Pinnacles National Park & Santa Cruz

About halfway between Paso Robles and Santa Cruz sits Pinnacles National Park. “Some 23 million years ago multiple volcanoes erupted, flowed, and slid to form what would become Pinnacles National Park. What remains is a unique landscape. Travelers journey through chaparral, oak woodlands, and canyon bottoms. Hikers enter rare talus caves and emerge to towering rock spires teeming with life: prairie and peregrine falcons, golden eagles and the inspiring California condor.” – The National Park Service

The drive to Pinnacles was beautiful, though the land is very dry and stark. We could see how fires could move so fast and scorch everything in the area.

There wasn’t really a road to drive through the park, instead there were many hiking trails which began at the visitor center. When we arrived the temperatures had climbed to about 100 f (about 38 c) so we decided not to hike.

After another hour of driving through central California we ended up in Santa Cruz. We stayed at the Smithwoods RV Campground. It was an older campground about 20 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz. There were a lot of redwoods around the campground and many RVs so it was a bit tight. There were quite a few larger RVs and we really weren’t sure how they managed to get in or out of the area.

We spent two nights here so we took a day to drive into town and walk around on the pier.

Yes, it was cool enough for Joel to wear a long sleeve shirt. That might be why we were grinning so much. In the background you can see the Giant Dipper roller coaster. “The classic wooden coaster can be seen in several movies including “Sudden Impact,” “The Lost Boys,” and “Dangerous Minds.”” – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

We heard many seals under us while walking on the pier. This is the only one we saw.

And there were so many brown seagulls in the area. I took this picture of these seagulls people watching from this railing.

The Santa Cruz Woodies, a chapter of the National Woodie Club, held a pop-up show on the pier on the Saturday we were there. It was really interesting to see these cars up close and speak to a couple of the owners about the history and craftsmanship that went into each car. Their website has pictures and some information about their members cars.

After two nights we moved on, heading north towards the giant redwoods (yes, they get even bigger than these).