California trip 12 - Red Rocks Canyon

December 27th 2011
We had a room booked in Las Vegas for that night but weren't quite ready to get back in the busy city, so went first to Red Rocks Canyon, just 15 minutes away from Vegas.
From the 13-miles scenic drive, you can stop at different spots and take off for a hike. From the Keystone Thrust you have a beautiful view of the valley and rock formations. The best part was to scramble along the bright red "Calico Hills"!

Views from Keystone Thrust hike

California trip 11 - Joshua Tree National Park

December 25th 2011
After a great Christmas Eve dinner at our friend Cody's house in LA and a breakfast in the sun in his backyard on Christmas morning, we arrived in the afternoon to Joshua Tree National Park, the land of Dr Seuss... Do you see where he got his inspiration for the Green Eggs and Ham characters? Which American hasn't seen his books as kids??
But the park is not only about these funny looking Joshua trees, its also a paradise for rockclimbers, and if you don't have the climbing gear some rocks are perfect for scrambling!
We set camp in Ryan campground and had a beautiful sunsets that lit up the rocks in bright pink/orange... The night was very cold (below freezing!) but the sky was full of stars, amazing!
The next mroning we went up to Keys View from where you can see the San Andreas Fault, scrambled the rocks at Hidden Valley and Jumbo Rocks.
In the town of Joshua Tree, we ventured into a ghost-town-looking saloon and were surprised to find a delicious place for burgers.

I have to say Joshua Tree was one of my favorite part of the trip...

Joshua Trees everywhere!Our tent at Ryan Campground:Keys View and San Andreas FaultHidden Valley:

Jumbo Rocks :

Town of Joshua Tree at the entrance of the park

California trip 9 - Big Sur

December 23rd 2011
The next step of our journey was a much awaited one : BIG SUR...
It's really hard to describe what this place really is and also hard to point our exactly on a map - basically it's a mountain range (Santa Lucia Mountain Range) along a part of the coast with protected spaces, a National Forest and State Beaches and State Parks, a great place to hike with views on the ocean. There is no city or town there, just some campgrounds and a couple expensive hotels so we had booked a hotel in San Luis Obispo which was another 100miles/170 km more south.
Also, an important thing that we didnt consider when planning our trip in December, we had the shortest days of the year! So it was already starting to get dark by 4.30 and the sun set at 5.
Big Sur probably starts when you see the Bixby Bridge. We didn't have time for a hike but we drove down to Pfeiffer State Beach to see the spectacular rocks and purple sand... then continues our way south along the sunset... Beautiful!

California trip 8 - 17-Mile Drive and Point Lobos

December 23rd 2011-
Just south of Monterrey and Pacific Grove starts the 17-mile drive, a road with beautiful scenery all along. We took almost 2 hours since we stopped at the different lookouts and just took our time enjoying the view. It ends with Pebble Beach and its world-famous golf course.

The famous Monterrey sea otter in its natural habitat!

You need a close-up to figure out what is on this "Bird Rock":Seals! And alot of them...

Last stop of 17-mile drive, The Lone Cypress, loyal to its rock since over 250 years:

Coming out of the drive, you drive through the little town of Carmel, with its million dollar houses overlooking the ocean.
A little further we stopped at Point Lobos State Preserve, another must-see of the Central Coast.
It is a perfect place to spend a whole day just hiking the trails through the cypress forests and then following the rocky shores. We only could stay a couple hours but we still got to spot some whales in the distance! November and December is the season for them to migrate through the area.

California trip 5 - Highway 1 from SF to Santa Cruz

December 20th 2011 -
On our 4th day in California, we rented a car in San Francisco and started our descent to Los Angeles along the ocean on the famous Pacific Coastal Highway 1. We were staying in Santa Cruz that night which is only 80 miles/130 km away but we took our time and stopped on the way on a few nice beaches...
We arrived at Ano Nuevo State Preserve too late to take the 2-hour hike taking us to the elephant seal colony but the beach there is really nice too, everytime the waves came close, you could hear the sounds of the rocks knocking against each other :