WATCHING THE SURFERS RIDE THE HIGH ROLLERS AT PISMO BEACH

DAY 8: Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo

We decided that we should maximise beach time today as this will be the last opportunity for a good 10 days, so Pismo Beach was our target, about 10 miles south of San Luis Obispo.

Before breakfast we decided to look for accommodation in Yosemite National Park - our destination after San Francisco. The first and most centrally located accommodation we checked was Curry Village (sounds like somewhere on Brick Lane). Their website recommends booking a year in advance and as we plan to be there in four days I didn't fancy our chances. When I called however we were in luck. And not only that, it was 'reasonably priced' at $110 for the night. Reasonably priced for Yosemite anyway. Ok, so it's a canvas tent (no, really, it is) but it is heated. Just as well as Yosemite's climate can be quite volatile at this time of year; one day blazing hot, the next day four feet of snow. Let's hope the bears have started to hibernate too.

So with that done, we had some homemade pancakes at the hostel and headed in to town to get our fruit fix for the day. We had a pretty bland smoothie so it must have been good for us. Then we headed for Pismo.

We spent the morning in awe at the surfers trying to tame the pretty vicious high rollers coming in from the Pacific Ocean. This surf was only for pros, not like the three guys who got in their wetsuits and spent about two hours stretching and chatting. I'm not sure they ever went in.

Also met my first Peagull today - I think a naughty seagull must have befriended a pigeon to create this weird looking, large pigeon-bodied, seagull-beaked bird. Weird! I'm sure Bill Oddie would correct me.

After watching the surfers from the pier (Jen took this pic), we headed back into SLO for our now-becoming-regular-spot outside Peet's Coffee and Tea. I decided to go for iced latte (and then an iced mocha) this afternoon on account of the heat. It was really nice sat outside in the shade watching the world go by. There was also a lovely smell in the air, courtesy of Abercrombie & Fitch across the way.

Afterwards we headed back to our hostel. We're dorming it tonight with four others, but we'd already bagsied the beds this morning - Jen on top, me on bottom (bunks!). Briefly met two of our roomies; Felix and his girlfriend/wife from Germany. They're going down the coast, so we were able to swap advice on our next destinations. Apparently we have a long bit of driving ahead of us tomorrow, but only because we'll stop loads as it's the most beautiful bit.

We ventured into town for dinner - another visit to the Natural Cafe. Afterwards we wanted to soak up some atmosphere (and bevvies) but with it being a Monday and nearing the end of the season it was pretty quiet, so we decided to save it for San Fran. Probably best with so much driving to do tomorrow.

Time for a bit of travel planning back at the hostel then. The drive from Yosemite to Las Vegas is the part of the journey that is most likely to be challenging and unpredictable because of the Sierra Nevada's altitude and the time of year with the seasons changing. I decided to make four routes so we have contingencies if the weather is not with us and whether the Tioga Pass is open or closed. Let's see what happens.

By the way, in case you thought I was spending every day at a PC, I'm not. I'm doing this on the iPhone (which is hard as I have fat thumbs and keep making typos). Oh, and Fanny Wrappers is a kind of Ann Summers shop. Who'd have thought it?