The first stop on our California road trip was an Air Bnb cabin in Big Sur. David came to collect me on my last day at work, and we hit the road straight away. We had apparently chosen the only day of hideous weather in the entire 14 weeks that I was there to start our holiday. Driving on strange roads in torrential rain at night does not make for chilled and relaxing times! A quick stop at In-n-Out Burger kind-of saved the day, and we carried on trudging through the rain. It was a long, slightly spooky (did I mention that it was Halloween night?) but exciting drive off Highway 1 and through redwood forests to get there – we finally arrived at our little cabin at around 9pm.
The cabin was up a very steep, and now very muddy hill – we knew this was the case when booking. We parked at the bottom outside the main house (a totally amazing geodesic dome structure) and one of the owners drove us up in his 4wd, sliding around all over the place – it was fun! The cabin was tiny, but perfectly equipped with a cute kitchen and dining area, fireplace and a bedroom nook. The bathroom seemed newly built, it was on the deck right outside the front door and had a semi-open roof. On the first night I was pretty convinced a bear or mountain lion was going to come knocking while I was on the loo – 100% rational thinking, 0% scared of the dark, obviously.
The cabin was surrounded by insanely huge redwood trees and was totally secluded – we had absolutely no phone reception and it was a little hike to get to and from the car. We stayed for two nights making cosy fires in the wood burner, eating pasta, drinking red wine that our host kindly left for us, fending off friendly (?!) spiders and visiting Big Sur national park. All in all, best start to the holiday.
You can see the rest of my California posts here, or check out my instagram, #southbynorthcalifornia
