One of the nice things about August (besides my birthday, which I've sort of stopped celebrating anyways) is that it's right smack in the middle of the Legislative recess. That means there's lots of flexibility to, oh, take an extended weekend to drive out to a friend's wedding. Which is good timing in general, since August seems to have a lot of those things too.

So when I found out that Michelle was getting married in Santa Barbara on August 11th, I decided it was a perfect excuse to take a couple days off and drive down the California Coast, which I'd never done. It also happened that, kind of like last summer's roadtrip up the West Coast, I'd been itching to get away for awhile. I don't know if it was stress from work, or the allure of being out by the ocean, but I was ready to go long before I'd left.

I departed Thursday afternoon, taking I-5 down through Stockton, before cutting across to Monterey County. The drive through the Central Valley is blazingly fast without the weekend traffic. There is, however, a strong crosswind that blows through the Delta, which makes speeding kind of stressful.

After a brief, half-hearted detour through Monterey's Cannery Row, I decided to push on past the touristy parts and spend my free time at the Point Lobos State Reserve a few miles to the south. This park has a few miles of easily accesible trails, some beautiful cliffs, beaches, and coves, and there's even a portion offshore that's set aside for scuba diving. A couple of bucks buys a day pass, and one could easily spend a couple/few hours strolling through the well-marked, pedestrian friendly trails.

I spent the night at the Big Sur Campground and Cabins, which is one of several campgrounds in the area. They offer several options - campsites, RV slots, tent cabins, and real cabins. Prices range from like $10-20 a night for the campsites, to about $100 a night for the fully equipped cabins. I spent fifty bucks on a tent cabin, and I've decided that, unless you're really on a budget (in which case, you should be pitching tents), the full-size cabins are a much better value.

The next day saw a lot of random stops, especially after I realized I was making fabulously good time. I left the campgrounds around 8am (amazing how early one can get up when there's nothing to do the night before), and by 9am I had made it to Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park.

JPB straddles Highway 1, with short trails along the coast, and more extensive footpaths leading inland. Not really equipped for heavy duty hiking, I followed the short, tourist-friendly path out towards the park's most famous feature, McWay Falls. The waterfall is a narrow ribbon of water that drops from the cliffs onto the beach below. There's a good photo of it on Big Sur's Chamber page.

Then, of course, there's Highway One. I think this is the most fun I've had driving, ever. (and if not ever, darn close.) There's a little bit of everything on this road, from the sharp hairpin curves, to sweeping high-speed turns, to long, flat, straightaways. The asphalt is surprisingly well-maintained, and if you ever get stuck behind a gaggle of slow-moving campers, just pull off and enjoy the view for a few minutes. By the time you get going again, the highway will be blissfully clear.

There's a turn-out every mile or so, and the view is pretty much the same from all of them - beautiful cliffs descending into the awe-inspiring vastness of the Pacific Ocean. If you can catch the days (or the times) when the skies are clear, it really is a gorgeous sight.

After a couple more stops, including about a half hour spent listening to the crashing waves at Morro Strand State Beach, I arrived in Santa Barbara. I killed a couple hours by hiking my way out to the rocky beach overlook at the far end of campus before I meet up with Jeff's friend Tony for a spin in his "new" Porsche 914 and a pizza dinner.

Jeff showed up after dinner, and we spent the night (as we would the night after) at Tony's apartment watching Thirteen Days. The next day, we spent some time driving around the hills above Santa Barbara before we got ready for Michelle's wedding.

Michelle had her wedding in a tiny little Lutheran church. Very cozy, and, without any sort of air conditioning or ventilation, very hot. (I can't imagine what it must've been like in her wedding dress.) They had the reception afterwards in this beautiful, modern Christian Center, with a banquet room decked out in wood trim and tall, tall ceilings.

Jeff and I stayed a little bit longer than Mark and Katie, who left early to start the long drive home. Once they started doing those cheesy wedding games though, we decided it was time to leave. We drove down to State Street, where we grabbed some coffee and walked around for a bit.

State Street is one of those places where you can get out of your car, walk past restaurants and coffee shops, and mingle with tons of other pedestrians. Other places have similar setups - Berkeley's College Avenue, Vancouver's Robson Street, San Diego's Gaslamp district. It's a great place to spend a Saturday night, and I wish more cities (*cough* Sacramento) had spots like that.

Unfortunately, the rest of our leisurely walk was cut short by a bought of food poisoning (not from the wedding food, thank god), which put me out of commission for the night. It was only the second or third time that's ever happened to me, but I sure don't need anymore reminders about how terrible that feels.

Sunday was uneventful. Miraculously, a glass of water cured much of my stomach ache that morning, after which Jeff and I watched part of Evolution before heading out for lunch at Chili's. We packed our stuff and went our separate ways a little bit later. It took me about seven or eight hours to drive back home.

I spent about 300 dollars over the course of that four-day weekend. A hundred of that went to cover gas for the roughly one thousand miles I drove, fifty went to lodging at the Big Sur Campgrounds, and forty went to food and water I purchased for the drive up and down. My three sit down meals totaled about thirty or forty dollars, factor a little bit more in for the wedding gift (some nice goblets, which I hope were shipped to the right destination), and chalk up the balance to film and processing.

Of course, experiencing that beautiful coast was priceless.