Blogs from Big Sur, California, United States, North America

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North America » United States » California » Big Sur June 19th 2023

Just by chance, I decided to make the drive up the coast from Arroyo Grande to Carmel. The coast of California is one of the most picturesque regions of the United States, and the Pacific Coast Highway is absolutely the best way to see as much of the shoreline as possible. Following the coast, url=https://www.thetravel.com/stops-along-the-california-pacific-coast-highway/?utm_source=syndicationState Route 1 passes through some of the most popular areas from SoCal to NorCal, including Los Angeles, Big Sur, and San Francisco. While all of these locations are well worth the stop, what makes the Pacific Coast Highway exceptional is the feeling of driving right against the ocean. Several stretches of the road are right along the cliff side, allowing ocean and forest views from the comfort of the car. I have done portions of Highway 1 on a bicycle. The ... read more
Coastal map
Big Sur bike ride

North America » United States » California » Big Sur August 22nd 2022

A friend, who knows who it was by now, said that I needed to blog as the events in our lives are changing. Well, here I am, sitting in our Jag while Dale drives down Highway 101. We just had a wonderful little getaway and I am enjoying the last of our, wind in the hair, moments. So, to back up a couple of months, we were attempting to get ready to go to Canada for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, we’d had problems with intruders and we knew that the hot summer was fast approaching. Additionally, we’d been talking for years about moving to Canada. We made the decision to sell the house and move on. We contacted the realtor we’d worked with and she told us what we needed to do to get ... read more
Friends
Big Sur
Airing Out

North America » United States » California » Big Sur June 27th 2019

Tour down the coast to visit Big Sur National park, staying at at Carmel by the Sea and visiting Point Lobos to sea the sea otters. Beautiful views and animals galore... read more
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North America » United States » California » Big Sur November 13th 2018

We were able to enjoy the best night of sleep in a while, with no kids to wake us up early or the middle of the night. We didn’t start moving until after 9:00 and ordered room service for breakfast. Eventually, we decided to head out around 11:00, but not before being able to switch rooms to another King-bed that had a tub and view of Cannery Row and partially the ocean. Every interaction with the staff at the hotel has been superb, from the spa yesterday to the valet’s and room service, it has been friendly and better than any service at a hotel that we have had before. We started off down cannery row and stopped at the Pebble Beach store to buy Steve a golf shirt and some other essentials that marked our ... read more
Prego Bixby Bridge
Bixby Bridge
Big Sur

North America » United States » California » Big Sur May 6th 2018

Our original plan for the holiday was to drive back to LA from Monterey down the famously beautiful coastal Route 1. However due to a pretty epic url=https://www.dailynews.com/2018/05/01/highway-1-closed-near-big-sur-since-2017-slides-could-reopen-in-fall/landslide in 2017 the road is still closed so instead of a day in Big Sur then stopping for the night further south we decided to day trip it to Big Sur from Monterey. Sadly landslides had also taken out lots of trails, including the Ewoldsen Trail we had planned to do so we came up with a new plan involving a short hike and several scenic stops. After breakfast we set off down Route 1 passing Point Lobos and contining to our first stop - the photogenic Bixby Creek Bridge. It was pretty good but not a patch on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, or Ironbridge! We then continud ... read more
On Buzzard's Roost Trail
View from Buzzard's Roost
Watching sunset from Ocean View Boulevard

North America » United States » California » Big Sur January 9th 2018

I do not claim to be an expert as far as predicting travel trends. But I do not what I like when I travel. And I also see some trends, both good and bad. One of the worst, and I am as guilty as anyone, is the constant digital connection to the rest of the world. But I do not use roaming, and limit myself to a few phone calls home, and unlimited texts. The experts call this trend, "digital-detox", though I prefer to call it, "just try to enjoy your trip." Of course, going back to nature, getting away from cities, and getting more active physically helps immensely. Hit the "second" cities for a great experience. I can think of several here in the U.S. I enjoyed Memphis much more than Nashville. And Columbus much ... read more
Leave your drone camera at home!
Memphis and Beale Street are tops in Tennessee!
How much further???

North America » United States » California » Big Sur March 1st 2016

It’s time for another ‘Road trip’ This time we are following the beautiful dramatic coastline from Los Angeles to San Francisco travelling through beautiful national parks along the way. We had heard so much about this beautiful route so agreed that ditching our pre-booked 8 hour bus journey would be one of the best things we could do if we really wanted to appreciate this coastline. We wanted to witness the scenery it had to offer and lucky for us the weather was still t-shirt and shorts worthy. Rather than making the same mistake like last time, we booked the car a week in advance and got a reasonable rate from Budget car hire in LA, opting to return the car to their San Francisco branch. When trying to decide how many days were sufficient to ... read more
Elephant Seals
Posing for the photo
Pfeiffer Beach

North America » United States » California » Big Sur December 7th 2015

I was back on the road, everything was simple again. Cycle to the next sleeping spot, set up camp, eat. This was what I was doing this trip for, the challenge and the opportunity that the unknown can give. My Garmin GPS those first few days came in very handy indeed. Making my way over to Santa Cruz was ridiculously complicated, I must have had to make 20 turns in 15km that would have required constant stops had I just been relying on my phone. Still, after making it the 60 miles or so to the campsite just past town and starting again the next day the ride became simple as it hugged the coast. I'd been wondering about the Pacific Coast trail, made famous by the movie with Reese Witherspoon called 'Wild'. In the movie ... read more
Flooded road, had to turn back but I got to see this pond full of ducks
Big Sur

North America » United States » California » Big Sur June 28th 2015

Our last day we packed up camp, and then planned to head to Pfeiffer Beach. And so did every other tourist at 10am. =( We didn't make it. It's a one lane road, and the parking lot at the end was so full that people couldn't even finish the drive to get close. We had to turn around like the majority of the cars. So my advice to you, is if you're planning the drive to that iconic Big Sur Coast locale, leave early if it's a weekend. We went to a better beach anyway- Carmel Beach. It's got pretty white sand, and it was warm. The Pacific Ocean is cold as hell, and I don't usually go in the water when I'm in Santa Cruz. But it was actually very nice in Carmel that day! ... read more
Carmel Beach
Carmel Beach
Carmel Beach




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