The 2 California, english

We returned to the United States through San Diego. People of this city are completely in love with. It is easy! Good weather, more than 300 sunny days a year, there are beaches, beautiful parks and the famous San Diego ZOO. Animal lovers, we visited the 3 parks (Zoo, Wild Animal park and Sea World), and they are all worthwhile. Balboa Park is very large and has a lot of different museums to please everyone, and some parts are free to visit. Otherwise it is perfect to spend the day walking and relaxing or practice various sports (golf, swimming pool, tennis, disc golf, baseball ….) and an off-leash dog park. Once you know the streets labyrinth of the city you can go by bike and discover all of the small charming parks. The beaches are very pleasant and there are areas protected for birds. Thus, observe some. Such a beautiful city it is easy to fall in love with all its diversity.
Leaving San Diego, the road is quite easy and along the ocean almost all the time. This is the richest part of the State until Malibu. There is therefore no great camping and some are closed due to winter. Something has frustrated us, the RV parks have free parking in this sector to spend the night, and it is prohibited for us! Houses are impressive, huge and some have a beautiful architecture. We have bypassed the town of L.A., a little too much traffic for two cyclists and especially for the weekend of the oscars. We wont pedal on artists sidewalk but the roller blade sidewalk! Beautiful bike path on the beach in San Pedro Bay between Malibu and Santa Monica. The only camping in the corner is in Malibu (Malibu beach RV park, a few sites for tents, spa, $ 25 night..).
The first Hike and Bike is the McGrath state park in Ventura. Fine because it is not very expensive, but they put us in very pleasant places. Behind the bathroom, just next to the dump station or in the swamp where nobody does go, even if it was free. In high season is probably a better idea to get some cyclists together and share a true site. South prices are still a little high. Normally it is $ 3 to $ 5 per person but before Big Sur it was more $ 7 and even $ 10!
Maps made by Adventure Cycling Association are well but they are still a few gaps. They omit indicating season opening and closing of states parks. For some people, just going around large cities is a good thing, but we think it makes you miss several interesting and sometimes important things.
Until San Francisco the road up and down a bit on cliffs with a magnificent view. The only negative point is that the wind blows northern every day. In several places as the shoulder is full of scrap glass, screws, nails... Following the bike path can cause damage to our bikes because asphalt damages are not indicated (roots across). The South California is the most densely populated region. There are still very small towns, sometimes very small, fewer than 600 inhabitant, the smallest were all just 18! They are charming, but as they are distant there are not many products and the prices are really high.
We stayed in couples of State Parks (San Simeon, Big Sur, Half Moon Bay, Samuel P Taylor Bodega Bay Dunes, Humboldt Redwoods) although there were a number of them closed, campsites but also we took some warmshower. Once again we met nice people and shared good meals. We tried the bbq ribs at the farmer market in San Luis Obispo, fish tacos in Santa Cruz and the Indian and Chinese food in San Francisco. Big Sur State Park was the first hike and bike that impressed us. It is a beautiful forest, the trees are huge. We spent a pleasant evening with 2 people from Quebec, heading south.
San Francisco, city of the famous Golden Gate! Very beautiful, charming, artistic architecture detailed and up and down streets. The golden gate park is really large and it is very pleasant to walk or just go to relax. On the periphery of the city there is also the Lincoln Park which offers beautiful views and nature. It is between Ocean Beach and Golden Gate recreation area, where it is possible to make good barbecue with family and friends.
After the bridge begins the northern part of California state. The redwoods trees are everywhere! This giant is absolutely intoxicating. When you are surrounded by them, it's like being in another world. We thought we would have a warmer temperature in the forest, the wind would be a little less strong! Maybe a little less but with the percentage of moisture that kept the Giants in their dense undergrowth it freezes even more and it is still wet. In fact when it doesn’t rain! Only 2 beautiful climbs, they are between Westport and Leggett. Not so bad itself but the rain always starts when you are ready to descend. After sweating, we freeze. We landed in a warm campground, the state park was closed in front of Illusion Hill a popular attraction in the region. We visited the old town of Eureka to find a bike shop (Henderson Center bicycles). They were great but had to refer us to the next town, Arcata (Adventure Edge and Revolution bicycles). We continued our journey through the Avenue of the Giants, still under the rain.