The California Coast - San Fran to Big Sur

Amanda Campbell
Aug 15, 2017
4 min read

And then we were three. With Shannon and Ali by my side we were a trio of Canadians left to our devices in San Francisco for the day. We had spent the evening in our old grubby hostel in the seedy neighbourhood "Tenderloin". After spending so much time outside of cities, the garbage and smell and amount of homeless people was startling. I was informed that I risked having my windows broken if I left my vehicle on the street, and so we had spent some time the night before searching for an indoor garage in the area, and spent 40 USD just for parking it for the 24 hours. Yikes! I couldn't risk anything happening to my SUV and life source though, so that was how it had to be. After hours spent in traffic getting into the city, I was happy to park it and leave it for a bit. I had spent time in San Fran in the past, so I let the girls determine what we would do with our time. In the morning, we first headed out to a farmers market in front of City Hall, where we breakfasted on green juice and white peaches before heading down to Alamo square to admire the neighbourhoods and see the Painted Ladies.

Next, we took off for the funky neighbourhood of Haight and Ashbury and browsed the hippy shops in the area. We even stumbled upon a big Hare Krishna festival in the area, which went well with our generally earthy afternoon. Then it was on to the Golden Gate Bridge that we tried to approach by car, only to be caught in a mess of traffic again. Traffic in San Francisco really is a nightmare, I would never bring a vehicle into that city again! But we made it, and grabbed some shots of the three of us.

In the evening, we made our way down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to watch the sea lions and catch a glimpse of Alcatraz in the distance. This is a VERY touristy area but worth seeing if you haven't been. We managed to find some bar seats at the Boudin Sourdough Bakery where we enjoyed some delicious chowder in sourdough bread bowls and a drink before we had to drop Ali off at the airport.

Now it was just Shannon and I, and we were heading to Monterrey. We decided quickly that we wouldn't make it the whole way that evening, and Shannon was curious to try the Walmart experience (apparently my blog about my negative times in Walmart parking lots did nothing to dissuade her). We stopped about halfway and pulled into the parking lot, which admittedly was nicer than most in that it had trees. I taught her of parking strategies (park with a tree to the east to cut the morning sun), how to set up the bed, and how to crawl in through the side without attracting too much attention. She informed me the next morning that she had a great sleep, and felt like she was in a caccoon. A kind way to look at the claustrophobic bed.

Then to Monterrey we went! We were uneasy about the clouds overhead as we drove, but that morning fog cleared just as we entered the beautiful small city of Monterrey. Not feeling like paying the 50 USD per person for the aquarium, we instead saw our sea creatures via kayak. Seals, sea lions, sea otters, jellyfish, cormorants, and plenty of other creatures definitely made it worth while! A stroll down Cannery Row, some wine tasting at a local winery, a delicious seafood lunch, and fun perusing Monterrey's Fisherman's Wharf (in my opinion better than San Francisco's) made for an amazing day. At the Wharf, every restaurant offered samples of seafood chowder in small cups outside the entrance. I dragged Shannon to every one, on a chowder crawl, determined to try them all and unyielding to her complaints that the heavy cream was making her stomach unhappy. We also crushed a few pennies on the way. Ah, to be a tourist.

We took off in the evening for Carmel, where we spent the evening on the beach before calling it a night in the SUV. Carmel is a beautiful and expensive town on the ocean, and we enjoyed gawking at the rich houses on the water as we made our way through town in the morning. Close to Carmel was Point Lobos State Park, where we did a few hours of hiking along the rocky shore. We again were lucky enough to see some sea otters, adorable little guys; even close enough to hear them crunching on seashells

Then it was on to Big Sur, where we were hoping to snag a first come first serve campsite in the morning before they filled up. We were happy to get one of the last three spots at Big Sur Campground, and could relax that we had a home and showers for the night. Perfect. Big Sur was our last stop along highway 1; the road was closed beyond it due to landslides this last winter. We did a bit of hiking in the area, and spent the afternoon at the beach in Andrew Molera state park. There was a beautiful restaurant we had heard about in the area, Nepenthe, which was a little beyond the road closure. We got wind that it was still open and you could now hike to it. So that evening, we spent about an hour and a half hiking around the road closure and up to this restaurant. It was completely worth it, and you'll understand why when you see the photos of the view!

It was an evening by the campfire, and then a morning making our way back up the winding coastal highway that this drive is famous for. It was so beautiful, we couldn't make it more than 5 minutes before stopping again for more photos.