Half of Highway 1 in California

Motorhome Trip During the Pandemic 

August 27, 2020, Highway 1, California

Please click here for video of our day on Highway 1.

This would be our final full day on this trip before heading home. We planned to drive along Highway 1, visiting places that maybe new to us, or returning to some that we enjoyed on our previous trips. 

The farthest north we would go is the Elephant Seals Vista Point because the northern section of the highway from Ragged Point on was closed due to the California wild fires. It was nice not having to rush through this beautiful part of the central coast on this day. I am trying to post some short videos that was taken on my Canon camera. I am having problems uploading the clips that I took on my iphone for some reason. Oh well, it is what it is!

Driving up Highway 1.

Flag poles at the Veterans Memorial Building.

Our first stop was at this small town of Cambria. We have never stopped here before so this will be a nice change of pace. Cambria is a quaint little town that is right by the highway, a favorite destination for many travelers. There is a site in town called Piedras Blancas Lighthouse Lens. I for one like lighthouses so this would be an interesting stop for me. We found a huge parking lot near the Lens that belongs to the Veterans Memorial Building. This whole compound seemed to house all the service clubs in town, like the Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. There is also a small fair ground type of set up right next to the building behind the lens. I suppose this is where they hold different activities for the community. 

Veteran Memorial Building on the left with the Lighthouse Lens on the other side.

This was the closest that one can get to a Lighthouse Lens.

I have heard about this pie place in town and that was where we stopped next. It was quite difficult to navigate through the narrow streets in our RV but we managed to stop at a church parking just for a short stop as we went to get the pie. This is the back of the pie shop where we waited for our order. They do have outdoor seating but we just ordered food to go.

Beautiful garden with outdoor seating.

Front of the pie shop. They also have a restaurant next door and also a gift shop but we did not go inside either of them. 

Then we drove up a little further to the William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach for a lunch by the seaside. This is certainly a nice spot for lunch with views. The park ranger let us in for free as we told them that we were just stopping for lunch. This is right across from the famous Hearst Castle which is closed because of COVID-19.

Chicken Pot Pie for son.

A fresh piece of quiche Lorraine for me.

This was absolutely delicious, cheesy and creamy.

MOR does not like cheese or cream, so he ended up having dumplings for lunch.

We also bought a whole olallieberry pie for dessert.

This turned out perfect! The pie crust was just the way I liked it, flaky and buttery. Berry filling was not too sweet. Really excellent pie. 

Quite empty on the beach.

Hearst Castle standing lonely on top of the hill across from the highway.

Some families enjoying their time on the other side of the beach.

We were able to keep a safe distance away from others on the San Simeon Pier that stretches out into the sea.

We could see the RV from the pier.

Seaweeds under the pier.

I believe that's a winery next to the beach there.

After lunch, we continued our drive up north to the Elephant Seals View Point.

Surprisingly, there were not that many seals there that day. In fact, this was the fewest that we have seen of all the times we have been here. 

They were basically taking their afternoon naps with few activities among them.

This is an excellent stop for anyone traveling up or down Highway 1. 

The "Friends of Elephant Seals" have done a lot of work in this area.

From the Elephant Seals View Point, we turned around and headed back south to Morro Bay, making a few vista point stops along the way. It was much easier to stop going south since we were on the ocean side.

At one of the vista points, there were some tiny squirrels scurrying around.

The last stop we made was at the Sand Dollars Beach in Cayucos.

I was imagining that there would be sand dollars all over the beach but it turned out that we only found a couple of sand dollars to take home. Most of the ones we saw were broken and not in perfect shape. We were happy with our finds though.

We could see Morro Rock here at the beach and this was the best weather day we have had since we came on Tuesday.

Back at the campsite we rested for a couple of hours before having our grilled steak dinner and then called it a day. Tomorrow we will be going home!

Motorhome Trip During the Pandemic 

August 28, 2020, Morro Bay to Home

It's Friday, and many of the motor homes were checking out of this RV park. I am sure many other campers will be checking in for the weekend here. By the time we unhooked everything and driving out, most of our neighbors were already gone. We decided to go back to the Embarcadero and get some lunch before taking the long drive home. 

We parked at the huge parking lot near the Morro Bay Maritime Museum which was closed now.

We got some fried seafood from Giovanni but unfortunately they ran out of their local albacore so we just had to order their regular fish and chips. Then we drove down further to Dockside to get some BBQ oysters and then had a nice lunch inside the RV. Much safer than eating with other people even outdoor.

Waiting for our order of oysters at Dockside.

Yummy BBQ oysters! They were $2 a piece.

We shared the orders of fish and chips and a combo seafood and chips.

Combo Seafood with fish, shrimps, scallops, and squid. It was OK.

I much prefer the albacore than this order of cod.

We even had leftovers to take home.

From Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo.

Back on 101

Near Santa Barbara.

The drive home took longer than we planned with Friday traffic in the L.A. area. We were surprised by the busy freeways as we were re-directed by the GPS to avoid the sections that were impacted. It was after 6:00 by the time we got home, safe and sound. Thank God for a wonderful trip during this pandemic that we were able to get away for just a little bit. Pray that God will heal our land and we can all get back to our normal lives soon.

"The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy."  -- Psalm 147:11