Big Sur in the summer is one long line of cars, all going to the same place, all gawking at the same things, all about to drive off a cliff into the ocean at any turn and it is still fantastic.  Every high priced hotel room, yurt, cabin and camp site is full.  You can barely park to go into any restaurant or gallery or hiking area.  The overlooks have dangerous lines forming on the 2 lane highway waiting for a spot to pull over and practice suicide selfies.  Driving in was still spectacular, especially as a passenger. We didn’t stop at the overlooks which we know from previous trips to be incredible, and we had a glamping spot reserved so we knew we were squeezed in somewhere once we got there.

We drove up from Santa Maria after an emotional visit with Dan’s mom, Shirley and brother, Richard. It was a good way to decompress.. We didn’t do much sightseeing along the way as we had done the trip a few times and really just wanted to spend some time in Big Sur.  The only stop we made was north of San Simeon to check out the elephant seals.  There was very little activity from those fellows when we dropped by, but the size and numbers were impressive.

Once we arrived at our reserved glamp site at Fernwood we were a little disappointed with how squished together we all were, but when we got the trailer backed in (good job team!) and settled down in front of our luxury tent we were quite pleased.

We had excellent neighbors, we were right on a creek,

and the amazing Sequoias towered over all of us.

Once we had unloaded what we needed, we lay down on the benches of our picnic table and these trees were what we looked up into.  More than 100 feet above us these strong trunks were swaying independently in the breeze, inviting us to relax and let go of the packing, the road trip, the family drama, the hoards.  It worked, we were sucked in, much like the swaying of those majestic trees was helping suck nutrients to the upper levels of the giants.  We could hear and feel the breeze, hear the creek a few feet below our campsite and everything else just sort of melted away.  After about 10 minutes Dan said the only thing that would make this better was a Negroni.  Lucky Dan!  There was a stairway to heaven not 100 yards from our campsite.

Somewhat unbelievably, this beautiful, somewhat long stairway, led to the Fernwood Bar and Grill at highway level, which delighted us with craft cocktails and lively conversation.

Dan enjoyed a Negroni, I had a delicious Mai Tai and we descended again to light a fire and cook up a gourmet dinner of hot dogs.  A perfect evening in wooded paradise.

All too soon, a restful evening turned to a lovely morning and we were packing up to go.  Less than 24 hours in Big Sur, but a whole new feeling of peace and well being.