Started out about 8:20 this morning, another glorious weather day.
We are going to take the Coast Highway up to northern Oregon. We left the Motel and took California 91 west till we met up with California 1 north. We were south of Los Angeles, it was Monday so the traffic was fairly heavy. I think everybody was headed to work. We stuck with it and finally passed the Santa Monica Pier about an hour and 45 minutes after we started. We did pretty good until Oxnard, about 50 miles past Santa Monica Pier. Hwy 1 ended into Hwy 101, which is essentially an expressway with 3 lanes in both direction.
Before we got to Oxnard the views of the Pacific waves breaking onto the beaches was really nice. A couple of times we came over a rise and there was a great view of the shore and the Pacific below to the left. The unfortunate thing was I did not have my camera ready and by the time it was, the views were gone. I did get a few pictures along the way. Traffic on this section was medium or maybe a little less.
Once we were on Hwy 101, we went thru Ventura, Santa Barbara. There were a few other small towns, but I had never heard the names before and we could not see much of them. I tried once to get off because I thought I saw a Hwy 1 between the Pacific and Hwy 101 but I was wrong and the road dead ended. After a town named Gaviota the Hwy 101 turned north and we probably went 60 miles before we got back to the Pacific Coast at Pismo Beach. We went another 25 miles or so to San Luis Obispo. We checked the maps a little and this town is good in size so finding a reasonable Motel room was next. It was getting near 3:00 pm and although we had stopped and Kelso had a good walk It was time to give him some down time. He does not sleep while we are driving so I think he like time like this.
Good scenery today once we got past Santa Monica Pier. There is a haze over the Pacific because I could see some platforms that I would estimate a mile or less offshore, and they were partially obscured by the haze. The water was nice and blue.
Tomorrow we will take Hwy 1 along the cost up to Pebble Beach, there is a 17 Mile Scenic Tour drive and we will probably end up in Santa Cruz or Half Moon Bay, Southwest of San Francisco.
These pictures are from North of LA.
I’ve been to all the places you mentioned today. Lived in Ventura in the summer of 85 and worked at various jobs. My best friend still lives in Camarillo which you passed too. Also, have a friend in Santa Barbara which is my favorite place. San Luis Obispo is a great “arty” town!