San Fran this morning was looking fabulous. Clear blue skies coolish at 18C but far from cold.

We again opted for the scenic route out of town, taking a couple of hours to hit the road south. The streets were comparatively empty, Sunday mornings must be for sleeping in. The exception was the beaches, the waves were pumping for a change and heaps of people were there soaking up the autumn sun on this long weekend.

Around the presidio we had the best, most complete views yet, of the GG bridge looking fab in the sun.

The coastal road south at the start is lined with row upon row of similar (the same?) houses all stacked up one on top of the other. After that the houses got a bit more original with frequent stretches of the ocean our companion to the west. Some of the waves were so high they came up onto the road and in other places up to the top of and even over the top of high cliffs. Some of the beaches had some pretty awesome sets for the surfers.

We passed once more the strawberry and pumpkin farms, many with roadside shops and the latter with absolutely mountains of the carving orange pumpkins for sale. Small stands of forest were often largely gum trees and a lot of the coast was lined with toitoi, all under a clear blue sky and temps reaching mid 20's and even up to 30C.

We detoured through the beach areas and Boardwalk of Santa Cruz which looked like a pretty livable town.

A detour through Carmel, kitschy tourist trap town but such a beautiful beach. The homes down by the sea were to die for, shame we'd never be able to afford one Lol

Past Carmel it was spectacular coastal scenery, towering cliffs and huge waves crashing in them. From a couple of the vista stops we made we could see seals popping up here and there well out from the shore.

Going through the national parks of Big Sur it was all shady cool forest, the afternoon sun casting moody shadows on the hills beyond the darker road. It wasn't too long before we left the forest behind and once more hugged the ocean as the sun began its spectacular descent.

The winding road in the dark was interesting, specially at one point when we rounded a corner to find a deer on the edge of the road! Half an hour after sunset we came to a Day's Inn in San Simeon, perfect :-)

We had a fantastic meal at the Manta Ray next door and back we went to our hotel for the night.