. No stores and kind of small but real quiet and a very nice beach. Gualala Point Park, or Anchor Bay Campground right up the road. One on the river right up from the beach, the other smack dap on the(private)beach. MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg. The bridge you cross to go into town was used in Murder She Wrote I was told. From Fort Bragg you have to go inland a bit for a while but there are many very cool campgrounds in the redwoods. You'll pass through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park too but you'll be getting close to Jed Smith there. Stop and check out the elk herd though. One last tip. I haven't been there in about five years but you should stop and eat at the Samoa Cookhouse just north of Eureka but make sure you're REAL hungry. Forgot to mention, these places are if you choose to get off of 101 and go up 1. If you stay on 101 once you hit the redwoods I spoke of there are lots of neat places. Richardson Grove State Park, Benbow Lake State Recreation Area, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and drive the Avenue Of The Giants. It's the old hiway... Happy trails....Bill