We got an earl start today, maybe a little after 7:30 am. Was not sure how much we were going to cover today. It was overcast and a little fog in the air with a mist.
We started out right on Highway 1 today and that essentially was the plan for the whole day. There was a little traffic coming out of San Luis Obispo but once we were about 10 miles out, the traffic was extremely light. We passed Morrow Bay and Cayucos, a couple of small towns sandwiched between Highway 1 and the Pacific. We also went thru Cambria and saw an awful lot of signs for San Simeon, both the town and a State Park. We were able to get a few good Pacific shoreline pictures because they had Vista Pullouts.
Big Spur was along the way.The main attractions are the the arched Bixby Creek Bridge, the 80-foot waterfall cascading onto the sand at McWay Falls, and the ocean bluffs of Garrapata State Park.
We also had a section of road maybe 10 miles long that was similar to the Route 66 approach to Oatman Nevada. it had switchbacks and blind corners and it was narrow in places. To California’s credit they do have guard rail of various types so the vehicles would not leave the road. Speeds along the worst parts of this section were 15 mph to maybe 30 mph. There was a reasonable amount of traffic coming in the other direction.
We continued on the Hwy 1 to Pebble Beach. They have a 17 Mile Scenic Drive. Pebble Beach and Carmel By The Sea occupy a small peninsula of land by Monterey. They have the Scenic Drive that is pretty well marked and allows you to see the communities and Pacific views. Speed limit is 25 mph but there are also many many scenic turnouts to stop and walk and take photos. We spent almost 2 hours and Kelso had 2 beach walks. He also met another Golden on the beach. The scenery was fabulous as well as some of the homes you could see part of. There are lots of streets that are not part of the scenic route. Kelso and I both enjoyed the time we spent here. You also get to see some golf holes but I think there are 3 courses in the community, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill are used in the PGA Pebble Beach Tournament each year.
After we left Pebble Beach we continued North on Hwy 1. The sun came out and it sure mode the views a lot better. We passed thru Santa Cruz and arrived in Half Moon Bay. Most of the towns are actually adjacent to the Highway and the Highway does not go thru a business section. We are staying at the Quality Inn and it does happen to be on Highway 1, a little north of town.
Tomorrow we cross the Golden Gate Bridge and take the Coast Hwy 1 from about 5 miles north of the bridge.
The 1st two pictures were when we started the day. The 2nd two were from near San Simeon
These next photos are from the 17 mile scenic drive on the Pebble Beach Peninsula.
The following 2 pictures are from North of Pebble Beach.
