-
⚠️ Possible issue on January 1
The current SSL certificate expires on January 1, 2026. It should auto-renew automatically.
If the site shows as “Not Secure” after that day, you can temporarily bypass the warning by searching Google for:
“how to ignore expired certificate Safari or your browser.”
For more information and detailed browser-specific workarounds, click here . This thread will be kept updated.
The "Dew Drop Inn" Chronicles
- Thread starter michaelo
- Start date
harpe41044
Newbie
Did you finish the AT?
michaelo
Novice
The severe weather we're having is making our stay on the central coast quite a dramatic experience. We had gale force winds in the campground last night, snapped one of our Northern Breeze poles in half. Note to self, take the NB down when under a gale warning. We made a trip to the Cambria hardware store and got 4 tomatoe plant stakes for a buck 69 each and gorilla taped them to the broken pole, so we still have our shelter.
We've been taking walks on the beach between the rain to soak up the energy of the tremendous forces at play, the ocean is a seething cauldron, amazing contrast from just days before when it was as benign as a small lake.
We're getting some sun breaks now, yippee, I'd like to think that the worst is over but a quick visit to passageweather.com ( great weather site for sailors ) tells me it ain't so.
Michael
We've been taking walks on the beach between the rain to soak up the energy of the tremendous forces at play, the ocean is a seething cauldron, amazing contrast from just days before when it was as benign as a small lake.
We're getting some sun breaks now, yippee, I'd like to think that the worst is over but a quick visit to passageweather.com ( great weather site for sailors ) tells me it ain't so.
Michael
Jim and Sue L.
Junior Ranger
You might have to take shelter in one of those great little wineries on Hwy 46 to Paso Robles. Sue and I have done that more than once on our trips to San Simeon.
Jim
Jim
michaelo
Novice
Yes Jim, it's a good thing our TV is a Mini, not much room to store the great finds on the winery tours in Paso Robles. Our next door neighbor at our house in Altadena used to invite us to his vaca place in Cayucos, and of course the tasting rooms were always on the itinerary. As the day wears on and you've visited a few, the wine starts to taste better and better and the must haves start to fill up the car...well you guessed it the next day you wonder how the $60 bottle of port along with the other treasures got in the car....I don't even like port...but our hosts do, so there you go, a great thank you gift and it's all good.
AsheWolf, funny you should mention the barrels going over The Falls, on this very trip we made a point to cross back into the states from Canada to visit a cousin who resides there, we hadn't seen him in I'm guessing 25 years. While there we did the tours and learned of Annie Taylor, 1st person to do The Falls in a barrel, she became a huge celebrity in her day, I think her trip could have been smoother if only she had fortified herself on good Paso Robles wine, come to think of it she did go over in an old port barrel...
We went down to thebeach this afternoon and couldn't believe how different it was. The storm waves had washed away a fair bit of the dune leading down to the ocean. The wind is way down now so I think we are indeed through the worst of it.
Michael
AsheWolf, funny you should mention the barrels going over The Falls, on this very trip we made a point to cross back into the states from Canada to visit a cousin who resides there, we hadn't seen him in I'm guessing 25 years. While there we did the tours and learned of Annie Taylor, 1st person to do The Falls in a barrel, she became a huge celebrity in her day, I think her trip could have been smoother if only she had fortified herself on good Paso Robles wine, come to think of it she did go over in an old port barrel...
We went down to thebeach this afternoon and couldn't believe how different it was. The storm waves had washed away a fair bit of the dune leading down to the ocean. The wind is way down now so I think we are indeed through the worst of it.
Michael
michaelo
Novice
San Simeon is a place that is easy to fall in love with, maybe that’s why Susan and I always look forward to our visits here. It’s remoteness, roughly half way between LA and the bay area, it’s history, only 3 owners since the Salinas Indians roamed freely and it’s ruggedness, wedged in between the Pacific Ocean and the San Lucia Mountains make it a special place.
The Hearst family partnered with the state and conservation groups to restrict development of the coast into perpetuity. How rare is that, so the elephant seals, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, dolphins, gray whales, sea turtles, black tail deer, quail, red tail hawks, egrets, great blue herons, ground squirrels…can all breathe a sigh of relief. (Susan and I have seen all these creatures in abundance here this last week)
For us the big draw is seeing so much wildlife and just taking in the beautiful seascapes, but Hearst Castle is a must see, we’ve been many times on previous visits, the Paso Robles Winery tour, tours of the 1875 Piedras Blancas lighthouse, the old shipping wharf that George Hearst built in San Simeon Bay and of course the elephant seal rookery. When we first started coming here in the early 90s there were only a few elephant seals. Now, this stretch of beach is covered with them. This ain’t Sea World, the seals come to mate, calf and nurse their young, almost oblivious to the people only a few feet away (behind a newly erected fence but still only feet away) We spoke with a docent who said that 4700 elephants seals had been born there in the last year! They sure love San Simeon too. In an area about 3 miles south of the rookery is a great place to see sea otters. If you scan the kelp beds with binoculars you almost always see them out there making a living, diving for seafood, (they have to eat one quarter of their body weight in seafood a day!) they use rocks to crack open crabs and shell fish, you can see them hammering away at their soon to be lunch, great fun to watch.
Cambria is a short drive from the campground so getting supplies is easy.
We’re finishing up a 2 week stay, the weather these last few days has been a little rough but blue skies are again in the forecast, next stop Big Sur.
Michael
The Hearst family partnered with the state and conservation groups to restrict development of the coast into perpetuity. How rare is that, so the elephant seals, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, dolphins, gray whales, sea turtles, black tail deer, quail, red tail hawks, egrets, great blue herons, ground squirrels…can all breathe a sigh of relief. (Susan and I have seen all these creatures in abundance here this last week)
For us the big draw is seeing so much wildlife and just taking in the beautiful seascapes, but Hearst Castle is a must see, we’ve been many times on previous visits, the Paso Robles Winery tour, tours of the 1875 Piedras Blancas lighthouse, the old shipping wharf that George Hearst built in San Simeon Bay and of course the elephant seal rookery. When we first started coming here in the early 90s there were only a few elephant seals. Now, this stretch of beach is covered with them. This ain’t Sea World, the seals come to mate, calf and nurse their young, almost oblivious to the people only a few feet away (behind a newly erected fence but still only feet away) We spoke with a docent who said that 4700 elephants seals had been born there in the last year! They sure love San Simeon too. In an area about 3 miles south of the rookery is a great place to see sea otters. If you scan the kelp beds with binoculars you almost always see them out there making a living, diving for seafood, (they have to eat one quarter of their body weight in seafood a day!) they use rocks to crack open crabs and shell fish, you can see them hammering away at their soon to be lunch, great fun to watch.
Cambria is a short drive from the campground so getting supplies is easy.
We’re finishing up a 2 week stay, the weather these last few days has been a little rough but blue skies are again in the forecast, next stop Big Sur.
Michael
speaking of the central coast and the storm, did you see that the Gaviota pier was damaged?
(for folks unfamiliar with Cal's central coast, San Simeon is west (north) of Santa Barbara, and Gaviota is between Santa Barbara and San Simeon - also on the coast, obviously.)
(for folks unfamiliar with Cal's central coast, San Simeon is west (north) of Santa Barbara, and Gaviota is between Santa Barbara and San Simeon - also on the coast, obviously.)
michaelo
Novice
Al, we did not know the pier was damaged, when we were there the campground was closed, didn't inquire because we were happy at Refugio Beach. We checked out San Simeon Bay at the height of the storm, huge waves were battering the pier there from the gale force winds out of the south. San Simeon bay is a great anchorage in the summer months with the predominant northwest wind howling outside. They had the pier closed, hope it didn't get damaged.
Michael
Michael
Jim and Sue L.
Junior Ranger
When the fog clears look to the sky. When we were through there in the spring of 2012 traveling up HWY 1 a very large bird was circling over head. Turned out to be a California Condor. He landed on the top of a cypress tree right on the edge of the road a few hundred feet ahead of us. He must have been 4' tall with at least a 6' wing span. We stopped and took some photos and waited for him to take flight but wouldn't budge. The Condor is making a comeback nesting in the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres N F. It's just east of Julia Pfeifer Burns S P.
Jim
Jim
michaelo
Novice
Thanks for the heads up Jim. The sun is out today and we are indeed looking up, nothing yet though. They say you never forget seeing your 1st moose, I think the same can be said when you see your 1st California Condor in the wild (the ones at the San Diego Zoo don't count) We have seen them at Pheiffer on previous trips. I also saw a group of them circling around right at eye level at the south rim of the Grand Canyon once, they put on a wonderful show for the tourists. They were effortlessly riding the warm thermals rising from the canyon floor on their awesome 9 foot wing spans.
I was marveling at the plumage of a lone wild turkey in the parking lot of the lodge this morning. He was pecking at the reflection of himself that he saw in the shiney paint on a rather new looking Chevy Camaro. He was all puffed out, really trying to out strut his rival. He was really going at this car, hope he didn't damage the paint, can you imagine having to explain something like that to your insurance agent!
Michael
I was marveling at the plumage of a lone wild turkey in the parking lot of the lodge this morning. He was pecking at the reflection of himself that he saw in the shiney paint on a rather new looking Chevy Camaro. He was all puffed out, really trying to out strut his rival. He was really going at this car, hope he didn't damage the paint, can you imagine having to explain something like that to your insurance agent!
Michael
michaelo
Novice
Another skunk in our campsite last night! I was enjoying the last dieing embers of our fire when I heard what I thought was another camper taking empty bottles to the trash, then again and then again, wait a minute there is only one other camper here and they couldn't be that thirsty. I pointed my flashlight at the noise and found a black and white fur ball going through our garbage, I oh so carefully got up, circled way around and got into Dewey without disturbing the little varmint. I got out the book I'd been reading...Susan rolled over and noticed I was fully clothed proper up in bed reading "what gives" she said " skunk in our garbage" I says " oh no" she says " oh yes" I says " what do we do" she says " we wait" I says. And that's what we did, waited and waited, it must have been out there an hour. He was very thorough, he ate the asparagus ends and the fat and grisel from our steaks that we had for diner. Finally he cleared off and we cleaned up camp and turned in. Note to self, get things squared away before dark.
Pfeiffer is full this weekend so were breaking camp and heading over to Laguna Seca rec. area near Monterey for the weekend.
Pfeiffer is full this weekend so were breaking camp and heading over to Laguna Seca rec. area near Monterey for the weekend.
Great stories Michael. I'm enjoying your adventures.
michaelo
Novice
Glad to hear you're enjoying the chronicles of The Dew Drop Inn Pat, happy to share. There is a whole lot of winter in March but there's some spring too!
What a difference a few hours make, this morning we were tucked in amongst the giant coastal redwood trees at Pfeiffer Big Sur and now we are high atop a mountain at Laguna Seca Rec Area with an expansive view of the valley below. This trip has been a study in contrasts.
Pfeiffer campsite
Cute butts at Laguna Seca campsite
We hope to spend a week here, there is so much to do, we haven't been in these parts in I'm thinking 10 years. First off is laundry (gotta do it sometime) then a visit to Monterey Aquarium, Saturday is Carmel, Sunday, a trip to the John Steinbeck museum, then on Monday...
Michael
What a difference a few hours make, this morning we were tucked in amongst the giant coastal redwood trees at Pfeiffer Big Sur and now we are high atop a mountain at Laguna Seca Rec Area with an expansive view of the valley below. This trip has been a study in contrasts.
Pfeiffer campsite
Cute butts at Laguna Seca campsite
We hope to spend a week here, there is so much to do, we haven't been in these parts in I'm thinking 10 years. First off is laundry (gotta do it sometime) then a visit to Monterey Aquarium, Saturday is Carmel, Sunday, a trip to the John Steinbeck museum, then on Monday...
Michael
We have had more than three inches of rain in these first few days of March. More than we usually get for the whole month. Lucky you to be away from here. But,(I know don't start a sentence with But) But, the frogs are singing tonight. I love it when the first frogs sing. It really feels like spring. March, in like a lion?