This day had been designated as a road day for some time. But unlike the push from Austin, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico we couldn’t wait for this one. Los Angeles to Monterey, California.
The drive begins on the 101 (we decided not to sit in Malibu traffic and push the trip back an hour) and goes up to Santa Barbara with some nice coastal views. Next comes the Santa Ynez Valley, where miles upon miles of vineyards sit amongst giant mountains with amber waves of grain and solid oak trees landscaping the region. The vineyards are everywhere and are quite a site to see.
The early morning push through the region found us in a town called San Luis Obispo, on the verge of hitting up the coastal drive. We filled up on gas and found an awesome Mexican seafood/taco shack and downed a couple shrimp fajita tacos that blew us away. Not sure if this place has ever been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, but if it hasn’t, it should be. Awesome stuff.
Next came about 15 miles of the previously mentioned amber waves of grain mountains, only with livestock added to the mix. As we approached Morro Bay, we could feel the air cooling down and could smell the Pacific on the horizon. Morro Bay was a neat looking beach town, not neat enough to stop in, but neat enough to enjoy the scenic views.
We pushed to the next town, a coastal area known as Harmony, where we got out of the car, walked down to the beach and snapped some photos. Rachael was trying to set our camera up on a rock to take a picture of us, when the cold ocean water rushed upon the shore and her flip-flops couldn’t provide the protection needed to keep her feet dry. Apparently the water was as cold as advertised, but we did get the pic!
Harmony was a nice place to stop, but we had more scenic views to catch, more road to drive, and more music to soundtrack the adventure. Rach drove all day, which began as an experiment because Austin wanted to take pictures from the car and if Rach were to try, she’d quickly get carsick and we would have to pull over 2,000 times so Austin could get his pics. Luckily, the windy roads would have made her really carsick and she wouldn’t have enjoyed the coolest road in America.
The next stop came at the Elephant Seal viewing area, a few miles north of Hearst’s Castle. Whoa those suckers were huge! They were some lazy giant seals, sun-bathing and kicking dirt on one another. It was funny to watch them play for a minute, which we did, then kept on keeping on up the road.
From that point on, the road began winding along the coastal mountains and we averaged a good 25 MPH speed for almost the entire stretch from the Elephant Seals to Big Sur. The slopes were so steep, the mountains so high, and the road so narrow. We were enjoying our trip in our convertible with our music at our leisurely speed and routinely pulled over in the turnarounds to allow those idiots flying up and down the PCH to pass by (seriously, there’s nothing but a two-lane winding road for a very long stretch, if you have somewhere to be, there are plenty of highways you could take). Here are some pics from the stretch:
Austin was snapping every picture he could, Rach was steady behind the wheel as giant Winnebagos and trucks flew by around narrow mountain turns. Eventually, that very cool stretch ended at Big Sur, which we were kind of unsure about. To put Big Sur into perspective – it’s the part of the PCH where the evergreen and pine trees dominate the scenery. South of there, oaks are the dominant tree, and north are the trees which we’re not sure the name but they’re the ones that appear all over Pebble Beach. So Big Sur, essentially, is just the campers woodsy dream area of the PCH. It’s cool, and the style is very cabin-y, campy, and rustic. But really, it’s nothing more than that unless you hike and camp in the region.
When you leave Big Sur, you enter an area of the PCH where the slopes are just as majestic, the forest just as green, and the views just as spectacular, but luckily, the road isn’t as hard to drive through. The funny part? It’s FREEZING! The sun’s shining, but the wind is a cool 45 degrees and blowing at an incredible speed. We wanted to take a picture of the scenery, but unfortunately, Rach was away for a minute so Austin snapped this shot with the Unabomber who was standing nearby.
As we approached Monterey, Austin wanted to stop at Point Lobos National Reserve, an area he actually had visited before with his family five years earlier. We walked along a couple trails there as the sun began setting and snapped many a picture of the scenic area. There were deer walking alongside us and some (small by comparison to the elephants we saw earlier) sea lions sitting on a rock making lots of noise. Words are tougher than pictures to describe the scene, so we’ll let you check those out…
Night was near, and we were hungry, so we grabbed some cheap seafood from a local fisherman’s market and headed back to our hotel.
We’re not sure if it’s remotely possible that there’s a more beautiful drive in America than what we saw Friday. Honestly, if anyone knows of one, please let us know while we’re still on the road and have a chance to see it. Truly a wonderful day for our eyes and memories. Nothing beats the smell of the ocean, the open air of the convertible, music that sets the mood, and the gorgeous surroundings of the Pacific Coast. This one will stick with us for a lifetime…
Filed under: California |
These Two Lanes 
Rach–
Remember the “ginger tablets” to help with the carsickness! They’ve worked for me on tour buses and Grandmom rode in the backseat all the
way from Augusta to New Orleans for ya’ll’s wedding
and they worked for her too!