Day 12 - Big Sur, CA

For our second day in Big Sur, we decided to explore Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park a bit.  It is a place of amazing beauty.

Even the drive from the Big Sur Campground to the State Park was gorgeous!

The Scullys at Big Sur, CA!

Ever since we began doing research for our California road trip, I saw pictures of the famous McWay Falls and could not wait to see them in person!  They are a thing of beauty.

The McWay Falls is probably the most well-known feature of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  It is an 80-foot waterfall that flows year-round and one of the few waterfalls that empties directly into the Pacific Ocean.  The beach you see in the picture below is inaccessible to visitors, but we dreamed of how wonderful it would be to play and camp there!  

The yucca blooms below the lookout area were the biggest we've ever seen!

One of the neatest things we learned while here, was how the park came to be named after Julia Pfeiffer Burns.  Julia Pfeiffer Burns was a true pioneer woman who grew up in Big Sur from the time she was 11 months old.  She married fellow homesteader John Burns in 1915.  She and her husband worked their leased ranch together.

Helen Hooper Brown, an east coast heiress who was orphaned at 15 year old, had inherited $10 million  and married Lathrop Brown in 1911.  The Browns purchased a ranch in Big Sur in 1924.  Over the course of the next four years, Julia and Helen developed a close friendship, despite being from two very different worlds.

In her will, Helen donated her land at Big Sur to the state to be preserved, but only under one condition - It must be named after her dear friend, Julia.

It is truly beautiful land and we are so thankful we were able to explore it on our trip to Big Sur!

After going to the lookout area for McWay Falls, we headed down another trail toward the condor nests.

There, we were able to see several nesting California condors UP CLOSE!

We also found two of the coolest campsites in California - and the ONLY two in JFB State Park!

This is the view from the two campsites above!  

After enjoying the views of the ocean, we were ready for lunch.  We headed inland just a bit and had a beautiful picnic lunch by the creek at the park.  

The short hike to our picnic spot.

What a view!

We had a visitor during lunch!

On the way back to our campsite the Big Sur Campground, we decided to stop at the Big Sur Taphouse to have a look around.  Both boys were sleeping in the car, so Dan and I each took turns checking the place out - it included a little general store and post office, as well.  It was so cool inside, we decided we had to wake the boys up and stay to enjoy it!

Once inside, we ordered an appetizer of chips and salsa and a couple of brews and headed up to the rooftop patio!  They even had wifi, so it was our chance to catch up with the outside world via email and Facebook!

An hour or so later, we finally headed back to the campground to relax and make some dinner.  The boys headed to bed around dark.  Dan and I were beat, too.  As Dan headed to the camp bathrooms to get ready to bed, I cleaned up the campsite and waited for my turn.  I grabbed for a picnic blanket we'd hung across a fallen redwood log and caught a glimpse of something yellow in my headlamp.  As I leaned in closer for a better look, here's what I saw....

Ahhhhhh!  I jumped out of my skin and nearly screamed as I saw this banana slug sliming his way across our blanket.  Ewwww.....  Afraid that Dan would miss seeing it, I took several pictures.  Of course, a slug moves very, veeerrrry slowly and was in nearly the same spot by the time Dan returned from the bathroom.