We celebrated Gerry's 61st Birthday this weekend with a hiking and camping trip to Pinnacles National Monument, wine tasting in Paso Robles, and then hiking and camping in Montana de Oro State Park.
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| A sweaty 61 year old young Gerry |
We departed Los Angeles on June 7th, the birthday morning, a bit later than we had hoped. Still, we got out of town by 10:00 am and arrived in Pinnacles Campground by 4:00 pm.
What is
Pinnacles?, you might wonder. Here is my answer: it is an amazing place to hike, camp, and explore. It is off the radar of most people, which is good, for those of us who thrive on a hiking experience on paths less travelled.
Wow....what a hike! And then, we did another hike the following day on Saturday. We hiked a different route, which took us up to a cave.
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| I'm glad there wasn't an earthquake as we ducked our heads, passing below this narrow squeeze. |
After 2 days of hiking, it was time to "clean up." On Saturday afternoon we left Pinnacles and drove to Paso Robles (an hour drive I think) and checked into the
Adelaide Inn. The Adelaide Inn is fabulous. The staff is friendly and accomodating. We were in the mood for Mexican food, so we went to
Senor Sanchez,a local restaurant for dinner Saturday night.
We did visit a few wineries on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Our favorites were the
Adelaida Winery and
Castoro Cellars.
Sunday, after we checked out of the Adelaide, we drove an hour to
Montana de Oro State Park. We camped here and hiked on Monday morning, before we hit the road back to L.A.
What a Trip!!! It was so much
FUN !
Nice birthday gift, and I did my part to extend it longer than Mary originally planned. We have been driving past the Pinnacles turn-off (King City) every year for the 18 years we operated RaceReady - on our way to April's Big Sur Marathan. And we have heard various whispers from people we know - almost as if an inside stock tip - that Pinnacles is an undiscovered treasure. Now we know it for sure. So that's my whisper to those who read this.
ReplyDeleteOne night at Pinnacles - No, I said two.
An overnight in Paso Robles - Yes, but let's leave plenty of time for wine tasting.
Montana de Oro - Add it, definitely. It's a safe bet, since we've been there before.
Gerry
Yes, Gerry, your suggestion of two nights in Pinnacles was a good one! Hmmmm....maybe we can celebrate my birthday in a similar fashion!
ReplyDeleteHow neat! The pics are lovely and it sounds like a perfect adventure! I won't tell anybody about Pinnacles :-) And we, too, have passed by that turn-off a lot!
ReplyDelete