Summer 2025 Road Trip Part 2

Hey Everyone! I hope you’re having a great summer. We are in the middle of a road trip in California. In the first part, we drove down to Santa Rosa to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum and hung out with my brother in San Jose. In this second part, we headed off to the California Central Coast and visited the Sequoia National Park. It was great.

California Central Coast

Mrs. RB40 and I love the California Central Coast. We went to college in Santa Barbara and always wanted to move back someday. However, a house is very expensive in Santa Barbara. That’s why we’re exploring other towns along the California Central Coast to find a more affordable location. On this trip, we targeted Monterey and San Luis Obispo area.

Monterey

A few years ago, my college roommate got a huge house in a beach town near Monterey. That’s awesome because now we have a place to stay at the beach. We walked around Carmel and Pacific Grove, then went hiking at Point Lobos Natural Preserve. It was great. Carmel had a ton of nice shops and cute houses. The beach was very busy, though. Pacific Grove was nice too and less crowded. However, this whole area is super expensive due to the proximity to Silicon Valley. I suspect people sold their homes in San Jose for a huge profit and moved to the beach. We probably won’t fit in here.

San Luis Obispo

After a few days in Monterey, we drove down the 101 to San Luis Obispo. Mrs. RB40’s cousin lives there and we wanted to catch up. We also wanted to visit Cal Poly San Luis Obispo because Mrs. RB40’s dad went there. It was a pretty neat campus. The town is only 10 minutes away from the university. We like SLO. It feels similar to Santa Barbara back in the old days. It’s smaller, but cleaner and less busy. SLO seems like a nice town to live in. The good thing is that the beaches are only about 20 minutes away. I wouldn’t mind settling down around SLO.

Pismo Beach and Morro Bay

We spent a day in SLO and stayed a couple of nights at Pismo Beach. The beach is nice, but very touristy. There were a ton of people there. The Pismo Beach pier is neat too. It looks like a good place to go fishing. A local guy caught several good-sized mackerel while we were watching. There were plenty of restaurants near the pier. The guys at the info booth assured us that every restaurant is good.

Pismo Beach is very nice. I think it’s too touristy for me. I also like a bay or cove so it would be easier for paddling. Pismo Beach is wide open to the Pacific. It’s nice for surfing, but harder for kayaking.

A few minutes south of Pismo Beach is the Oceano Dunes Natural Preserve State Park. You can pay $5 and drive right onto the beach. I was afraid our trusty Mazda5 would get stuck so we just walked around a bit. It would be a cool experience if we had a 4WD vehicle. We also stopped by the Monarch Butterfly Grove. The Monarch butterflies aren’t here right now, but it was a nice stroll. This whole area has a relaxing Southern CA vibe.

Morro Bay

Morro Bay is about 30 minutes north of Pismo Beach. We’ve driven through this area a few times, but never really spent much time exploring the town. It turns out you can drive right next to the Morro Rock. The bay is huge. We saw otters, seals, cormorants, pelicans, a peregrine falcon, and a ton of squirrels. The bay seems like a nice place to paddle and relax.

Oh, we found a nice viewpoint at the Museum of Natural History. Walk to the top of the hill where the Museum is located, and you will get a great view of Morro Rock.

Morro Bay seems like a nice relaxing beach town. It doesn’t feel too touristy either. Now, Morro Bay is high on my list of places I’d like to move to. I would go out on the Bay all the time if I lived there. The housing price is probably more affordable here than Pismo Beach or Monterey. I’ll have to look into it more.

Sequoia and King Canyon National Park

Next was Sequoia. We left Pismo Beach around 8 am and arrived at Sequoia around noon. I thought it was a bit late, but it was almost perfect timing. We were able to park at most of the famous sights. It was busy, but not overcrowded. We saw the tunnel rock, auto log, Moro Rock, the General Sherman tree (the biggest tree in the world), and various groves. Mrs. RB40 and I loved it. This was why I had such a good memory of Sequoia NP from my youth. This southern section is packed with great sights. RB40Jr wasn’t impressed, though. He shrugged and said, “Ooo, another big tree.” It’s hard to impress a teenager. I think he’ll appreciate it more when he’s older.

We arrived at Lodgepole camp around 6 pm. We had plenty of daylight left to set up camp. Our campsite was awesome. It was about 30 feet away from the parking area and we had more privacy than other sites. Our tent was set up near a creek and we could hear the water running all night. It was great. We scrounged for wood and had a nice fire going. Pro tip – check the empty campsites. Usually, they have wood left over from the previous campers.

The next day, we stopped by a few sites in Kings Canyon NP. We saw the General Grant tree and a fun log tunnel. We didn’t go far into Kings Canyon NP. Next time, we’ll explore more. It’s a huge park.

Alright, that’s about it today. We are taking a rest in San Jose now. Next week, we’ll drive back to Portland. I can’t believe Summer is almost over. Enjoy it while you can!

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Joe started Retire by 40 in 2010 to figure out how to retire early. After 16 years of investing and saving, he achieved financial independence and retired at 38.

Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the USA so check them out!

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