There are a few places we missed that I need to do one day:

Stinson Beach
Pt Reyes National Seashore
Napa Valley - I think you need to do a dedicated wine tasting trip to get it all in (plus there is a hot air balloon ride in Napa that must go on my list of things to do).

I also want to get a dune buggy next time I am in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

And I want to fly down to San Francisco for a few days in the near future. Our decision not to go into cities was a good one, but I really want to get there - it looked so cool from a distance.

Also, next road trip to California will probably involve flying into LA or San Diego and renting a car to do the southern coast as we didn’t get down there at all this time.

Overall, I learned some very good things about booking motels in strange towns (like if it’s important to you to walk on the beach in the morning, make sure your hotel is near the beach). Pretty basic stuff but not always top of mind when trying to get cheap places to stay.

I’d also love to spend more time in Cannon Beach and Carmel some day. Maybe in a nice cottage/vacation rental.

And I need to test my thermarest before I leave for camping. Big lesson.

Vancouver is pretty far away from California. Just in case you didn’t know. We had a long day of driving ahead of us so we got up pretty early, skipped the big breakfast and found the local Starbucks.

That means we drove from 7 am until about 12:30 am as we decided to try and get two days of driving into just one. Silly overachievers.

You don’t need to hear all about these days - we drove, we ate, we peed, and we listened to my ipod.

What you do need to know about:

1. Richardson Grove State Park is a gorgeous place to stop on sweltering hot day to take a quick dip in a cool river. Very pretty, nice and shallow, not too many people. You’ll find it off route 1 before Garberville.

2. It is not always smart to be spontaneous when travelling in tourist season. There are good reasons to book ahead and to know what city you are staying in. These reasons include the reality that entire towns can sell out of accommodation by 11 pm in the summer.

And that you can end up on pretty dark and scary roads when the main highway is shut down due to a detour and the flag woman gives you directions you don’t completely understand. These places can be full of hillbillies meaning that if you need to pee, you can’t stop the car or you could be carried off into the bushes where you are either eaten or turned into wax. So, you really can’t stop on such routes. Very dodgey indeed.

3. Red Lobster has these really nummy little chive and garlic biscuits. Just so you know.

4. Home is a good place to be after driving for a very long time, but once you unpack, you’re going to want to head out again on the next road trip.

Okay, I tried the camping thing. I bought a new sleeping bag as my old mummy bag was suppressing me. I bought the new tent so we could have space. And I even got a new self-inflating Thermarest from Coast Mountain sports before we left. The thermarest betrayed me horribly. As soon as we opened it to let it do its self-inflating thing, it broke. We literally stood there as the pieces of the seal broke off. So, I slept on a thin piece of foam that was deflating all night as I slept on it. Oh, did I say slept. Nope, didn’t sleep. Not a wink.

Now those of you who have slept with me (platonically of course) know that I can actually be pretty annoyingly chipper in the morning. If I get sleep. No sleep, no chipper. I was a very cranky zombie type girl. Very bad news.

So, we cut our losses and decided to head onto Santa Cruz (also cutting two hours off the eight-hour drive we had planned for the next day as we started to head home).

Now my travelling companion needs breakfast on a set schedule, so she bravely took zombie girl into public. We had what would turn out to be the worst service of the trip at the Big Sur Lodge Restaurant. Food was not worth the price and the lack of service was ridiculous.

We had already planned to do Carmel and Monterey even if we stayed in Big Sur that extra night, so we popped into those two towns on the way up route 1.

Carmel was adorable. Obviously a very arty, rich person’s town, but adorable nonetheless. We snacked on fresh scones at the Tuck Box, a gingerbread style cottage in the downtown area.

We also managed to get in a little bit of shopping which soothed my inner beastie. I even found a cell phone holder (have been looking for weeks).

We hoped Monterey would be as sweet, but as my pal said, “it was just like the developed areas of Puerto Vallarta.” So, not really good. So much for experiencing the Cannery Row of Steinbeck. We didn’t stay.

A little while later we arrived in Santa Cruz - location for one of my favourite all time movies - Lost Boys. I had some vampire hunting on the Boardwalk planned, but it was pretty damn hot still so we took shelter in the shaded streets of the downtown shopping district on Pacific after finally finding somewhere to stay. Bit of a dodgey motel since we hadn’t planned to be there, but close to the boardwalk.

Santa Cruz is another college town so there were plenty of cute boutiques - both hippie and trendster. One of the coolest was the Om Gallery where we both picked up new purses (yes, I know I don’t need more purses). Om is a fair trade business that works with family industries in Asia. I was tempted to bring home one of their beautiful lamps, but grabbed a catalogue instead.

Dinner was at the highly recommended El Palomar. The food was great - taquitos, margaritas and fajitas - some of my favourite foods. Service was disappointing - kind of indifferent.

We were full as hell, so we walked off our dinner by heading down the Santa Cruz Wharf a short distance. Great views of the beach and boardwalk rides. After we dropped our bags back at the motel, we went off on our vampire hunting. Okay, not sure anyone was doing that but me, but we did go to the Boardwalk which was a zoo (we found out later that ride tickets are half price on Mondays). We got on the Skyglider for a view of the whole scene.

We could actually hear the screams from the rollercoaster from our hotel rooms and as we lay on our beds later that night, we could see the lights of the rides. Pretty cool if you like amusement parks as much as I do.

No vampires sighted. Not even one goth.

The goal of the trip was really to get to Big Sur so I could experience the land that inspired so many of my favourite writers.

We left SLO pretty early for breakfast in Morro Bay. Even though it was early on a Sunday, Dorn’s Original Breakers Cafe was hopping. It was easy to see why with an amazing view of Morro Rock and Morro bay harbour, patio and great service and food. Best eggs benedict of the trip (and I do know my eggs bene).

Back on route 1, we were treated to the gorgeous views we’d missed being inland on the 101 for a couple days. The drive to Big Sur took us to Harmony, a tiny, privately owned town just off the highway. It was in the guidebook but there really was nothing to see.

Next stop was Hearst Castle. This thing is insane.

We thought we could just drive up and see the outside, but no way. It’s a full on tourist event. Don’t know what I’m talking about - well, I really don’t think I can explain so check out the link. 130-room hilltop castle built by William Randolph Hearst. Now a state park, you need to pay about $25 to get a bus tour up the hill to the castle and a guided tour of certain sections of the castle (you could probably spend days doing the whole thing). We checked out the free displays and then crossed the highway to enjoy William R Hearst Memorial State Park with a sandy beach and sheltered cove. So hot we were sweating in just bikinis but it was nice to stop midday since we had been driving so much.

Big Sur was next. We got there just in time for lunch. We were so hungry that we drove past both the Henry Miller Library and the Coast Gallery (mistake as they were closed when we tried to go back). We tried lunch at Deetjen’s first, but they were closed for lunch, which worked out just fine as next was Nepenthe. I can’t even describe Nepenthe. It’s like a dining complex made by the gods. The view from the restaurant is unsurpassed. I had the house special - the ambrosia burger. Best burger ever with fresh coleslaw. Melt in your mouth ground sirloin.

Weirdest thing - we had told everyone we’d be out of cell reception for a few days but nope. We had it all through Big Sur - even in the campground (which we should have guessed that since it had wifi was well).

After lunch, we went to check out our campsite for the next two nights at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It was gorgeous. The campground has a lodge so there is a restaurant (see day eight), store, laundry, and more.

We squeezed our bloated bellies into our bikinis and went down to the river to join our fellow campers in the warm water. It was amazing.

We’d decided to try and find another tent, as the one we had was tiny. Didn’t have to go far as they had one at the campground store - along with pretty much anything else we may have needed.

We thought we’d drive into Carmel for dinner, but once we realized it was a bit further away than we had realized, and after we encountered a drunken idiot behind us on the highway, we turned back. Dinner was at the Big Sur Roadhouse, where we had a great fresh meal (I had the special tacos with salmon and mango). Lots of locals - a good sign for a restaurant. Really nice staff.

We were pretty beat from the sun, so we turned in early thinking we’d enjoy the park more the next day.

It was time to head as far south as our trip was to head - San Luis Obispo.

An unfortunate pee break after hitting an amazing wall of Saturday traffic to the coast took us into Salinas. Once we realized it was home of the National Steinbeck Centre, we tried to head there for a visit and relief. Unfortunately we missed the parking lot for the centre and somehow ended up in the middle of a rodeo parade (poor lost Canadian girls). The parade route kept pushing us further out of downtown and we ended up pretty lost so we quickly found a gas station, and finally figured out how to get the hell out of Salinas, never to return.

We made it to San Luis Obispo in time for some shopping (having promised Katie we would head to the first Victoria’s Secret we could find in order to finish a debate Katie, Aaron and I have been having about my cup size). We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the college town (home to Cal Poly) is a haven for cute boutiques so we did our best to appreciate them.

Having worked up an appetite, we followed the guidebook recommendation of the Corner View Restaurant and Bar. The guidebook had warned us about big portions and they weren’t kidding! I ordered slow roasted pork thinking it would be light (ish) due to pork being the other white meat and all. What I got was a massive plate of juicy pork roast piled high next to mashed potatoes and some veggies. I couldn’t finish it all but I tried.

Stuffed and slightly buzzed, we went searching for a place that spoke to me right off the bat - Taste. Taste was a whole lot of fun. It’s a collective effort of local wineries to showcase their wines. Over 70 wines and the coolest tasting concept - you buy a card and can take your time to walk around and sample the selections. They have what they call “European technology” to pour the exact amount of wine and take the cost off your card. Very cool. If we weren’t already a bit silly, we might have stayed overnight.

We went to check out Linnea’s Cafe, which had been described as a lgbt friendly hipster hangout with a cute garden, but it was pretty dead for a Saturday night so we decided not to stay and to have some wine back at the hotel instead. We were at the Rose Garden Inn, which was fine considering we were looking at price that night and not comfort - but it was a bit too far out of town. Cute pool area with bbqs though.

We slept in a whole hour the next morning, as we didn’t have far to go to reach our next stop - Petaluma in Sonoma County. The initial itinerary had us going into Big Sur for Friday and Saturday night, but accommodation was a problem so we headed into wine country instead.

We had breakfast at the Little River Inn, which was very sweet, but we were very young patrons. Nummy eggs bene, except for the untoasted english muffin which drives me nuts.

We had originally thought we would take a direct route to Petaluma, but decided to take the coast instead so we could visit Bodega Bay.

The highway to Bodega Bay was almost as insane as the route between the 101 and 1 when we headed to Mendocino, but slightly less twisty so our speed was more consistent. We finally saw people walking on beaches for the first time, as well as plenty of surfers.

We ended up in Bodega Bay (you Hitchcock buffs would recall this as the location of “The Birds“) in time for lunch. Coincidentally the first restaurant we hit was the Tides , which is no longer the tiny diner used in the birds. Now it’s a huge complex with the seafood restaurant, a market, inn and gift shop. Lunch was fine, but nothing special after all the seafood we’d been having along the way.

After a short drive, we made it to Petaluma where the inland temperature was over 100. We were happy to have splurged a bit by booking into the Sheraton Sonoma County with full facilities - including air conditioning and a nice pool area.

First stop was the hotel pool, which was refreshingly cool. After we dried off, we headed into town for a snack and looksie.

After hitting a couple of stores to buy presents, we made it to Sooze Wine Bar and Cafe in time for happy hour, which meant I felt okay about trying a couple of $20 glasses of wine at half price, along with a cheese plate with a local selection. Sooze lived up to the great reviews, but we wanted to ditch the car back at the hotel (not walking distance from downtown) so we went back for another dip and then dinner and wine at the hotel dining room overlooking the pool area.

We had great steaks at the hotel restaurant and we stuffed. The beds were so big and comfy we curled up happily for the night.

We got out of Crescent City pretty quickly in the morning, but not until we had a nice breakfast at the recommended Good Harvest Cafe. Good healthy breakfast and nice service.

One cool thing about Crescent City is that it’s the gateway to Redwood Country. It’s also the start of a weird rule re: daytime headlights in really clear, sunny stretches. Couldn’t figure that one out.

The Redwood Coast is definitely something to see. Take the short detour off the 101 to get to the Avenue of the Giants after you pass through Eureka. They cater to auto tours so you’ll get all the information you need.

We also had a long walk at Agate Beach - really pretty and good for our butts after sitting so long.

We needed to get from the 101 to route 1 to get to Mendocino for the night, so we took the road between Leggett and Fort Bragg. Wow. That’s all I can say. A 20-mile per hour winding route taking you through a mountain pass. Thank goddess there was no one behind us. It was wild, but it got us back to the breathtaking views on the coast (eventually).

We were booked into the Russian Gulch Campground in Mendocino for the night, but the sites they had left for us to pick from were pretty much just dusty parking lots - not that appealing.

Instead we decided to drive the small town and check out one of their many inns. We lucked out with the Sweetwater Spa and Inn having one of their water towers available which gave us each a floor to ourselves, as well as an amazing rooftop patio. There is a spa and restaurant attached to the property but we just took a look and didn’t use them.

Dinner was at the Mendocino Cafe where we had a huge meal, some nice wine and enjoyed great service. Even though Mendocino is a tourist town, we didn’t feel they were ready for the cleavage my shirt provided. Some women seemed a bit offended. It was just a tshirt!

After dinner we tracked down the liquor store and took a couple bottles of wine back to our water tower rooftop for a game of scrabble as the sun set. The view was cool, but the climb was treacherous so we were careful about drunk we got. We still managed to lose a scrabble piece!

Early start out of Newport. We had a nice breakfast at Cafe Stephanie’s at Nye Beach. Very tasty and friendly service (Newport at least gets the friendliest town points).

We had a 6-hour drive to California to get done, but a few stops to make. First was Cape Perpetua where we did a little walk. Best view of the coast on the trip. It was amazing. You could see forever - or at least for 65 miles down the coast.

Next we went down to the Sea Lion Caves - about 38 miles south of Newport and a quick stop on the highway. What an incredible site - and sound. The caves are apparently the world’s largest natural caves and hundreds of sea lions use them to rest, and talk - very loudly.

As we drove through Florence, we started into the Oregon Dunes and made a short stop further down the highway to take some pictures. It was windy and freezing but gorgeous.

Our stop for the night was Crescent City. Ah yes, Crescent City - never going back again! There is a reason it is barely mentioned in any guidebooks. What an odd town. We booked into the Econo Lodge, which was fine for a motel. Crescent City was bizarre. They must never see women there as the honking and catcalls were pretty annoying. We had a really hard time finding decent food. The one recommended restaurant was previously located near our motel, but had moved (and not put up any kind of notice on the old location) so we made do with a nearby Mexican restaurant.

And that was about it to do. Oh well, lessons learned.