Big Sur.
It was pretty fog bound when we left Monterey, heading about 30 miles south to Big Sur, and hoping the fog would blow off after a while so we could actually see Big Sur and the ocean. Still, the fog itself, hanging over the cliffs and almost entirely covering the ocean was pretty dramatic and made for some good photographs.
The fog, just about covering the entire ocean, did start to burn off, although as it cleared the ocean, it moved more inland, hovering over the mountainside.
We headed toward Big Sur, deciding to take the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and hitting Carmel on the way back north passing back through Monterey on the way to San Francisco, which is where we’ll be this evening as Russ leaves tomorrow.
It was still pretty foggy over the ocean as we neared Big Sur, although the cloud cover was burning off, and we first stopped at a really great looking and colorful restaurant, the Nepenthe Cafe, which it turns out is pretty well known, with wonderful overviews of Big Sur, although today we were dealing with a fogged in ocean.
Seeing the Bixby Creek Bridge was exciting, and unexpected, because I thought it was along the section of route 1 that’s closed, so wasn’t expecting to see it… in fact, I was expecting to not see it. Route 1 does go quite bit further north than San Simeon, and from the north sweeps down to the northern section of Big Sur… but, there’s a section that’s closed due to road damage. I’m not sure of the length of the closed section, although I’d guess anywhere from 15-30 miles, but regardless of length, there’s no way through, which is why we had to take 101, which is far less scenic. Actually, route 101 is not very scenic at all.
The Bixby Creek Bridge is iconic. It is built for a motorcycle to cross it, and in fact, Bronson did cross on his motorcycle it each week in the opening to “Then Came Bronson,” in the late 60’s. Actually, the whole of Big Sur is iconic, which actually runs from just below Carmel to just north of San Simeon. The entire coastline between those two points is Big Sur, but it’s the north that mostly seems known as Big Sur. From Wikipedia, “Big Sur is a rugged and mountainous section of the central coast of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur has been called the longest and most scenic stretch of undeveloped coastline in the contiguous United States, a sublime national treasure that demands extraordinary procedures to protect it from development, and “one of the most beautiful coastlines anywhere in the world, an isolated stretch of road, mythic in reputation.” Wow, huh?
We left Big Sur, where it would have been easy to spend much more time, and drove back toward Carmel, passing first through Pacific Grove, which is a nice little place to drive through and I wanted Russ to see it. I also hoped to get to Tasties while they were open to get that mug I wanted, but alas, they were closed again. And then to the Pebble Beach community 17-Mile Drive, which is a private toll road through the area, which hugs the coast and more or less connects Pacific Grove to Carmel, as well as some other communities.
We didn’t get to see some of the things I hoped we would, but we decided we wanted to get into San Francisco before it got dark, and it’s started to get dark around 6:30, and certainly by 7. So, Russ still driving, we exited 17-Mile Drive in Carmel, but didn’t visit the town, and likewise for Santa Cruz, which we skipped. I didn’t think we would have had time to visit Ben Lomond, and I’m not sure how much that would have appealed to Russ, although the drive there from Santa Cruz is spectacular, but I had hoped for Russ to at least drive through Santa Cruz, and visit the Boardwalk.
But, as it was, even taking route 101 again, this time into South San Francisco, we didn’t get to our hotel until a little before 6. We went out for dinner, which was pretty tasty, watched a little television, and went to sleep. After Russ leaves tomorrow, it’ll be a while until I see him again, unless I go to Australia. That’s not in my plans, though (although I clearly have no plans, at all).