WHEN we woke in Salinas this morning, my mission was to provide my grandson with more information than he wanted and a reference for when he reaches High School and is required to read "Of Mice and Men!" First stop, Steinbeck House, the scene of the author's boyhood and a town highly influential in his writing:
Learning about Steinbeck & Victorian Architecture
After obliging me for the photo op, Paul the navigator pointed us to California Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway and the 17 Mile Drive above the Monterey Peninsula. In addition to a stop at the legendary links course at Pebble Beach, we took in the iconic sights along the windy, often carsick-making drive:
Paul poses at the gates of golfers paradise
As the fog rolls in, cormorants and pelican gather on Bird Rock along 17 Mile Drive
A bit further along, Seal Rock is the site of frolic and fun for California Sea Lions
A final photo stop at the iconic "Lone Cypress" finished the tour
Like so many other things in California, even the beauty of 17 Mile Drive has been canned and capitalized. $10.25 per car to get in, a great deal of new development marring the latter parts of the drive, and a highly commercialized shopping district on the grounds of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Reason # 14 I don't live in California anymore -- many of the things that residents enjoyed in their communities have been over-exposed to attract ridiculous numbers of tourists.
Having completed 17 Mile Drive, we rejoined PCH and headed south once again. The views along the drive are always spectacular and although not worth the price to live here, definitely worth seeing if you've never made the drive along the edge of the North American continent!
The oft-photographed Bixby Bridge north of Big Sur on Highway 1
Water erosion at work carving out arches in coastal bedrock
The Big Creek Bridge lends a touch of elegance to a rugged coast
Paul contemplates the coast and gives his twisted tummy a rest along the way
WOW!
A bit further down the coast and we finally reached our southernmost target -- Hearst Castle in San Simeon! Another bit of history for Paul's journal, another photo op for me. We didn't have time to take Paul on the tour (I'd been to Hearst Castle back in High School), but he and I will watch a virtual tour before our trip is over!
A convenient turn-out and a telephoto lens helped me get this shot of Hearst Castle
Not far south of Hearst Castle, in the town of Cambria we made the turn east that would finally take us from the coast. As we crossed the hills into Paso Robles we caught a last glimpse of the Pacific in the rear-view mirror. Zig-zagging east/south/east we made our way to the desert town of Mojave and with no room in Military Lodging at Edwards Air Force Base, found ourselves, inevitably, in a Motel 6! On the up side, it's new, clean, and more than reasonably priced considering the cost of everything else in the Golden State.
We watched the moonrise over the desert ahead of us and the sunset in the rear-view mirror as our day ended:
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