West Coast Virgins - Day 3 - To Pismo Beach

[georgemac]

14th March 2015 – San Francisco to Pismo Beach on Highway 1

Estimated Distance Driven Today 280 Miles
Estimated Distance Driven On Trip 395 Miles

Awake through night again but eventually got back to sleep. Up early headed for Avis. My Sat Nav power cable was checked in another car & ok. No power to Volvo sockets. Volvo was luxury class, free upgrade, but I was back to premium saloon today. Buick, Ford Taurus or Nissan Maxima. Lady recommended Ford so took this, very happy with car, especially with reversing camera.
Back to hotel. Packed, breakfast and set off just before 9. Took the 280 South and cut across to Half Moon Bay before taking highway 1 South.

Loved the drive. Some stunning scenery. Now where I live, we have stunningly beautiful golden beaches, and cliffs. But I have never been anywhere where the sheer sloping cliffs come up so steeply from the sea. Breaks in the hills – I should not call them cliffs, with beaches in some parts and rocks in others.

Huge amount of cyclists on road, all the way down to Monterry. Plenty traffic too. We stopped in Monterry for a coffee, at Fishermans Wharf, nice, but on reflection Carmel, or the harbour just before Monterry would have been a better place to stop.
In fact if I was doing it again, I would pack a picnic in the car, and just stop at one of the literally hundreds of parking points with beautiful views.

Back on the road and stopped for lunch at small roadside restaurant and shop at Lucia. Very nice. Just South of there, there is a small tunnel built on to the side of the cliff which is simply stunning. Now a lot of the road here is very twisty, obviously prone to landslides, falling stones, and some parts crumbling quite close to the edge, and plenty repairs ongoing, but still an enjoyable drive, even for me who no longer particularly enjoys driving in the UK.

Back on the road, and arrived at hotel at Pismo at 3.40 PM.
There were plenty seals visible on the latter part of the journey, think it might have been Cambria and San Simeon.

I think a packed picnic would have been great.

Checked into hotel, booked with BA, Seaventure Beach Resort. Room was lovely, but view not so great. We never got the outside balcony, which Geoffa told me about, which I think has hot tub, which would not bother us too much. Phoned to ask if we could upgrade to a balcony with a beach view, but fully booked. They said we were booked through an agency, probably one BA use so we probably get least popular rooms, though still lovely. Given weather we won't need the fire in the room! Complimentary bottle of wine, which was excellent, and only $10 for additional bottles, and free in room breakfast, which is normally 4 items for 5 bucks. We tipped the guy who took the wine to the room – he was not expecting this.
Room has roof windows, no blinds on 3rd floor. Pity it's cloudy, could have been star gazing.

We headed out, and strolled along the boardwalk and pier, watching the surfers and fishermen, extremely patient ones as we never saw any bites. Beach was packed, flat calm seas though, not giving the surfers the waves or breakers they needed.
Headed up to the small shopping and restaraunt area. There was one small cafe, The Splash Cafe take away, huge lines waiting, and one restaurant with long lines, Hoagies Sandwich and Grill. We settled for Brads restaurant, 15 minute wait. It was very nice. The waiter asked where we were from – we told him and he said we don’t get much of you here!

Back to beach and strolled around waiting on sunset, but cloudy now. Was still very very pretty. On the extreme South side of the beach, huge number of jeeps or cars on beach, we could only see the lights.

Back to room around 8 to unpack and chill out, and enjoy a glass of my complementary Cedar Creek Pinot Noir, which I really enjoyed.

Looking forward to relaxing day tomorrow and meal in Hotel restaurant tomorrow night.

[georgemac]

Photos from PCH

Photobucket links removed - will try and update later

[georgemac]

Pismo Beach

Photobucket links removed - will try and update later

[georgemac]

Sunset Photos

[Pussycat Doll]

Fabulous photos especially the sunset ones. We've done this drive many times and never get tired of the scenery. Pussycat

[Rob & Jan]

Thanks for the report your photos are amazing, we are staying at Pismo Beach when we go in August I can't wait!

[abiknox]

Ooh I loved that drive & our stay at Pismo! Lovely sunset pics! I think cloud always make it look more fascinating

Shame you didn't get your hot tub!

[TinkTatoo]

We stayed for two nights in Pismo and really loved it there

[Guest]

Geoffa here. Sorry you didn't get the balcony with hot tub but the Seaventure is such a great hotel. That complimentary bottle of wine certainly helps. Love the restaurant at SV. Such great food. We will be there for two nights in July.

[hawki]

Love those pics!