California trip: LA to Carmel to San Fran and beyond!!!!
 

Advice please! Packing up my daughter and moving her out of LA. We are traveling to St. Louis but will drive up to Carmel for one night, then on to SF for three nights before turning east and heading for St. Louie! Any suggestions on best route from LA to Carmel. Best part of Pacific coast highway. Eating establishments NOT TO BE MISSED in Carmel or SF or along the way.
And, any great sights along I-80 from SF to St. Louis on the 29 drive.
Ugh....
THANKS all!

Stick with US101 all the way to Salinas and cut over through Monrerey to Carmel. You will cut away from the ocean at Gaviota NW of beautiful Santa Barbara. About 6 hours of driving depending on where in LA.
If you were not going on into SF, the closest way from Carmel is by way of Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City to St. Louis. Shorter by nearly 100 miles and 1.5 hours.
Going on I-80 stop in Reno which is nowhere near as good as LV.
Stop in Salt Lake City and maybe North Platte Nebraska.

If you are traveling in the next month, and want to travel on PCH, it is not possible to travel all the way up 1 (aka PCH in Southern California) to Carmel as it is closed due to a land slide north of Cambria. If you want to, you can drive as far Cambria, through Santa Barbara, visit Heart Castle and then take route 46 to 101 and head to Carmel. I would suggest staying in Cambria if you do this. Please look at a map of the California coast in order to understand this. If you are just interested in getting to Carmel, just take 101N to 68E.

depending on where you are starting from in LA --Carmel is an awfully long way to go in one day. If it was me, I'd break the journey somewhere in the mid coastal area for 1 night, Carmel for 1 night, and SF for 2 nights.

Up the coast from LAand then inland on 101 from San Luis Obispo to Carmel will take between 6 and 7 hours w/o stops. So basically an all day drive. And from some parts of the LA basin, significantly longer.

Since you'll have the looooong drive to StL, I wouldn't over do it on the California leg. I stop in Morro Bay or SLO the first night. Carmel the 2nd night.

My family really enjoyed staying in Cambria. We ate at some very good restaurants there, Sea Chest and Sow's Ear. Observed elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, just north of San Simeon, and toured the light station and natural area there (tours Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10 AM).

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/baker...bls/tours.html

Then driving back toward the San Francisco Bay Area, we took route 46 inland toward route 101, stopping at some of the Paso Robles wineries and an olive grove for tastings. A very scenic area with many, many wineries.

http://www.pasowine.com/wineries/map.php

I think the best part of the Pacific Coast Highway is the Big Sur area (good parks, great views). Because of the closure of Hwy 1 now, you would have to reach this part of the coast by driving to Carmel (the inland route mentioned above would be quickest), then down to Big Sur and back. I personally prefer just to drive to Big Sur from the north and return unless I am also going to Hearst Castle (which is a neat tour). I just don't think the coast further south is as dramatic.

It has been a few years, but I have done the I-80 drive in both directions. Depending on the type of stops and sights you are looking for:
There is a touristy nut etc. store near Vacaville.
Several old mining towns as you climb into the Sierras, Lake Tahoe, Bonneyville salt flats, Great Salt Lake (and flies), the Mormon Temple.

Both the desert in Utah and the flat areas of Wyoming and Nebraska do seem to go on forever, but I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever in western Nebraska with that huge open sky filled with reds and oranges.

<<<There is a touristy nut etc. store near Vacaville.>>>

Are you referring to the Nut Tree? Long gone -- housing and shopping centers now.

That's why I prefaced my statement by it had been some years since I did the drive and decided not to give any specific businesses after that one--guess I should have left that one out too.

I also stopped at my first casino at the Utah/Nevada border on the first trip west--a tiny spot that was quite a contrast to my later exposure to Reno and then Las Vegas, but a fun evening for my mother and me. It's probably a Wynn by now.

How about this? LA to Big Sur and drive up the PCH to Carmel? If so, what is the best way to get to Big Sur?
OR should we just take the 17 mile at monterey/pebble beach and see pretty much the same scenery?
THANKS!

I think you are confused or this a confusing question. As previously stated you cannot presently drive up 1 (aka PCH) from LA to Big Sur. There is really is only one way to reach Big Sur from the south; that is to drive up 101, to 68 across to Carmel and then drive south on 1 as suggested by Kay2 above. If you are familiar with the area you could reach 1 by taking the Naciemento-Fergusson Road, but that would require driving over the Santa Lucia Mountains and knowing how to get to it from 101.

And no, just taking the 17-mile drive is not the same scenery--pretty, yes, but definitely not the same. If you want just a taste of how dramatic the coast can be, visit Point Lobos just south of Carmel. Or do as Kay2 suggested, take a drive down from Carmel. If you stay overnight in Carmel, this doable.

Avila Valley Barn just off the Avila Beach exit of the 101. Stop for an ice cream and grab a couple Ollalieberry Crumbles to go. That's a fruit you won't find in St. Louis, though the flavor might bring you back to California sooner than you think.

"<i>How about this? LA to Big Sur and drive up the PCH to Carmel? If so, what is the best way to get to Big Sur?
OR should we just take the 17 mile at monterey/pebble beach and see pretty much the same scenery?</i>"

What SAB said . . . and get a good map of California, then you'll understand why SAB says the question is confusing.

One minor thing -- PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) is really a southern CA term/road. So asking about the PCH and Big Sur/Carmel confuses things even more.

If you want to travel along the coast at least some, you really will want to break your journey before Carmel. Morro Bay or Cambria or someplace south of there.

janis, I made the same suggestion re map upthread. Maybe reading it twice will help.

Highway 1 is still closed at Alder Creek and as of 5/31 CalTrans was still giving mid-June as estimated opening.

Having just been down there, I understand the confusion. One has to do a lot of research and map studying to understand that Highway 1 and Highway 101 are different highways and different places. It's really easy for someone not living there to slip Pacific Coast Highway into either of those numbers.

Also, I would definitely break the journey at Cambria or even Pismo Beach but not Morro Bay. Maybe because I saw so much of Haystack Rock in my youth, but just was not impressed with Morro Bay. Seemed like more of a seamy, junky town in comparison to Cambria.