San Simeon & Carpinteria, CA
This is a continuation of previous post...
With the marathon still finishing up and the rest of Big Sur closed off due to landslides, we had no other choice then to get on the 101 to San Simeon. We had a primitive campsite reserved at San Simeon State Park (#meadadventures tip: the other part of the campground has running water, but the primitive sites have the views! From our campsite we could see the ocean and the mountains...it is worth passing up a flushing toilet, I promise!) and as soon as we had the tent set up, I was ready to head to the elephant seals! The drive felt like we were never going to get to them, and as a soon as Tommy put the car in park I was out the door. I could honestly stand and watch them all day...minus the smell, but you get use to that pretty quickly. They just lay there and grunt, throw sand on themselves, and have an occasional swim. It is an animal lover's paradise. We finally pried ourselves away to continue the drive up to Ragged Point. This was as far as you could go into Big Sur from this end, but we were okay with that because this place was a special stop from our original trip. We walked around taking pictures and trying to pick out things that had changed from the last time...everything was the same as we remembered. We drove back down in search of dinner, but stopped one more time to say goodbye to the seals. We ended up driving a little past our campground to go eat in Cambria, and then fell asleep listening to the waves from down below.
The next morning we decided to walk a little trail behind our campsite before heading out. Today was a brand new destination for us: Carpinteria. Well, not entirely "brand new" I guess...last time we stayed in a hotel on the outskirts, but it was so we could be closer to Santa Barbara. This time we were digging in and camping out on the beach! I almost don't want to tell you how amazing this little town is so it remains in Santa Barbara's shadow, but it wouldn't be fair. Our campsite was in Carpinteria State Park and the location of it had everything that we needed within walking distance. #meadadventures tip: If you plan on camping in the state park and want a site on the beach side, I would reserve it as soon as you know you're coming. I reserved ours 3 months in advance and was lucky enough to get one of the three sites left. The campground was pretty busy on a weekday so I wouldn't recommend just coming day-of and expect to get a good site. Our site was on the beach and all we had to do was climb over a little dune and we were at the ocean.
We walked down the beach some before heading to The Spot for lunch. This place has anything from burgers to burritos, but keep in mind that they only accept cash and around lunch time you will more than likely have to stand in a line. The line is worth it though because you will be sad if you pass this place up. The rest of the afternoon we spent reading on the beach and walking around in Tar Pits Park. Yep, you read that right...tar. The area is actually known for its natural production of tar and it was pretty crazy to see. I was walking on what I thought was a giant black rock until I looked down to notice that my feet were leaving impressions on it and it was kind of squishy.
The weather was so perfect that it took us until dinner time to finally realize we were feeling a little crispy from the sun. (fun fact: I wore cropped leggings and a quarter length top all day...the tan lines created on my shins and arms are going to look great with shorts and tanks this summer.) We found a great brewery within walking distance called Rincon Brewery to have dinner at, and thankfully they had shade for the outdoor dining area. Afterwards we walked back to the park to watch the sunset from our "backyard".
