Monterey, CA
Today was brilliant sunshine, warm and calm, so although I hadn’t planned on it, I decided to do a quick run through Monterey and along 17 Mile Drive to Carmel and then down Hwy 1 to Big Sur and beyond.
What a spectacular day. I have done this trip before a couple of times, but never as the photographer and never as the driver. So it was a different experience. This road was twisty and windy and up and down and in and out, but it was fun because it wasn’t too extreme and I wasn’t hauling my trailer.
I headed down Highway 1 to Monterey, and drove through town to reaquaint myself with it and to get to the northern entrance to 17 Mile Drive – “One of the most famous scenic drives in the world”. The street actually starts in the quaint community of Pacific Grove and then you enter the Del Monte Forest and Pebble Beach’s property. I exited out the southern gate (yes, there is a charge of $10 to take the route).
My first stop was at Spanish Bay, (named for a Spanish explorer and crew who camped here in 1769), Point Joe, and The Links at Spanish Bay. Folklore is that “Joe” lived in a shack near this dangerous navigational obstacle way back when, but they’re not sure if he took the name from the point or the point took the name from him. In any case, you can see how worked up the sea is at this point.
Next stop was China Rock where Chinese fishermen built lean-tos as their homes in the late 1800s. And no coastal area would be complete without a Bird Rock, and this one has the added attraction of some seals on it as well. If other tourists hadn’t been pointing etc, I might not have noticed.
This penisula is famous for it’s golf courses, and the next one I came across was the Robert Trent Jones designed Spyglass Hill Course, which overlooks Fanshell Overlook which overlooks a beautiful white sand beach where harbour seals bear their young in the spring each year.
Cypress Point Lookout and the Lone Cypress are next on the loop. The Lone Cypress is the registered trade mark of the Pebble Beach Company. This cypress has towered over this part of the coast for over 250 years, although not without some help in the form of a support wall and stays.
The last golf course on my circuit was the most famous – Pebble Beach – but I didn’t stop in for a round. One can certainly do that if one can golf and one is willing to pay the price. I didn’t even ask.
I exited at the southern end of 17 Mile Drive which takes you out to the main drag of the cute little town of Carmel. I have loved this town since we first visited it more than 30 years ago, and bought our first piece of actual “art”. It was a watercolour of dahlias in the Carmel Mission’s garden by Carolyn Lord, a young up and coming artist then and she’s had a great career. You can see her work at carolynlord.com
After making a short stop at a cute little bakery on the main street in Carmel to get a sandwich to take on the road, I head south on Highway 1. For the next few hours I was mesmerized by spectacular scenary. I have chosen a few of the best pictures, but believe me there are many more and I could have stopped more frequently but then it just gets silly.
With leaping ahead last night, it was already pitch black by 5:30 or so which coming from Canada seems so weird when you’re somewhere warm. If it’s warm out the sun should be
Lois' Adventures 