The drive along coastal California between Los Angeles and San Francisco is as beautiful as any I know of . . . competition for Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana, the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Carolinas and Virginia, the Overseas Highway from mainland Florida to the Keys, and even my almost all-time favorite in the autumn: Canada’s Cabot Trial around Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
If you love road trips and water, and if you live in America and can take a week off for vacation now and then, please consider reserving one week of your life for enjoying a road trip along the West Coast along Highway One, also known as Pacific Coast Highway.
Big Sur, California
We’ve gone a couple of times both ways, but I think from north to south and in the springtime is ideal for two reasons. Heading south allows the passenger the full benefit of seeing the ocean right out the window without any obstruction.
Also, let’s face it, springtime flowers are the best!! Autumn doesn’t flame in California like it does in New England, but springtime is fabulous.
In springtime, the highlands are green.
The lowlands are dotted with cattle (and some of those illusive bluebonnets I was hunting in Texas)!
The valleys are rivered with ranches and blooming orchards.
The roadsides are often adorned with beautiful wildflowers—like these Pride of Madeira.
Hillsides crowned with golden poppies dance in the breezes.
Mounds of ice plants adorn the sandy beaches like jewels (while providing natural erosion control).
Whenever you go, take time to stop at some of the most iconic places, like Monterrey, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Santa Barbara Mission, Hearst Castle, and Morro Rock.
And, of course, Pismo Beach, which I mentioned last week, although if you visit the State Beach (401 S. Dolliver St.) between November and February, you might find somewhere between 25,000 and 100,000 monarchs seeking shelter at the Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove. (Open daily from sunrise to sunset; no charge.)
This time (spring of 2022), we left Pismo Beach on April 1 and headed north toward Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Every trip is unique. We remembered one night years ago (1995) when we had reservations in Morro Bay. We left Monterrey and planned to travel south on Highway 1, but torrential rains had washed away part of the road south of Big Sur so we had to travel inland via Highway 101 and try to get across the Santa Lucia Mountains on Highway 41, which was a twisty little two-lane road back in those days. Blinding rains made it almost impossible to see, but we caught glimpses of the hills running with waterfalls, which soon turned into streams of muddy water coursing over the road.
Just five miles before we reached Morro Bay, we were stopped by a mudslide and had to go back miles to Highway 101. By then it was too late to get a refund if we tried to cancel our reservations, and Alan, who has driven us through hurricane, tornado, hail, ice, and flood, now got his chance at mud slide dodging. Truly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we feared—although there was some serious flooding on the road—and we made it safely.
Compared to that memorable adventure, this trip was comparatively easy (although driving with a motor home in California is never truly “easy”)!
One of the most entertaining stops was at Piedras Blancas (“white rocks” in Spanish”) State Marine Reserve. We stopped about seven miles north of San Simeon on Highway One.
Once hunted almost to extinction, there is now a thriving colony (“bob”) of some 17,000 elephant seals who enjoy protection and relative lives of ease!
Some of the males look like 2.5-ton blimps, and it was fun to see their lazy antics that sunny morning.
They can be quite fierce, but their chief occupation while we visited was throwing sand up in the air to cover themselves (and their neighbors) in order to feel as cool as they looked. (What? You don’t think two-ton, slug-shaped Jabba the Hutts look cool??)
Back on the road , there was no end of beauty!
There’s something maximally soothing about the blue-green end of the rainbow.
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
(Psalm 19:1).
Our driving distance wasn’t very ambitious (about 160 miles), but there were so many places to stop that we spent the entire day enjoying the trip (and could have spent several days had time permitted).
Lunch à la seaside is always a pleasure!
Probably “the best of the best” hiking trails are at Big Sur and Julia Pfeiffer State Park.
However, as happened back in 1995, there were again serious mudslides affecting the area this spring (2024), so be sure to check before you venture down Highway 1, as so far they have no promise for when the road will be open again. 😦
On our visit, we were totally charmed by the ambience and the critter company.
Brilliant ice plants
Cormorants sunning themselves along Pacific Coast Highway in California
Bindweed is a type of morning glory that has been labeled an invasive wildflower. How can you tell the “good ones” from the “bad ones”? Domesticated (the “good guy”) morning glories have heart-shaped leaves; bindweed has arrow-shaped leaves. I think there’s something we can learn from morning glories! 🙂
“Search me, O God, and know my heart:
try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Psalm 139:23-24).
Shrine of Junipero Serra, in Carmel, California
Well, I have to quit before getting to Carmel-by-the-Sea because this blog is already too long and it’s time to post, but I wanted to share some of the heart-stopping beauty of the California coast AND remind you that there is something even more beautiful than what we can behold with our eyes, and that is God’s beauty, which we can only behold with our spirits: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
(Credits: I took all the photos on the day we visited, April 1, 2022, except for the map of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, which is from their website.)
Summer Setting 