Driving the Pacific Coast Highway

Last week, my family and I took a vacation to California to road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway. About a 500 mile trip, we decided to do the drive “backwards,” which meant we were on the inside of the narrow, curving road, rather than along the cliffs. Since we had a week, we took our time and picked a few scenic, small towns to stop along the way.

Santa Monica and Santa Barbara

Both beach towns, it was fun to spend some time walking along the boardwalks and enjoying the laid back attitude of California. The beach in Santa Monica has a concrete path that runs for miles up and down the coast full of bicyclers, roller bladers, runners, and walkers.

Families can head to the pier for the roller coasters kid’s rides, and some fried seafood. Being there in January, we couldn’t believe how lucky the residents are to still be able to surf and spend time on the beach with the 50-degree weather in the “winter”!

Driving further north, we stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch and some shopping. Walking along the pretty palm tree-lined town, higher end shops line the sidewalks in uniform, tan blocks. The main drag runs perpendicular to the waterfront and leads right into Sterns Wharf where we sat outside and ate a delicious seafood lunch at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company and enjoyed the views of sailboats and more palm tree-lined beaches.

Hearst Castle

A drive up the coast wasn’t complete without seeing the towering home of publishing giant, William Randolph Hearst, at the “Enchanted Hill.” Located right off of Highway 1 in San Simeon, 165-room castle sits atop a the hillside with the property covering 127 acres looking out onto the bay. Once featuring a ranch of 250,000 acres, the property also was home to a private zoo. We did the tour of the property and were driven up the steep roadway where we were led in two of the guesthouses and the main hall and dining areas of the main house, in addition to the outdoor Neptune pool and indoor Roman pool made out of glass tiles.

There are four tours available of the castle, each focusing on a different area of the house and one highlighting the gardens in the spring and summertime each led by a knowledgeable docent. Ours let us see an extra guesthouse since it was a pretty small tour and we were there during the off-season. (You can read Chief Mom Connector at Mom Central, Eileen Calandro’s Hearst Castle review here.)

Carmel and Monterey

We stayed in the small town of Carmel before doing the scenic 17-mile drive, between Carmel and Monterey. The sleepy town hosts many galleries and jewelry stores—pretty to walk around and look at, but not a great place to plan on spending money or bring the kids! We did drive down to the beach to catch a beautiful sunset and catch a glimpse of part of the famous Pebble Beach golf course. We then headed through the 17-mile drive and stopped to see the “lone tree,” famously used as the logo of the Pebble Beach Golf Club, Bird Rock where all the seals congregate, and other scenic stop off points.

Arriving in Monterey, we wanted to see some sea otters, having lacked in spotting any along our drive. My sister and I decided to rent kayaks from Adventures by the Sea, and head out into the water to hopefully spot some wildlife. Paddling among the kelp, we would see seals and a few sea otters pop their heads up from the water at a distance. We kept back so as not to disturb their natural behaviors and definitely kept our distance from the enormous sea lions barking from the rocks.

Arriving finally in San Francisco, we spent three days exploring the hilly city and the surrounding area. More to come in a future post!

Allison Parker is an Account Manager at Mom Central Consulting who could take 50-degree winter California weather over New York chills any day.

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