bibsie

Hubby and I have 7 nights in Ca. in July. The main things we want to see/do is the scenic coast, wineries, and the "Big trees". Planning on flying in to San Luis Obispo, exploring there and then going to the wineries in Pasa Robles.
1)Spend a night in SLO or Pasa Robles?

2)Touring through Morro Bay, possibly doing the whale watch, then going to Cambria for 2nd night. Stay where? We are fairly budget minded.

3)Next day, going to Hearst Castle, then Julia Pfeiffer Burns St. Park, Big Sur, and Carmel. Is that too much in one day? We plan to spend 2-3 days in the Monterey area.

4). Are there "fairly big" trees on this route? Otherwise we plan to drive to Yosemite. I know it is a 4 hour drive.

5)If we drive to Yosemite, should we fly out of Fresno rather than driving back to SLO or is Yosemite to SLO a scenic eco drive. We enjoy seeing farm fields.

6)I know we need to book rooms for sure for Fri/Sat. evenings. Is it necessary during the week? Prefer flexibility, of course. I can hardly wait!!!

Supercilious

July is vacation season. You need to book ahead for any night of the week. July is also when the coast is often fogged in. Spring or Fall is a better time to go. However, for the Sierra Nevada, July may be the best month of all. If you want to see the Giant Sequoia (the "Big Trees"), you could spend a week just visiting Yosemite and Sequoia/King's Canyon.

There are coastal redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Much of it has been closed since last Fall but it should be open by July. But, then it may close again as early as September because of budget cuts. Coast redwoods are very tall but the Sequoia are bigger in diameter.

Where are you coming from that flying into San Luis Obispo and Fresno is convenient? If you drive from Yosemite to SLO you will see "farm fields" but they will not be like the ones in Illinois or Iowa. They are not nearly as beautiful. The vineyards though are quite attractive but they are nearer the coast.

If you are going to be staying in the SLO area, you might consider staying in Pismo Beach or Shell Beach. There are some very nice hotels here with superb ocean views if it isn't too foggy. And these places won't break the bank as ocean view places in Big Sur or Monterey will. Staying here will also put you very close to the vineyards and wineries of northern Santa Barbara county, many of which are excellent.

bibsie

Thanks for your reply. We are coming from Iowa. It looked like SLO and Fresno would be closest to where we wanted to start and end our trip.

Is it possible to hit 4-5 days of fog in a row in July on the coast? Hope not. This is our only available time this year.

Thanks for the idea for a night at Pismo Beach. How long of a drive is it from Pismo Beach to the Paso Robles wineries?

joeyi

If you decide to go to Hearst Castle and then on up the coast hwy from there there is a place to stay called the Ragged Point Inn that is about 20 miles north of San Simeon.
http://www.raggedpointinn.com/
It's right on the cliffs over the ocean at the start of big sur. we always stay there when we make the drive up hwy 1.
Between Ragged Point and Hearst Castle is Piedras Blancas beach and there is a wonderful elephant seal colony living on the beach that is also very much worth stopping for.
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/piedras.html

I haven't been to big sur since the fires of last year so i do not know how many big trees are still there, so I can't help you on that one.

november_moon

Coastal fog in the summer usually burns off mid day and returns in the late afternoon/early evening. So while it is probable that you will have fog each day for 5 days, it is really unlikely that you will have fog all day.

Regarding the trees - there are 2 types of redwoods - the sequoias (most massive) and the coastals (tallest). The sequoias are what you will fine in the Sierras, the coastals are what you will find in Big Sur, Santa Cruz mountains, and the north coast. For coastal redwoods, if you want to see the really big trees, check out Big Basin, which has some old growth trees. The coastal redwoods were logged pretty heavily in the 1800s, so many of our forests are second growth. Second growth forests are definitely worth visiting - they are very beautiful and also an amazing testiment to Mother Nature's ability to regenerate the landscape.

Regarding the fires from last year, the fires generally don't burn the redwoods - they get singed and sometimes hollowed out by fire, but they usually continue to grow. The other plants and trees in the forests are what really are devistated. So after a fire, the character of the forest will be different, but the redwoods remain for the most part.

bibsie

Thank you for the very informative replies. Just what I wanted to know.

Now, for the first night, if we stay at Pismo Beach, how long of a drive to Paso Robles wineries? Several posts say about the Santa Barbara wineries. How do they differ from Paso Robles?