Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We started out on Highway 1 from San Francisco and the first thing we noticed is that the fog does not stop once you leave San Fran! The road weaves in around the cliffs and beaches on the waters edge (we assume it would be something like the great ocean road back home, although we could be totally off, as neither one of us has actually driven the great ocean road before... its on our to do list though.. in a porsche..) after an hour and a half driving We arrived in Santa Cruz late in the evening and after checking in to our hotel, we went on a bit of a scout round in search of some dinner and just a general look at the place! The thing that caught our attention was the massive lights coming a carnival. After a closer inspection we found a rollercoaster and other amusment rides right on the beach, called Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.After a our nights sleep we headed into town and found it a sleepy university city. Then we decided to head down the beach and check out the Beach Boardwalk. After a ride on the Giant Dipper Rollercoaster, we went down to the waters edge to almost freeze our toes off, took some photos and decided it was time continue on Highway 1 to our next destination.
We then hit Montery,it's a classy city full of rich people. Famous for it's Aquarium, Cannery's, Pebble Beach and Laguna Seca Raceway. After a quick drive through town we ended up on Cannery Row, a heap of old sea side cannery's that they've now turned into shopping malls and restuarants. It was lunch time so we stopped in at Louie Linguini's Italian Restaurant where we had our first Clam Chowder, which these areas of California pride themselves on making. While having a fantastic lunch we were able to watch more sea lions play and bask in the sun one of Leah's favourite attractions of the area. We then went for a drive to Pebble Beach, after being scammed $10 to go see a gentlemans/country club area full of rich peoples houses and golf courses (we thought Pebble Beach actually had a Beach *it didn't*) we headed out to Laguna Seca Raceway AKA Mazda Raceway (or Marsda as yanks say it...wait till you hear them say Nissan.) It was classic to go out and see the track even though there was nothing racing on it at the time. There was a Porsche sitting around as well as a few SLS Mercs for some sweet photos. After a walk through the local supermarket and gawking at the cheap prices We then shacked up in our hotel for the night. In the morning we thought we'd check out the scenic drive that included Lovers Point, more sea lions, a heap of squirrels, a lighthouse and a mummy deer and her baby before heading further south on Highway 1.
Only 10 mins down the road from Montery is Carmel by the Sea, a beautiful little town we drove through that sits right on the waters edge with amazing houses/cottages and scenery. Hitting the widing road again this time into Big Sur, a place on the coast that actually isn't a town or city but a point on the map where you are surrounded by natures specticals. Words cannot describe the beauty of this part of the world, that's why we took a 1000 photos. We stopped off at Pfiffer Beach with purple sand, large rock formations and again frezing cold water. We also stopped at the most expensive truck stop/bakery in history (obviously we should have packed a lunch) we headed down the twisty turns to McWay Falls. WOW a fresh water Waterfall that falls straight into the ocean (pending on tides, as when we were there is was hitting the beach and flowing into the ocean) we will definately upload some pictures so you can all enjoy it! We wound our way down the highway off the coast stopping along the way to check out a colony of elephant seals. Now these guys were BIG! The beach was packed full of them lazing around in the sun, again another highlight of Leah's day and again, she took a million photos of them!
From the E-seals the Highway headed inland and we decided to stop in at San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the locals call it) and that is a great discription of the town. It literally is a one main street town with the biggest attraction there being bubble gum alley. Yep, it is pretty much what you imagine, an alley that has collected hundreds and thousands of pieces of the locals and travellers old chewing/bubble gum on the walls. Some people even got creative and made pictures and words out of the gum, I have to admit, it is pretty feral. Leah got a few photos and a video of it and we will upload them for your viewing pleasure.
After the night in SLO we drove down the coast to Santa Barbara, one of the playgrounds to the stars... we went for lunch and a walk up and down the main street before heading to the beach. The place was packed with people it was crazy! We looked around for some accommodation only to find that the cheapest in town was $180 USD a night!! That was a bit rich considering we had only been paying around $60 USD a night everywhere else! So with our budget in mind we headed further south to a town just north of Los Angeles called Ventura. Another small coastal town this time with a slight difference as the main street was going off.. people everywhere, all the restaruants were full, there were line ups out the doors for concerts and just a general good vibe about the place.
The next day we headed towards LA down Highway 1, we could have opted for highway 101 which would have got us there a lot quicker but we stayed to the old faithful. Just before arrriving into LA we hit Malibu, the town on the sea where all the celebrities own houses and boy could you tell by the cars parked out the front. There were Ferrari's, Porsches, Maserati's and Corvette's everywhere just to name a few, in 5 mins we would have seen at least $20 million worth of machinery easy.
After I finished drooling over all the cars and we made it Santa Monica we hit traffic...Not just any traffic, this was LA traffic! 5 lanes in each direction traffic all standing still. So once we made it Sunset Boulevard we decided to take another scenic route through the hills, it might have been a detour but least we were moving. After driving over and under some concrete spagetti we finally made it to our hotel in the middle of Chinatown and checked in concluding our tour of Highway 1.
- comments