Big Sur Roadtrip-Reconnecting with Nature

I am catching up on posting and realized that I never wrote about my birthday trip to Big Sur with the hubs.  This was my back to nature trip where I reconnected with camping. I haven't really been camping since I was a kid when we took an annual trip to Forked Lake in the Adirondacks.  We attempted to camp last year on my birthday in San Onofre but that was a disaster as San Onofre is basically just a dirt strip next to a major freeway where you listen to your annoying neighbors conversations all night because their site is 2 feet away from you.  This year we decided to venture further up the coast since we now finally have a car that can do road trips.  We hopped in the car on a Thursday morning and drove past Santa Barbara to El Capitan State Beach.  While this campground is on the coast (and therefore has the noise from the 101) it was much nicer than San Onofre.  We managed to snag a corner spot with a view and while the sites were close to each other they did a good job of separating you from your neighbor.  Some photos from El Capitan:

View from our site, gloomy but pretty

Water fingers

Beach art

Some late afternoon sun

All you need for camping is a box of wine and a tent, right?

We stayed at El Capitan for one night and then drove up to Big Sur.  I've been raving for years about this coastal drive to my husband as he's never done it.  However I was a little disappointed this time as that famous blue Big Sur water wasn't showing due to the gloomy weather.  We stayed for 2 nights at a place called Fernwood Big Sur.  This is a combination campground/RV/cabin rental site right next to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  Purists like my brother definitely wouldn't consider this real camping but come on, you're talking to a girl who wears stilettos at least 4 days of the week. So I loved the fact that they had a little store and a bar (that we actually never went and got drinks at). The site was a bit rowdy and noisy but everybody quieted down around 11 so this old lady could sleep. In our two days there we hiked in the national park next door, took a nap in our new tent when the temperature plummeted and drank around the campfire, because that's what I do when I camp, drink too much wine...from a box. Photos from Big Sur:

Ragged Point view

A Walk in the Woods

Our campsite at Fernwood

View from the top of our hike in the gloom

Happy Birthday to me! ♥ Chronic Cellars

There's a peek of that famous Big Sur water