A Beautiful Drive
 

Since my wife and I have to attend a trade show in Las Vegas we decided to start our trip to the US by having a mini driving holiday. Our arrival city in the US is Los Angeles so I decided on a driving trip up the fame Pacific Coast Highway along the best part of the coast of California. I searched the trip reports on Fodors as well as TripAdvisor and with the help of Fodorites such as Crosscheck, Smeagol and Filmwill I was able to come up with a great plan for our holiday.

Our flight on Cathay Pacific arrived one hour early and luckily we were out of the airport within 20 minutes. We boarded the Hertz shuttle bus and upon arrival I saw my name displayed on the Hertz Gold member board directing us to our waiting car. I did extensive research on how to get the best rate for a rental and we wanted a convertible but we were travelling with 2 big luggage and carry-ons. From my research I was able to rent a Mercedes E350 Cabriolet at a very reasonable rate with the loss damage waiver included. All of the luggage fit into the Merc albeit some of them were in the back seats and we were off.

It has been over 6 years since I was last here and slightly longer for my wife and the first thing that we noticed on the road was the lack of seeing American made cars. When I went to college here in the late 70s and early 80s foreign cars were so rare and drivers in BMWs and Mercedes used to blink their headlights at each other to say hello. Now the roads are dominated by Japanese, Korean and European vehicles which is kind of sad.

We drove North on the 405 in relatively light traffic and then took the 101 going West towards Santa Barbara. Typical highway driving at this stage of our trip and my wife succumbed to jet lagged and slept soundly while I cranked up the hip hop music on the car’s radio to keep awake. We arrived in Santa Barbara in around 1.45 hours and headed straight for our inn for some rest. I researched everything including the famous resorts like the Four Seasons Biltmore, San Ysidro Ranch etc but settled for the Inn of the Spanish Garden. The inn was very nice and welcoming with very comfy beds and a fireplace.

It was around 1 PM when we arrived at the inn so we set the alarm clock on my phone to wake us up and took a much needed nap. After our rest we woke up in the late afternoon and took a walk around State Street. The weather was perfect with bright sunshine and cool breezes. In L.A. it was overcast and it even rain a little when we left so this was perfect for us. The first stop was at a T-Mobile phone shop where I bought a prepaid sim card with a great call package (unlimited calls to my home country and data plan) for my iPhone. Did some shopping on State Street and had a quick sea food dinner by the marina and then decided to retire to our inn for the night.

We woke up at around 4 AM due to the time difference and watch TV and made video calls to my office and our daughter who could not join us because of school. Showed my daughter our Inn through the web cam of my iPad and she loved it and mentioned about wanting to attend UCSB for her master’s degree. After the very welcoming inclusive breakfast we left Santa Barbara stopping by a Gelson supermarket to pick up some supplies for our trip and headed to our next destination, Solvang.

We left Santa Barbara on PCH 1 and decided to take route 154, or the Chumash Highway, to Solvang. Very scenic route and we drove up and down the mountain, through wine countries and Lake Cachuma. We arrived in Solvang at around 9.30 AM and the town was pretty much deserted. My wife stopped by some gift shops picking up some trinkets while I wondered around the empty streets. I noticed a small tour group going by on Segways and thought about joining in but my wife said that she prefer to instead drive around town in our convertible.

Next we headed to Los Olivos for lunch where I had researched on Tripadvisor and really wanted to try out a particular restaurant – Brothers Mattei “Side Hardware & Shoes”. Los Olivos is a really small town and most of the shops are set up for wine tasting and wine sales and yet I had difficulties finding the elusive Side Hardware & Shoes. I had to ask for direction from a local and he quickly explained that I had passed the restaurant already and that the restaurant had no sign! I made a u-turn on the empty street and found it and to my delight the food was very good!

After lunch we headed for our next destination, Morro Bay, where we will spend another night before heading further North. I had research other towns in the area like San Luis Obispo, Pismo beach and Cambria but decided to stay in Morro Bay at the highly rated (on Tripadvisor) Anderson Inn. The wind had really picked up and is now blowing at 45 MPH according to the news. Trucks and large vehicles were “swaying” on the road while our little Mercedes had no trouble and performed like a champion. We rejoined the 101 and the drive is pretty much nondescript going through fields and small towns. At San Luis Obispo we veered off onto PCH 1 and headed to Morro Bay.

Morro Bay is a sleepy fishing village and their claim to fame is probably “Morro Rock”, a 576 foot high volcanic plug that stood at the entrance of the harbor. We found the tiny 8 rooms Anderson Inn right on the harbor and was greeted warmly by the brother and sister team of Mollie and Jeff Anderson. They quickly motioned us to enter their office as it was very windy outside and the temperature was quite cold. After a quick chat with the Anderson we were escorted to our room overlooking the harbor. The view was very nice but the wind was so strong that we can hear it “whistling” through our walls.

We lit the fire in our room and rested for an hour or two before having dinner at the Anderson Inn’s restaurant, The Galley. The food was very good here and the view of the sunset by the Morro Rock was very nice. Good seafood and good local wine at reasonable prices amongst furniture that looks like they were from the 70s. During the night, apart from the whistling wind, we could hear seals calling or talking to each other the whole night but luckily we were so tired that we slept through most of it.

We woke up at around 6 AM and thankfully we are over the worst part of the jet lagged which I attribute to being able to sleep soundly on the flight over. We checked out of the Anderson Inn and found a small diner in Morro Bay that serves breakfast. A good old American diner serving huge portions with unlimited coffee was a good way to start our day!

Our next stop was at Hearst Castle where I had pre purchased a couple of tickets for the main room tour. The wind had died down so I open the top of our car and drove North ward toward San Simeon. We pass by the sleepy town of Cambria and after that the PCH 1 was “hugging” the coast line for most of the way. The topography was relatively flat and the beautiful blue pacific had white crested waves as far as they eye can see. We drove up to the visitor center of Hearst Castle where we picked up our tickets and had to wait about 30 minutes before the tour started. The tour starts with a ride in the tour bus, climbing higher and higher with the voice of Alex Trebeck explaining the history of Hearst Castle over the sound system. Upon arrival our guide greeted our group and began the tour of the main rooms inside the spectacular castle. The view from here of the surrounding coast line and mountains was wonderful. We finished the tour and wandered around the guest houses and pool of Hearst Castle for a while. Beautiful place and I look forward to returning one day and perhaps do an evening tour.
We headed back to PCH 1 and it was lunch time so we headed to Sebastian General Store which is almost across the highway from the entrance to Hearst Castle. Quaint little place but packed with lunch time diners most of whom are park rangers! By this time we are now back to being accustomed to the size of the food served in the US. We ordered 1 portion of beef burger with toppings and split the food amongst us and still we could not finish everything!

After lunch we made a quick stop by the Piedras Blancas elephant seals sanctuary. The wind had picked up again so we made a quick stop and took some photo before heading to our next destination. The highway is now climbing up and hugging the cliff edge of the land with spectacular views along the way. There are many pull over zones where people stop to take pictures. With the beautiful blue pacific on one side and the rugged coastline and mountains on the other we slowly made our way past mountains and the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park before arriving at our next inn, the Post Ranch Inn, where we will spend the next two nights.

To be continue!

Welcome to CA, Hanuman! Great start - sorry about our chilly weather. Love that you're headed up the coast in the Cabriolet. You're going to adore Post Ranch. Sounds like you know your way around, but just in case, here are a few quintessential Big Sur recs: Hike to Pfeiffer Falls from Big Sur Lodge; breakfast at Big Sur Bakery and funky outdoor gallery...check out the human nests; dinner at Nepenthe's at sunset - not chic or gourmet like Post Ranch, but stunning and historic. Enjoy!

Thank you crosscheck but the trip is over and we have been back home for 2 days now. Getting up at midnight so had time to write the beginning of our trip report and I am developing pictures as well.

Will continue soon after some sleep!

Enjoying your report. Sorry you didn't visit your hometown of Chicago.

Thank you Marija. I wish we could visit Chicago as well but being away for 2 weeks is a long time for us already. Good to be back in the States again!

Very nice way to tour the coast.

Did you have a chance to read in here about the Solvang area -and the Lavendar fields by Los Olivos. :) http://www.clairmontfarms.com/

Or have a chance to watch/review the movie Sideways? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/

sounds like you are hitting the highlights..

mr hearst often spoke about dang's eye for decorating

Tomsd,

I've read several of your posts on the area which was very helpful but sadly we did not stop by the Lavender field. Yes I've seen Sideways and like the movie very much. Did not do any wine tasting though as I tend to drink the wine and not spit them out! Didn't want to have to call Bob (rhkkmk) to come and bail me out for a DUI.

LOL Hanuman: Hey - one can only do so much when the top is down and life is good, eh?

After a short drive from the entrance to the reception house of the Post Ranch Inn we were greeted with champagne. This is a stunning resort perched high above the Pacific Ocean encompassing a whopping 98 acres. We settled into our little ocean house which is named “Onesimo” after the wife of William Brainard Post, one of the first settler to staked his homestead in this area. There’s an old black and white picture of Onesimo on our wall and she was angry looking and not a very pleasant wall fixture in my opinion! Cozy little house with all the amenities you can hope for and a view of the Ocean to die for. We lit up the fireplace, turned up the music and opened the readily chilled bottle of champagne that was waiting for us in our room. What a beautiful way to spend an afternoon!

Dinner that night was at the Sierra Mar, the restaurant of the Post Ranch Inn. Our table had a magnificent view of the Pacific and while we dine on the superb meal the sun slowly set in front of us. Good food but very expensive wine and the wine that we chose that night was “Onesimo” from Napa valley! Upon enquiring with the resident sommelier I found out that you can bring you own wine for dinner with a corkage fee of $25, something perhaps future travelers will take note of.

Beautiful ending to the day and upon returning to our house we watched the bright shinny stars from the private deck trying to catch a glimpse of Venus that had earlier in day made headline news around the world. The moon was so bright that it woke us up in the middle of the night and it was like someone shinning a spotlight into our bedroom!

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and the wind has died down. After breakfast we started to explore Big Sur and the first stop was Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. We had hoped to see some really big red wood trees but sadly there were only one or two that were big. To be fair we did not hike inland that far so perhaps there are some bigger trees. We started driving again with the top down and headed North. The coastline appeared again after we had passed the State park and the view was getting better and better. One thing that I did noticed was that the drive was much easier from the PRI going North comparing to the drive we took from San Simeon to the PRI. Made several stops along the way including at the fame Bixby Bridge to soak in the beautiful landscape. The wind had picked up again but nowhere near the strength of the wind a couple of days ago. It was fun driving with two navigation systems, the Mercedes and Hertz Never Lost, since some of the side roads were not marked on one or the other GPS.

To my surprise after about an hour of driving we hit the outer edge of Carmel. I decided to take my wife for a drive around 17 mile drive and she loved it. As a college student I came up here quite a bit as one of my relative own a house here but I could not find the house on this trip. We stopped at a few points along the drive notably around the golf courses and the beach. A great way to spend a couple of hours!

After lunch we headed back South while making more stops along the way to take more pictures. My plan destination was McCaw Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and we reached it around mid afternoon. Luckily the hike to the falls was much easier than I had feared and what a beautiful place to see. I wonder if people can hike down to the beach by the falls as that would be something! That evening we had dinner at Deetjens as Nepenthe was perpetually crowded or full. Nice break and a lot of the diners were locals, very much different from the diners at the PRI. Interesting crowd but sadly we did not enjoy the food here that much.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to Big Sur and we left the PRI at around 6 AM for our long drive back to Los Angeles. The road was pretty much deserted and I was driving at the speed limit until I got overtaken by a Porsche Caymen and then a pickup truck full of lawn mowers. I thought to myself what the hell and decided to push the throttle a bit and enjoyed myself for a while on the empty highway.

We arrived in Los Angeles at around noon having stopped at Mattei’s again from breakfast and was looking forward to a GTG with Filmwill. It has been a great drive in a nice car and we have many people to thanks for writing trip reports on the highway or the hotels or inns that we stayed at. Our onward journey to Las Vegas proved to be very successful business wise so we had a fantastic trip to the US.

If you are interested I have some photos that show the sights that what we had enjoyed along the way but a lot of them will have pictures of my wife in it as I love taking her picture! Anyways here’s a link to a small collection of pictures that we took: http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/photos/...lbumKey=dTpPdZ

Pook, it's probably been 13 or 14 years since we did that drive. We did all 4 tours at Hearst Castle (but I had been there before) and stayed at the FS in Santa Barbara (not one of the better ones). Cambria, although "sleepy" is actually a neat little town (but it sounds like it was a drive-by for you.) I hope you can visit San Diego some time, if you haven't already - it is one of our favorite US cities. I am jealous that you had such a nice car - it makes all the difference when you can rent a car that is an equal to the one you drive at home...

Craig,

Yes just a drive-by for us since we had booked a pretty early morning tour at Hearst Castle. I have only driven pass San Diego during my college days but you're right I must do a proper visit there soon. Perhaps add Laguna Beach to that trip as well since a lot of people are raving about that area.

now i know, dang is really a CA girl..

Great report and lovely pictures Pook! Looks like you two had a wonderful trip. Have been on PCH 1 many times and it is a lovely drive. Have you driven it further north during your college days? Surprising you didn't see kuranosuke in Las Vegas.....he is a part time resident of LV and Bangkok as you know,lol

Aloha!

Nice report! It sounds like you and Dang had a great time.

Thanks everyone and yes we had a great time.

HT yes I used to drive to San Francisco a lot from Los Angeles but always on the 5. A couple times to Lake Tahoe as well and the longest was from Ohio to California. I did see someone someone resembling kuranosuke in Vegas but only a glimpse as he was in the private high roller room and I was not allowed in.

Kathie, Dang loved the drive and enjoyed the view and sights very much. Nice part of the country to visit.

LOVE the report Pook, added some of the above to my wish list when we go to CA in November.
Dang looks so beautiful in the pictures :) .
No report on your GTG with FW?

The GTG with Filmwill was at the Bazaar restaurant (SLS hotel). Great food and company and a lot of fun for us and Filmwill I hope! I was not aware that other Fodorites I know or have chat with here on Fodors, like crosscheck, lives near by as well otherwise it would be a bigger gathering.

Lovely area of California Nicky and I think you will enjoy it!

LOL. A Cantera going by is one thing - but a pickup full of lawnmowers? Time to put DA Petal to DA Metal. :)

Great trip report and great pics. Loved the one of the turquoise lagoon especially. And oh yes, the fashion model you took along for the trip. :)

Oh - it was a Caymen. That's less insulting than having a Porsche SUV go by, eh? :)