Getting Caught Up (Part II)

We continued our adventurous weekend Saturday and started off, as every morning should, with a nice big breakfast.  The Old Monterey Cafe (http://www.cafemonterey.com/about.html) is only a ten minute walk from my place and is known for having the BEST breakfast in town.  I devoured a couple of blueberry pancakes, easily some of the best I've ever had, along with a biscuit and some sausage.  After breakfast we went to pick up my friend Megan and then we headed off on our way south towards Big Sur.

The weather was perfect; 70 and sunny with the ocean all different shades of blue.  Our first stop was Julia Pfeiffer State Park and if you've been keeping up with my blog you know I've already been here a few times, but parking is free (on the street) and it's an ideal trip for people that have never been to the Big Sur area.  We started up through the woods, over the brook and got up as far as we could at the smaller waterfall, known as McWay Creek Falls.  I decided to climb up a ways to see what was there and as I got to the first ledge I realized I could also get to the second.  From there it seemed like it would have been much easier to keep climbing up but since nobody was following me I thought that maybe I should head back.  Even though these types of climbs are easy going up they are not necessarily the equivalent going down, but I managed without a problem and we turned around and went towards the water.

McWay Creek Falls

As I had mentioned the water was all different shades of blue and the sun was shining.  It was a perfect day and I was happy to be guiding three Big Sur newbies around the area.  

McWay Falls

From Julia Pfeiffer we went north to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  Pfeiffer Big Sur is named after John Pfeiffer, a gentleman that lived on this property back in the late 1800s.  This was a new state park for me as well as my friends so once we got our bearings we began our hike.  Our main goal was to reach another waterfall, Pfeiffer Falls, but the direct path along the creek was closed so we had to take another path that took us through some redwoods, up some hills and eventually we meandered our way to the falls.  

Superhero pose

 On our way back we took a different path the lead us to this great overlook of the area.  We passed a tree that had "Climb Me" written all over it, so of course I had to stop and pose for a picture.

I was in a climbing mood

 We eventually made it to the top where there was a lookout point that just went on forever and if you look close enough you can see the ocean far off in the haze.

View from the top

 We even made friends with some of the local wildlife in the area.  I'm thinking this is a Mountain Pocket Gopher (Thomomys monticola) and as we stood and watched it (for at least 10 mins) it started coming out further and further, grabbing blades of grass and eating them right in front of us.

One more state park checked off my list; time for lunch!!!  Nepenthe it was and for those of you not familiar with the area this is the place to eat if you are in Big Sur.  I've now been twice, once for dinner and this time for lunch and both meals were incredible!  I had the reuben and it was easily the best one I've ever had, and I eat them frequently.  Theresa and Steve had paninis while Megan tried to enjoy her arugula salad, sans arugula!  We got to eat outside on the patio with a magnificent view of the ocean.

Once lunch was over we continued our journey north to Point Lobos.  We walked around the coast to the beach and then back to the Whaling Station, which was unfortunately closed by the time we arrived (after 6:00PM).  The clouds started rolling in so we didn't stay here too long but still long enough to enjoy it.  Steve got to see his seals up close (he'd been looking for them from the moment he got to Cali), as they were covering the rocks on the beach.

It was a long, exhausting day but well worth it.  We had managed to see three state parks in one day, an absolutely perfect day for hiking the most gorgeous areas on the west coast.  On Sunday Steve and Theresa drove 17-mile drive, stopped in Carmel and then came by the aquarium.  We finished up their Monterey trip at the Cannery Row Brewing Co. watching the Red Sox on ESPN...as every perfect weekend should end!  

It was one of the best, most active Monterey weekends I have had yet and it was great to catch up with my friends.  Having the chance to enjoy where I live was a vast difference from stressing over the Relay for Life or training for a marathon.  

Life is good...