Day One of my planned two month trip around the western United States is probably one of my longest driving days for this trip, so I was up early to get a start to the day.
I departed Arizona at 7am for the hopefully uneventful trip across the desert. Weather is Arizona was due to be in the 100’s so I was so ready for the cooler coastal temperatures.
I hooked into the 101 north from the 10, then cut over to highway 1 using Decker Canyon Road for the ride up Pacific Coast Highway. Decker Canyon Road was beautiful. It was a two lane road with lots of twists and turns with beautiful homes seen sporadically throughout the drive. Decker Canyon Road dropped right into PCH and there is the ocean.
One word to describe PCH is stunning. The road travels right along the ocean, and is just a spectacular sight.
My night was spent at Sycamore Campground at Point Mugu State Park. The campground was nice, with hot showers and flush toilets. The campground was full, and lots of families with their tents and bikes. I loved seeing it, as that is how my brothers and I spent our childhoods…camping!
My mom was a travel lover, and growing up in Vegas with the heat was not her favorite place to be in the summer. So when school got out, we were off! We camped all over Colorado, Utah, Northern Nevada, and a lot in California with our cousins who lived in the Bay Area. What a lot of memories we made!
It was a little overcast and chilly, so I opted to take a hike first before going to the beach. It felt good to stretch my legs after being in the car for 7 hours. The hike up to the peak of a small mountain was only 1.4 miles round trip and was what I considered an easy hike, and the view from the top was so worth the quick climb! You got a great view of the windy road, the hills and the ocean from the top. There was even a bench, so of course I took a little rest to enjoy the quiet, the breeze and the sound of the waves.
After the quick hike I found a great spot right down from the campground to sit and watch the ocean. It was high tide so the waves were really crashing, the seagulls were talking, and the wind was blowing…it was magical.
It was a quiet evening, since the campground had no cell or internet service, and I was pretty tired after the drive. The trip across the desert was quick and easy, but traffic in CA was pretty thick, and drivers were interesting to say the least.
It was chilly, so I got out my bed, and down comforter and grabbed my book and enjoyed my evening.
Tomorrow we head north just a bit up the PCH to Carpinteria State Park.
