Thank you to all who advised me on the trip down Hwy 1 in the large van with 10 people. It worked out great!

Day 5: Left Monterey around noon to begin trip down Hwy 1. The first stop was only 3 miles south of Carmel, POINT LOBOS STATE RESERVE, that so many of you recommended. It did not disappoint!!! Charge was $8 per car to enter and though it was foggy at the entrance, it was clear by the water. Beautiful areas to walk, great photo ops here. Would have spent more time, but had to continue to Big Sur. Stopped at the Center Deli one mile south of Big Sur Station next to Post Office for sandwiches "to go". Pulled off highway a little further down to eat lunch outside on cliff overlooking the ocean. continued to JULIA PFEIFFER BURNS STATE PARK (no fee) and walked to McWay Falls Overlook. Great scenery, but kids expected the "falls" to be the size of Niagara Falls, so I should have clarified that in advance! Continued down Hwy 1 to San Simeon. We found the drive down 1 South easy until we got to the stretch a ways north of San Simeon. At this point we encountered the hairpin turns that I remembered many years ago. Some of the kids weren't feeling to great at this point and neither was one adult. A brief stop to stretch our legs and everyone felt better. We were driving here on a Sunday in July and the traffic wasn't bad at all in either direction. It looked like a few more people were driving north. The weather was perfect and the views beautiful. My neighbors told me that years ago they drove that stretch in both directions and it was fogged in both times, so they never saw the beautiful views! We were lucky! With all of our stops we probably took 5 1/2 hours, but if you didn't stop at any parks or for lunch, you'd do it a lot quicker.

Hi there!

Are you "BuzyMom" with the inter-generational vaca? I've been hoping you'd post back with your impressions! How did you like San Francisco? Did all your tours work out? Did you go as far as San Diego, or was San Simeon your southern-most stop?

Glad you had a great experience!

No, Dreamer2, "BuzyMom" must be someone else, as all my posts and questions have been under "nytraveler10". We loved San Francisco as you can see in my other "TRIP REPORT- San Francisco" post! I broke our entire trip into separate reports. Everything worked out great!

Sorry, I got you mixed up with another family doing a similar trip.
It sounds like your travels lived up to all your expectations. Ya-hoo! I especially loved your idea of recording all the Calif songs for the road trip, and giving them as souvenirs to your family.
Congratulations on your very successful family vaca planning!

Hi, nytraveler10!

Great report! Your enthusiasm is contagious!

I went back and read all your postings. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much "dreamer2" and "easytraveler" for your kind words and thanks for helping me plan our trip. I hope other travelers click on the link with my name and find my other california TRIP REPORT postings helpful. Now that vacation is over...it's back to the real world!