PCH October 2017, Page 1
In October of 2017, Felicia, Susie, Larry and I flew to Los Angeles and spent a week driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to just north of San Francisco. It was a very good week; the weather was perfect with no rain and it was not too hot. It was our first vacation without Kendra in 15 years and I missed her.
We spent our last 2 days in Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley looking at the California vineyards and doing an all-day wine tasting tour. The day after we got back to Dallas, we saw on the news that the Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley were both on fire.
My goal was to see the beautiful beaches and coastline and to eat a lot of seafood. We did all of that with only one small problem. There had been a giant landslide that had closed down the Pacific Coast Highway almost a year earlier in the Big Sur area and we had drive around it as a new road still had not been built. We missed about 40 miles of coast in an area that is famous for its beauty. Maybe on our next trip along the Pacific Coast Highway the road will be open all the way through.
Click on any photo to see a larger view
Here is a rough list of where we went in order from south to north:
- Took an early flight from DFW to LAX
- Drove south to Long Beach and took fast ferry out to Catalina Island and spent our first day there
- Took ferry back to Long Beach and drove up to Santa Monica.
- Stayed a block from the Santa Monica Pier, ate good seafood dinner and walked around pier at night
- Took an early morning walk down Santa Monica beach
- Early start for quick drive through Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Dive, Hollywood Blvd
- Drove north on Hwy 1, Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu and Santa Barbara to Cambria
- Spent 2 nights in Cambria in neat hotel, the Sea Otter Inn, walking along coast and watching sun set
- Spent most of one day seeing the Hearst Castle and at Piedras Blancas looking at elephant seals
- Drove as far north up the coast as we could before it was blocked off due to rock slide
- For detour around landslide, we took Hwy 101 up to Salinas and then back west into Monterey
- Went to Monterey Aquarium, paid money to drive through Pebble Beach Golf Course
- Drove through Carmel and then further up to Santa Cruz
- Spent the night in an old B&B at the historic Santa Cruz Wharf
- Up early, drove on Hwy 1 through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge
- Stopped to take pictures at Golden Gate Park then into Saucalito for coffee and lunch
- Walked through Muir Woods but did not go far enough to see any of the giant Redwood trees
- Drove NE into wine country, stayed for 2 nights in Windsor, just above Santa Rosa
- Took wine tour through Napa and Sonoma Valleys, stopped at 4-5 wineries
On our last day we drove back through Oakland, San Francisco to SFO, flew home to DFW
On Catalina Island, we rented a golf cart to drive up and down the steep hills with. This also started 1 week of eating clam chowder, seafood and fried clams
Below are photos of Santa Monica beach and the Santa Monica Pier
Pics below are driving through Beverly Hills and some stars on Hollywood Blvd.
