Daddy Daughter Cycle Ride Day 4

Daily Stats:

Time of Departure: 8:20 AM                                   

Departure City: Avila Beach, CA (Pismo Beach)

Time of Arrival: 5:50 PM        

Arrival City: Santa Cruz, CA

Total Travel Time: 9 hours 30  minutes (4 hrs 38 min on bike)

TOTAL MILAGE: 192.7 miles

Another successful day on the bike is under our belts. We started off with a cloudy, overcast, and not to mention freezing day in Avila Beach and began our trek upwards on Highway 1 aka the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped about 30 minutes north for breakfast in Morro Bay at a cute little breakfast place.

From there we continued north to our first stop of the day, Hearst Castle. If you don’t know much or anything about this location, you need to google it because it’s a pretty neat and LONG story. To sum what we saw, William Hearst decided he wanted to build a home on his family’s property here in California. So he and his architect, Julia Morgan, worked together for 28 years to build this “house”...or castle. Much of the design comes from Spanish or Italian influences due to his 10th birthday gift of an 18 month European excursion with his mother. This is a VERY brief summary but here are a few incredible images of his estate.

This is only the main house...not the 3 guest houses

Pool 1 of 2...this one has real 24-carat gold paper melded into the tile work.

Another interesting fact about Hearst is that he bought much of the surrounding land which continues to be preserved today. One area on his property is known for the Elephant Seal habitat. Note: these seals are not dead, they are in what is known as a molting stage (kind of like shedding for dogs and cats). The skinny seals are near the end of their molt, where the fat, brown ones are at the beginning of their molt. This time of year is a mixture of subadult and adolescent males, along with females. It’s quite a sight to see.

Elephant Seals molting

Onwards we went. Heading north on Highway 1 (PCH), the scenery was consistently changing. We would bounce from along the coast line overlooking cliffs to between mountains with a variety of trees along the road.  On the start of ride the landscape had more of a brown/tan coloring to it and as we drove it changed and felt like we were driving through a rain forest. We drove through Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel and ended in Santa Cruz.

I should mention that by two o’clock pm the sun made an appearance warming up the ride just a little but by four o’clock pm, dad and I began to freeze our buns off. Didn’t keep me from taking photos along the way until the last 45 minutes when I couldn’t feel my fingers. 

We finally arrived at our final destination for the dad and the first thing I did was take a hot shower, as 1) I was freezing and 2) I was STARVING so I wanted to get ready to go to dinner. For dinner, we went to this burger joint called Betty’s Eat Inn and they were incredibly delicious and huge burgers. From dinner, we heading to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where during the summer they do Summer Beach Concerts and today’s was the first of the season! We got to see Starship featuring Mickey Thomas in concert. It was a great end to a great day. 

Starting our morning in full gear

This little elephant seal did not want to play nicely.

Pacific Coast Highway...and yes this is what I saw for a good 4 hours :)

Dad and I together

"We  build this city,,,"

Daddy Daughter Cycle Ride Day 3

Daily Stats:

Time of Departure: 8:05 AM                                   

Departure City:  Mariposa, CA (KOA)

Time of Arrival: 6:35 PM        

Arrival City: Avila Beach, CA (Near Pismo Beach)

Total Travel Time: 10 hours 30 minutes (6 hrs 3 min on bike)

TOTAL MILAGE: 272.9 miles

When morning hit, I was extremely ready to start today's adventure. Why you ask...well today was YOSEMITE day. I couldn't wait to see the waterfalls and scenery ...but NOTHING could have prepared me for what I saw today. It was nothing less than the most gorgeous scenery I have EVER seen.

We started the morning driving along Highway 140 through the Sierra National Forest. We had no idea what the drive from Mariposa to Yosemite was going to be like, but I can say, I don't think we were expecting what we saw. We followed along a river bank through the mountains. This picture hardly gives you a true perspective of what we saw.

The morning drive through Sierra National Forest

Then we entered Yosemite National Park, and like the drive in the morning, it blew us both away. We were completely speechless. We heard through the grapevine that the rivers and waterfalls were so powerful and so high because of the RECORD breaking snow fall. Well they weren't kidding. We could hear the rapids over the motor of the cycle and I am pretty sure we saw about 4 or 5 waterfalls, that I'm pretty sure weren't actually waterfalls. 

And then we looked up, and there was El Capitan gleaming in the sun. The granite shown so bright that I had a hard time capturing the beauty of it. I could explain more about this but I'm pretty sure this picture is worth a 1000 words.

The Glorious El Capitan

The next stop took us to Bridalveil Falls. On the walk up to the bottom of the fall both dad and I looked down and there literally was water flowing down the pathway. At the top of the pathway, where you would normally stand, was nothing but a puddle of water.  Talk about a perfect time to visit Yosemite.

Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite

After that fall, we continued our way through the park to Yosemite Village, which is right near the main waterfalls, Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. I have no words to explain the distant view of the Upper Fall and the close up view of the Lower Fall. The strength of the lower fall was so strong that the "mist" you felt wasn't really mist...I would call it rain. I had to time my images out because I kept having to wipe the lens.

At the base of Lower Yosemite Fall

From Yosemite, we continued our journey south along Highway 41 to Pismo/Avila Beach through Fresno, CA. Like yesterday, we drove for a good hour through agriculture-ville lined with fruit trees, vegetable plants, and wineries. After that we hit the open plains, filled with nonstop wheat fields and not to mention powerful wind. This continued for a few good hours and of course the GPS took us through a 24 mile windy shortcut (this was a good shortcut) ending in Atascadero, CA. From here, we connected to the 101, which took us to our final destination for the day.

Tomorrow begins our journey north along Highway 1 through Hurst Castle and ending in Santa Cruz. Here are a few more photos of what I can only explain as breathtaking!

Start of day 3

Random waterfall in Yosemite National Forest

Both Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Oh the open road

You can tell we are near the coast...it got a little chilly here.

Remember to check back tomorrow:)

Daddy Daughter Cycle Ride Day 2

Daily Stats:

Time of Departure: 8:15 AM                                   

Departure City: Kernville, CA 

Time of Arrival: 6:41 PM        

Arrival City: Mariposa, CA (KOA)

Total Travel Time: 10 hours 26 minutes (7 hrs 52 min on bike)

TOTAL MILAGE: 328.5 miles

Today was BIG day for us on the bike. As you just read we did spent almost the exact same amount of time as we did yesterday though 200 miles shorter. How is that possible you ask? Well yesterday we averaged about 60 miles per hour...today we only averaged 40 MPH. I can’t complain though. The sights we say were spectacular.

We started our day driving past Lake Isabella and through the Kern Valley traveling along the Kern River. All this was considered part of the Sequoia National Forest. It was unbelievable. 

Following the Kern River in the Sequoia National Forest

Following this portion, we spent about 100 miles driving through some incredible agriculture; cherry trees, orange trees, apricots, peaches (including white peaches), nut trees, and of course grapes. You can’t forget about the 10 miles of oil pumps/wells/whatever their called.

Then we arrived at our first National Park of the journey: Sequoia National Park. This park is particularly known for the giant sequoia trees, and by giant they mean ginormous. These trees were so GRAND that I couldn’t even get a whole tree in a picture. See what I mean.

Giant Sequoias

Due to an hour delay (apparently a road collapsed in Sequoia), we didn’t see as much of King’s Canyon as we would have liked but we did see an amazing view of the Sierra Nevada’s. And as I am writing this, both dad and I are drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale...ironic?!

Sierra Nevada Mountain Range

We continued on...and if you have ever driving with a GPS remember to tell it “ALL MAJOR ROADS.” Granted, both dad and I now realize it was leading us to our KOA Mariposa Kamp Ground via short cut, but the road, well lets just say “POT HOLES.”  Nonetheless we arrived at day 2’s final destination safe and sound!!

Tomorrow is another grand adventure for us as we venture into Yosemite National Park, which you should all google, because the waterfalls are the largest they’ve been in 20 years, then down to Pismo Beach to start California Pacific Highway (HWY 1). Can you tell I’m excited! Here are a few more pictures of our amazing Day 2 Ride...Enjoy!

Here are some more images from today :)

Packing up for day 2

Kern River Rapids

Entering Sequoia National Park :)

Where's Dad?

Big Tree Vs. Little Tree

GINORMOUS

NBD just chilling between the giants

So Big I can't even get them in one frame

I hope you enjoyed them...stay tuned for day 3: Yosemite National Park :)

Daddy Daughter Cycle Ride: Day 1

Daily Stats:

Time of Departure: 4:05 AM                                   

Departure City: Phoenix, AZ (aka home) 

Time of Arrival: 3:18 PM        

Arrival City: Kernville, CA (near Lake Isabella)

Total Travel Time: 10 hours 13 minutes (8 hrs 48 min on bike)

TOTAL MILAGE: 520.7 miles

All I can say about today is that WE SURVIVED!!! It was a long hull through the Arizona & California deserts but not going to lie...there were some spectacular scenery along the way. Apparently, the sign of the day was "Watch for Cattle," which was posted, roughly, every 6 minutes for a solid 1.5 hrs, though we never spotted one. Confused?!? We were too.

While the rest of were sleeping in your nice cozy beds, we were already 3 hours into our drive eating breakfast in Parker, AZ at "Badenoch's on the River." If you have never eaten their before, it is well worth the drive (the view of the Colorado River is a plus, too).

From their we continued on, which thanks to our lovely new Garmin GPS (dad's Father's Day present to himself), I couldn't really tell you the route we took. Nor, could my dad. It wasn't until about an hour outside of Kernville, when dad actually had to start paying attention to his driving. It went from dead flat to beautiful mountain passes.

Here are just a few photos of todays ride, don't forget to check back tomorrow for Sequoia National Forest and Park and King's Canyon National Park.

Good Morning Mister Sun

Shadow Cycle

Badenoch's on the River

Crossing the Colorado River

Our lovely drive...into the middle of nowhere

Hello California!

Joshua Tree

More Joshua Trees (close up)

Doesn't do this view justice

Driving around Lake Isabella (my favorite of the day)

I dare you to try and pronounce this

God Bless America

Today is a day to look back and remember all the soldiers who fought and died for this country and those who are currently fighting. This country stands for freedom, opportunity, dreams and love and I give my thanks to those men and women for putting their hearts and souls into defending our nation.

My Cousin, My Hero, My Marine!

Four and a half years ago, my cousin Ryan, joined the Marine Corps and has done two tours. I cannot thank him enough for everything he has done for this country. He is truly amazing and an inspiration.  I love you, Ryan!

All pictures taken at my cousin's Marine Corps Graduation. 

I know I can speak for my family when I say, we am proud of you Ryan and every soldier, present and past, for all you do! God Bless the USA! I am proud to be an American