Day 33 (17 September 2015)

These are our rooms at Deetjen Inn, Big Sur, California. Made of redwood and built by the pioneer family many years ago.

The Big Sur lighthouse also a US Navy establishment, California.

The famous Big Sur Bixby Bridge north of our accommodation, California.

Entrance to our Roaring Camp train ride near Santa Cruz, California.

Our little narrow gauge train waiting to depart at the Roaring Camp railhead. The tower could have been used in Petticoat Junction?

Ready to depart, Roaring Camp, Santa Cruz, California.

Crossing over a delicate trestle bridge on the way to Bear Mountain, Roaring Camp, California.

At Bear Mountain, Roaring Camp, California.

A Roaring Camp burnt out rail trestle bridge. Destroyed by a recent bush fire.

Cleaning the steam system – letting off steam. Approaching the Roaring Camp terminal, California.

Pacifica Beach, just south of San Francisco. Always fogged-in. New stayed in this locality back in 2012.

Entrance to Chinatown, San Francisco, California.

It was a great location in the little village of Big Sur. So fresh and we woke to another beautiful day. So far no wet weather has dampen any days and we are lucky from start to finish to have such good clear days. We drove north finishing the Big Sur road to Monterey and had a Macca’s breakfast. Continuing we drove inland near Santa Cruz and joined our Roaring Camp narrow gauge rail trip to Bear Mountain 900 feet above the start of the ride. Right among the Redwoods and thick forest it was awesome passing through these mighty trees that are up to 1800 years old. From Roaring Camp we headed north again to Pacifica which is a town 20 klms from San Francisco. We refuelled Bertha for the last time and checked out this location where Neil and Anne stayed three years ago. We made our accommodation at 4pm, unpacked the vehicle with many bags and items bought along our 30 or so days and returned Bertha to Alamo in the heart of San Francisco. Alas, the depot was closed at 4 pm. So we left the vehicle in their garage and walked to the other Alamo establishment nearby which we knew it was opened. After a kindly debate we managed to hand the keys and hopefully all is okay – we are now orphans. Returning to our accommodation we noticed many homeless people nearby. There seemed to be much poverty here and in many other cities across the States. For dinner tonight we had a great Chinese cuisine at the famous San Francisco Chinatown. Tomorrow we are on a City Tour and an Alcatraz visit. Cheers.