After driving up the state of California to visit San Francisco last Fall, I had passed a quaint little town while using Hwy 1. It wasn't until returning down the same way that I learned the town's name: Cambria. I was intrigued enough to convince the folks to come back with me on a short stint to check this place out. Funny enough, they had been there many moons ago. This should be a nice short trip.

We left our residence at precisely 6:00am PDT, hoping to miss most of the LA traffic. Reached Interstate 10, I thought it would be a great idea to cut over to Hwy 1 and check out the coastal towns, as I missed them on the way down from the last trip. Using I-10 west, we went through Santa Monica, CA and after turning north on Hwy 1, we marveled at the ocean views off to our left.

Obviously this route was a little slower than US 101, but that's OK, we have plenty of time. It was close to 9:00am when we stopped in Port Hueneme, CA for breakfast and to check out the pier located there. Bustling military activity around here...

We continued farther up, detouring to Hwy 114 into the hills. We passed Lake Cachuma and arrived at one of Mom's destinations, Flags Up Farms, around noon. This is a horse farm run by the famous Monty Roberts, which Mom is a fan. Although he wasn't there, plenty of horses were, and that seemed to be enough. We cruised around the stables for a bit checking out all the digs.

Before long we were on the road again, connecting Hwy 114 back to US 101 and continuing north. We stopped in San Luis Obispo (aka SLO) for a gas refill, right where Hwy 1 breaks away from US 101 and goes west to the coastline. We follow that through Morro Bay and turn back up the coastline, with more awesomeness. We finally reach Cambria shortly before 4:00pm, checking into the Fogcatcher Inn right across the street from the beach.

We stroll into the downtown Cambria with the Village Shops on Main Street, some of them seasonal or weekend-only (being Thursday not all of them were open). A number of shopkeepers live on the 2nd floor with their business on the first floor. It's been this way for a long time.

That's all for today, we'll be scoping out some other stuff along Hwy 1 between here and San Simeon soon enough.

Let's go exploring!

First on the agenda was a place I had discovered on the way down from my San Francisco trip, and I knew the parents would like it, so off we go to the Elephant Seal Vista Point, found a few miles up the road from San Simeon.

Arrival time was 9:30am to the edge of the many lookout points, and it seems we hit one of the peak mating seasons. There were many more elephant seals lounging about this round, covering the beach as far as the eye could see. Obviously nobody can go down to the beach area (unless you're brave/stupid) so we take plenty of pictures from the various lookout points.

Next on the list was the nearby lighthouse, Piedras Blancas. Now we had read something about meeting a group in San Simeon for a bi-weekly 12:00pm tour, but when we arrived we couldn't find anyone. We drove back up to the gated entrance of the lighthouse area but that was closed off.

We were viewing the lighthouse from afar, about to give up when a truck comes along with 2 occupants, and out pops an older guy asking if we were here for the tour. Apparently they were driving around rounding up "lost" tourists. The driver of the truck went back into town for any remaining stragglers, while the older guy unlocked the gate and rode with us to the lighthouse, joining a group ready for the tour.

Here we learned the history of the lighthouse's uses over the years. The lighthouse contained a "weight" which would keep the light turning, much like the weights on a grandfather clock. We weren't allowed to the top, but managed to see inside as well as the surrounding grounds. The lens was back in the town of Cambria, so the lighthouse wasn't complete, but still something to check out anyway.

After some souvenirs and whatnot, we headed back and drove around some more of the town. We found the lens from the lighthouse (and it still works). From here we went back to our hotel then walked across the street to Moonstone Beach. There were plenty of driftwood and rocks in the ocean making for great scenery. We stuck around as the sun set over the water.

There's a few more things to hit tomorrow, in opposite directions. Should be a good finale...

We leave around 10:00am on a southern route. Our destination is the tiny town of Harmony, CA, population 18. This place used to be more jumpin' as far as tourists went, but the town has scaled back quite a bit. Even the post office that was here had permanently closed. There really wasn't much to do around here except look around in some of the art shops. Mom found a few things to buy. There were some wine-tasting places as well but we're not into that. OK that was fun, time to head back up. We go back to the beach for family shots, because why not? We had time to kill before our next planned outing.

Our final activity is Hearst Castle. I had done the tour on my San Francisco trip, but for this round I wanted to change things up. We signed on for the 7:00pm "Evening Tour" which not only gives you full access of the castle and grounds while the sun is setting, but they have volunteers "dress up" in period costumes and transform you back in time to the 1930s all throughout. The castle is lit up much as it would have been back then. Definitely a new experience for those who may have already done this in the daytime.

We finished the descending bus ride around 9:00pm and drove back to our hotel from there. We're done! Just have to make it home now...

With nothing left on our plates for Cambria and its locale, we left our hotel reasonably early and headed back down Hwy 1 to the 101, mostly the same way we came up.

Shortly after 10:30am we turned off to Hwy 246 leading to Solvang, CA. But before that, we decided to stop at Ostrichland USA, where you can pay a few bucks to feed the roaming fowl. There's dozens of ostriches and emus that will walk right up and snatch the food out of the plate you stick through the fence. (If you prize all 10 of your fingers, I'd heartily recommend against using your hands. Not speaking from experience.)

Down the road was the eclectic town of Solvang. There's quite a number of shops around, so we spent time spending money on food and other knick-knacks. They also had a 1960s Datsun car show going on at the same time, so the crowds were likely higher than average. We didn't spend more than 2-3 hours around here.

We continued down the highway until once again reaching Hwy 101. No fancy detours this time, except for one more replenish of the fuel in Santa Barbara, CA. We took the 101 straight to I-405 and made the usual route back home, arriving late afternoon.

Thanks for watching!

This roadtrip was more or less a nice little weekend getaway to explore a smaller area of the central California coast in detail. There's plenty of things to do and I'm sure we didn't even cover half of what the surrounding areas of Cambria have to offer. Definitely something for everybody!

I still dig the Elephant Seal Vista Point, and the quirkiness of Hearst Castle, and the overall charm of Cambria. I could almost call that area a candidate for retirement, but that's many years away and I may find something else more suitable.

Total Stops: 3
Miles travelled: 676
Elapsed Time: 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes