Big Sur: Living it up in a Yurt

Camille and I drove to Big Sur Wednesday.  I picked her up at the Sacramento airport and we headed southwest, past San Francisco then San Jose and Gilroy (where the main crop is garlic so the aroma was very strong).  From there, we turned inland and picked up the Pacific Coast Highway, passing through Monterey and Carmel before emerging onto the craggy cliffs which make this 50 mile stretch of highway through Big Sur so famous.  All the turnouts were jammed with cars and people taking photos - on cell phones or using GoPros or big fancy cameras with huge lenses.

We passed through this tunnel - or is it a bridge -- we ended up calling it a brunnel.  It was beautiful at any rate.  The road closes often for rock slides and repair.  The new bridges are beautiful.

Our destination was towards the southern end of the Big Sur coastline.  I had reserved us a yurt because I've been intrigued by them for as long as I can remember.  Think of it as a big round tent, with a wood floor and a real bed.  We checked-in early in the evening, before dark, and carried in our bags.  Staying in a yurt is glamping - camping with a bit of glamour - so we had to hike in our luggage (and champagne).  It also meant that we used the bathroom/shower up at the lodge.  We opened the door to our yurt and squealed.

It was amazing.  It was better than I envisioned; better than the pictures on the website (Treebones resort); and certainly bigger than I expected.

There was no cell phone service anywhere on the Big Sur coast, including at our resort.  There was wi-fi in the lodge and in the bathroom so I was able to text Brett a couple times each day.  There were chairs on our front deck but it was cold and foggy, with an icy wind blowing across the bluff, so we never used them.

We were sure we had an awesome view beyond the fog.

After leaving the 95F heat of home, the 52F foggy weather didn't dampen our spirits one little bit.  We turned on the heater, wrapped ourselves in blankets, poured a glass of champagne and celebrated our arrival.  We finished off the evening at the sushi bar -- some of the best sushi I've ever had; incredibly fresh with a talented sushi chef.

It was an excellent start to our annual mother-daughter girly get-away.  (Most of the photos in this series on Big Sur were taken by Camille).