U.S. & Canada Trip May-September 2021
Sep 22nd, 2020, 07:53 AM
#81
TravelBoy, I'll give you just one example. On my first time in the Monterey area, we rented a car and had 3 days. We spent one day in Monterey proper, doing a whale watch (you have to, it's one of the best places in the world for that) and then spent a day driving down Big Sur. We had grand plans to make it to Hearst Castle by mid-afternoon and doing a quick tour there. We never made it. We got out quite early, did the 17 mile drive around Pebble Beach and then stopped at quite literally every possible photo stop and pit stops like Julia Pfeiffer Beach along the Hwy 1 drive south to soak it in. The views are epic and it was impossible to just keep moving, especially for whomever is driving and unable to enjoy it like a passenger can. I've seen a lot of fabulous coastal drives (Amalfi Coast in Italy, southwestern coast of Ireland) and this ranked way up there. We stopped at so many spots that we didn't even get close to Hearst Castle by dinner. What "should" have been doable on paper just wasn't. We made the choice to stop and absorb it rather than keep our heads down and grind it down to Hearst Castle. That'll have to wait for another trip, but as it was my last trip pre-COVID, I'm so glad I stopped to take the mental images that are fueling my dreams to travel again. You seem not to heed the many warnings here, but I imagine you're opening yourself up to a lot of what I did on that one day drive, covering just a bit of what you have planned. There are a lot of travelers on this thread more savvy than I telling you this, but I do have a fair bit of experience on the CA coast, and you are being far too ambitious. At the very least, abandon the notion of the east coast to give yourself a bit of breathing room.
Sep 22nd, 2020, 09:30 AM
#82
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TravelBoy, I'll give you just one example. On my first time in the Monterey area, we rented a car and had 3 days. We spent one day in Monterey proper, doing a whale watch (you have to, it's one of the best places in the world for that) and then spent a day driving down Big Sur. We had grand plans to make it to Hearst Castle by mid-afternoon and doing a quick tour there. We never made it. We got out quite early, did the 17 mile drive around Pebble Beach and then stopped at quite literally every possible photo stop and pit stops like Julia Pfeiffer Beach along the Hwy 1 drive south to soak it in. The views are epic and it was impossible to just keep moving, especially for whomever is driving and unable to enjoy it like a passenger can. I've seen a lot of fabulous coastal drives (Amalfi Coast in Italy, southwestern coast of Ireland) and this ranked way up there. We stopped at so many spots that we didn't even get close to Hearst Castle by dinner. What "should" have been doable on paper just wasn't. We made the choice to stop and absorb it rather than keep our heads down and grind it down to Hearst Castle. That'll have to wait for another trip, but as it was my last trip pre-COVID, I'm so glad I stopped to take the mental images that are fueling my dreams to travel again. You seem not to heed the many warnings here, but I imagine you're opening yourself up to a lot of what I did on that one day drive, covering just a bit of what you have planned. There are a lot of travelers on this thread more savvy than I telling you this, but I do have a fair bit of experience on the CA coast, and you are being far too ambitious. At the very least, abandon the notion of the east coast to give yourself a bit of breathing room.
Much appreciation
Sep 22nd, 2020, 02:42 PM
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I don’t really think you’re open to advice, but I’d exclude Seattle, Banff areas. You get plenty of water and mountains elsewhere.
so that’s two months for CA/southwest/Denver. The rest of the time for the East coast.
and I don’t know if you’d really want to skip a car on the East coast entirely. Sure, there are major cities in which having a car sucks. But there’s a lot of stuff that would be worth seeing outside of those cities.
so that’s two months for CA/southwest/Denver. The rest of the time for the East coast.
and I don’t know if you’d really want to skip a car on the East coast entirely. Sure, there are major cities in which having a car sucks. But there’s a lot of stuff that would be worth seeing outside of those cities.
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