Pacific Coast Highway-SF to LA anything to see?

You know its funny, I live right between Monterey & Carmel, I almost NEVER go to Carmel cause I HATE going over the hill and the traffic. We bitch about how crowded its getting here (it really is!) but this post has me thinking I need to get back to digging where I live and go take a trip down Hwy 1 to Detjeens for breakfast......

 

Have lunch at Napenthies <sp>

 

ooh, one thing in carmel i loved - there's an artist there who paints copies of elvgren's pinups (I think). probably really expensive, but cool store nonetheless. one of the side streets on the north side of the main street IIRC..

 

Thanks, if you drove by slow enough I bet the paint would fall off your car.

 

Jeez, nobody mentioned Santa Cruz. Nice downtown with real Hippies (well...that might not be a plus...), Old-fashioned boardwalk with a giant wooden roller coaster, big redwoods, The other Hula's restaraunt, victorian houses, Steamer Lane (famous surf spot), numerous Hamb'ers, excellent weather, Saturday morning old car get-together. I could go on...

 

hahaha....that place is gross!!

If it hasn't been mentioned, Big Sur is a must! Beautiful old growth forest near the coast. It's been a while since I've seen the flick, but I think it was in Easy Rider.

Bryan

 

You are so SPOILED Take your sweetie for a drive and breakfast this weekend.

PROBABLY???? Is anything in Camel normal priced??
I do enjoy looking and touching though

 

Denise: We have to great shows this weekend so no breakfast for Eva, just cars, cars, cars!


Man I left out Santa Cruz, go check out the Boardwalk, it is pretty damn cool and about the last old time seaside resort on the west coast, the old wood coaster is cool too! They have a Hula's too, we have one in Monterey on Lighthouse Ave in New Monterey.... You are going to run out of time before you run out of things to see & do!

 

i know its not car related but julia pfiffer state park and pfiffer beach in big sur are both very beautiful places to stop and check out. the beach is very secluded and if you blink on the pch, youll miss the little road into it. also, i know its not on rt 1 , but muir woods is just about as spectactular as sequia national park. them is some big trees ! thats north of san fran ,over the golden gate. one last thing, if i had all the money in the world, i would be living in san luis obispo, that town is beautiful and the weekly market thing is the greatest thing. but alas, were stuck in illinois. have a great trip. mike

 

The farmers market is on Thursday evening in downtown San Luis Obispo... Jason.

 

We did the family tour up the coast when we went out to Viva LasVegas this year - All in one Day! Started out in NY up at 3AM drove an hour to JFK - LAX 6 hour flight - wait an hour for the Hertz rental Subaru - then the coolest cruise ever to down town SF. The only problem was that it got real dark after Big Sur and being so friggin tired I thought I was gonna wind in the ocean. Finally hit the sack after 24 hours of no sleep. Next time I will make it a two day run, wow, what a concept.

 

There's really nothing to see or do, just stay away people.

 

I drove PCH from Marina down to Cambria where I turned off to get to Paso Robles for a pick-up. It was SLOW going with a car trailer (actually I couldn't have gone much faster anyway, it's so curvy), but man was it worth it. It's just painfully beautiful pretty much the whole way - mountains going straight up on one side, then falling down to the ocean on the other. Unbelievable.

The only thing bad about it was that I had to pay so much attention to the road that I couldn't take in as much scenery. There are plenty of pull-offs though.

Link to pic

 

take your surfboard and swimming trunks, and a cooler. Just Take your time and enjoy the drive.
Dont know how much "roughing it" you are going to do, but they have campsites right on the beach in big sur, the weather should be perfect this time of year.
Pismo Beach.
The wine tasting comments are good too!
Monterey Bay aquarium is also worth seeing.
The madonna inn is cool, if you like kitschy hotels.
Hearst Castle.
Small antique shops everywhere.
Is Solvang that Little Dutch Town with the good split pea soup?
An afternoon in Santa Barbara walking around...
also very inportant:
HAVE SOME TRI-TIP WHEN YOU ARE IN CENTRAL CA!!!!!
the whole drive is really nice.
Theres also a lot of little stands with fresh fruit around oxnard.

 

I just made the drive yesterday really nice!...We drove to frisco to watch my buddy's band play.
There's the winchester mystery house in san jose. It was owned by the widow winchester of the rifle co. fame. she apparently flipped out believing she was being haunted by all the people who had been killed by winchester rifles in the wild west so there are all kinds of wierd trap doors and stairways leading to nowhere to trick the ghosts.

there's also a dirt track south of san luis obispo, you can see it from the 101. I cant think of the name though..

 

about 20 minutes south of pismo beach is just about the best steak house in the world. Its called Far Western Tavern and is located in the small town of Guadalupe. Being a hard core Santa Maria native I can say that place has just about the best Santa Maria tri-tip in the world. Dont forget the beans and french bread. Real cowboy style.

 

oh, and if you stop off in pismo, make sure you check out the pier and also get a clam chowder bread bowl from Splash Cafe.

Damn, i just know the good places to eat. Oh yeah, Jackos in Nipomo is good too.

 

The dirt track is Santa Maria Speedway... You shoulda stopped by my shop in Morro Bay.. It is one block from the water and all the touristy stuff.. Jason.

 

Visit the Embarcadero in Morro Bay. Stop by my shop Hudson Classics, and say HI.

 

Along with all these great suggestions, don't forget the Pebble Beach Concourse...I don't know your dates, but it happens 18 and 19th I think. Lots of Ferrarri's this year...50th anniversary.

 

I'm glad you picked up on this, I was going to suggest they get in touch with you Jason. Morro Bay is a good destination place and I'm sure you can make it a great vacation for them.

 

THANKS ! to everyone who helped out on this trek. It went great.

Warning this is a bit long winded and definitely OT but this is what we did in 7 days...

SAT-On the way down from SF we hit Skyline Blvd and went for lunch at Alice's Restaurant (http://alicesrestaurant.com/daytime.htm), then to Santa Cruz for a walk down the boardwalk and a couple of rides. From here we took the PCH down.
Spent the night in Big Sur @ Big Sur River Inn. had a good but pricey dinner.

SUN-Breakfast in Big Sur at the bakery/gas station then drove to the beach for a quick wade in the Pacific. On down to see the Elephant seals sunning themselves in San Simeon, Wow! Then to the Hearst castle for a tour.(http://www.hearstcastle.org/) double WOW! that was amazing, the indoor pool was mind blowing...then to Cambria to see Nit Wit Ridge (which unfortunately is chained off and in disrepair...) and stayed that night in SLO at the Madonna Inn (Traveler's Yacht room)(http://www.madonnainn.com/tour/180.asp
That hotel is hard to describe but we had a great time....

MON-Pismo Beach breakfast (kinda fuzzy then so I don't remember where)
Picked up the 101 and had lunch at Anderson's House of Pea Soup in Beullton then on to Solvang to see the Motorcycle Museum.
YOU GOTTA SEE THE MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM! He collects old race bikes 99% European and then he also has a Crocker....a Guzzi V-8 replica, 5+ MV Agusta Vintage GP bikes (including Hailwoods triple) etc...
(http://www.motosolvang.com/) Its open only on weekends, but if you want to see it during the week you can call for an appointment.
Back onto the PCH and into Ventura. Found a cool restored Arts & Crafts era hotel (http://www.pierpontinn.com/) and stayed there.

TUES-PCH into LA..drove Mulholland Drive, then into Hollywood and down to Santa Monica. Stayed at a real dump because all the hotels were booked up. Went to Santa Monica Pier, rode the ferris wheel. Had dinner at Norms...

WED- Breakfast on Venice Beach then off to the Petersen Auto Museum..incredible collection and very well done exhibit of the timeline of the auto. (http://www.petersen.org/)
Then we walked up to the La Brea Tar Pits (http://www.tarpits.org/)
Then coffee and shops on Melrose and then one of the best meals on this trip....Dinner at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles (http://www.roscoeschickenandwaffles.com/)

THURS- Mooneyes for some swag, then to see the Watts Towers(http://www.wattstowers.us/history.htm) and into Long Beach to stay on the Queen Mary. (http://www.queenmary.com/index.php?page=hotel) This was worth the drive down. The room was comfortable, the food was great and the art deco bar was freshly restored and stocked.

FRI- Drove to Pasadena to see the Gamble House (http://www.gamblehouse.org/) Looked for Johnson Motors but I guess its gone...
Then the boring drive up to Bakersfield to the Crystal Palace for a pork chop dinner (http://buckowens.com/index2.html)
Back over the mountains to SLO for the night.

SAT-Long fun driving day winding back up the PCH to Monterey Bay for the Aquarium (http://www.mbayaq.org/) then into Santa Cruz again for the night.

SUN- The Mystery Spot (http://www.mysteryspot.com/) was a fun time and our last tourist event before arriving back in San Francisco to fly out...

Thanks again to everyone who helped out and I hope this list helps others on their drive down one of the best roads in America.
Cheers!