The reality is, I could (should) be asleep right now, or at least working on my Senior Capstone presentation and tightening up the slide deck. It's 4:12am on a Tuesday night- or shall we say Wednesday morning?- and I'm writing yet another blog post as so often I find myself doing as the end of the quarter nears. Perhaps because this is really the first time in a while my mindset has been in a writing mood, or perhaps because I'm in college and I can stay up until the wee hours of dawn doing somewhat worthless personal projects. Nevertheless, here is my recap of the absolutely stunning drive of Big Sur that I took a couple weekends ago while the American public recognized dead presidents and the birthday of George Washington.
Did you know that you can rent a car before you turn 25? All you have to do is throw down a few extra shekels and boom, you've got a key to a brand new Nissan Sentra in your hand. I flew down to San Jose and based my adventure out of a hostel in Monterey. I never slept in the hostel. I was either outside stargazing on the coast, or sleeping in my car with a blanket and pillow because my bunkmate who was kitty corner to me in my hostel room snored like an anxious logger chopping wood in the Amazon.
I've wanted to drive the California coast for a fair while, and it just fit into my schedule perfectly for me to go over Presidents' Day Weekend. I flew in on a Thursday evening (no class- thanks, Foster Fridays!) and got settled and prepped to drive out the next morning. Heading out at 8am on a week day, there are very few other drivers. For a few hours, I was able to weave between asphalt curves along the gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway, glancing back and forth between the road and the sapphire blue water crashing against the coastline with nearly no traffic impeding my route.
Until around 11am hit. Then everyone and their mother came to drive this legendary highway. Rightfully so- as the pictures couldn't even do it justice. I found it funny how, about every 500 yards or so, there'd be a turnout point you could park at to take in the views. And then you'd go another 500 yards, stop, and say to yourself, "WOW, this view is even better than the last one!" Even better was that you'd find yourself with other drivers, everyone stopping along the way like an organized motorcade, even though none of us knew each other.
That said, the entire drive was breathtaking. You almost felt justified stopping SO often, getting out of your car, giving the "LOL you're here, too. Hello, again." head nod to strangers, snapping a picture or ten, taking in the view, and then getting back in your car . Rinse and repeat for the entire drive down.
Noteworthy stops: Nepenthe Restaurant (Thanks, Lauren) for lunch, and every place I stopped in between to take pictures.
My first real stop that I had planned was Bixby Canyon Bridge (above). I had the luxury of stopping here before very many others were around and took some pics. This bridge is really famous for two things. 1) The amount of references in media (Heroes, Death Cab for Cutie, Then Came Bronson, etc.) and 2) The amount of Photoshop people apply to it on their blogs. Maybe not the second one so much. Let's just say the #NoFilter could be used on every picture of it. I actually came back here late at night to take a few shots (lower left), one of them being one of my favorites I took during the trip..
After Bixby Canyon Bridge, I stopped over at Pfeiffer Beach. There are some really neat shots of the Keyhole Rock (below) that I've seen, but unfortunately it wasn't sunset when I arrived so I missed the opportunity to get the sun shining through the crevice while the sky behind it was lit up in pastel colors. Nevertheless, the beach was a really neat place. There are red and purple sands there and lots of kids playing with driftwood. Plenty of doges of all sizes running around, and even one couple taking engagement photos there. This place was a little hard to find because it was off on a side road that you had to travel on for a couple miles, and then go past a tollbooth and find parking. It was worth it, though.
One of the most freeing parts of this trip was being able to pull over wherever I wanted. Traveling with friends can be fun, but sometimes you just wanna do your own thing. You wanna stop where you wanna stop, you wanna pull over and pee when you need to and not worry about others, and you wanna get trail-mix with Craisins because that's what you like. Stopping at a pullout and shoveling some trailmix into my maw while sipping on Pacific Cooler Capri-Sun? Amen.
Another fantastic nook was McWay Cove featuring McWay Falls (top left). There's a tiny freshwater waterfall there that empties into the ocean, 1 of 6 in the USA. If I ever had seclusion there, I could sit at that waterfall for hours and read a book. Unfortunately, it's one of the most photographed locations and quite a busy stop. Still lovely.
Favorite stops: Bixby Canyon Bridge, Pfeiffer Beach, McWay Falls,
Further down the road was probably my highlight of the trip. Granted, I enjoyed all pieces of it. But this was something I didn't find out about until the day of. Completely spontaneous until I was searching Instagram for nearby locations, and this bad boy popped up.
Piedras Blancas. The San Simeon Elephant Seal Breeding Grounds. They breed here and stay on the beach because it's behind a wall of kelp in the ocean, so sharks cant chase them through there.
I friggin' LOVE seals, so this was a nice treat for me. There were seals. Tons of them. Both in quantity and in weight. Does your best friend ever just look at you and burp into your face? Now, imagine that smell perpetuating everywhere. That's what this place smelled like. Okay, now imagine "ARFT, ARFT, ARFT, ARFT," nonstop.
They were massive. They were loud. They were ugly, for the most part. There were a few lil seal pups that I just wanted to hug and squeeze, but the fence probably exists for good reason.
There were some really fat ones, too. I took a Snapchat of one and captioned it "Bring me Solo and da Wookie" because they reminded me of Jabba the Hutt.
I couldn't stop laughing, though. These fellas were adorable, hilarious, and just all around unexpected. I loved the San Simeon Elephant Seals.
My next stop was Hearst Castle. This belonged to William Randolph Hearst, and this guy was LOADED. His literal Castle was perched on top of a hill. The view above is what he woke up to every morning. The pool above, which was emptied due to the California drought, was pretty much a the most gorgeous outdoor pool I've ever seen. It was surrounded by stone columns and resembled a Greek goddess' getaway. I wish I could've seen it filled up. Perhaps even more impressive was his Great Hall. This guy bought pieces from everywhere. There were European tapestries from the 1500's, there were imported, decorated, wooden beams that dated before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. There was a private theater where Charlie Chaplin, and other famous actors, celebrities, etc. visited. There was a Hogwartsesque dining hall. There were original works of art that people thought were just lost, but instead were stuffed in a corner of his house. He had animals imported from around the world. There were zebras, giraffes, elephants, and others at the time he was alive. Absolutely insane.
The most absurd thing to me was his indoor pool (right). It was just pristine. I'm a sucker for the color blue, but this pool was just the empitome of wealth. There was gold nearly everywhere, there were private bathing rooms, little coves, etc. What a life to live. And then, he gets to gaze out on a sunset coming over the hills. Wow.
I finished my journey going back up to the city I'll be moving to in August. The lovely San Francisco. I met up with a friend from Seattle randomly who happened to take a Snapchat Story literally a block away from me. We hung out at the lovely Dolores Park (bottom right), full of Yuppies, runners, weed, and got to see the famous Coconut Rum guy who literally hacks open a coconut, pours rum into it, and sells it to people.
Also went up to Twin Peaks for the first time (bottom left). Not sure how I missed that place when I interned in SF this past summer. Great view of the whole city. I saw an adorable dog there. I just wanted to take it and run.
This entire roadtrip was a fantastic combination of nature, the unexpected, photography, awesome animals, and an urban lifestyle. It made me even more stoked to move there. I also never really thought about California to be as grand as it is. Growing up, it was the land of Disneyland, grandparents, and vacation. Now, it's becoming so much more to me.
Also, DAMN, those burritos are soooooooooo much better down there. See ya soon, Bay Area.
