Day 9 - Monday 2nd April 2018 – Driving the PCH
We were all up around 7am today, and normally I would not be looking forward to a 283-mile drive but today I was driving via the Pacific Coast Highway! A bucket list moment I have been looking to do for years! Before the drive we needed to fill our bellies, we found a little place called La Trieste, for breakfast, it was very nice the only problem is the owner seemed to be doing everything, taking the orders, cooking the food, making the drinks and clearing the tables.
When our food did arrive, it was excellent. The boys had pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, Lee had an egg, ham and cheese croissant and I had a cream cheese bagel. The total bill was $40. Just before we left Monterey, we topped up the car with $30 of fuel. We were on the road at 9.50am.
I had decided that as we were having to divert off highway 1 due to the landslide that I would leave off 17-mile drive (would I regret this? ) it wasn’t long before we hit the signs and I was driving PCH!
The views on the drive were amazing we stopped off several times to take it in. First stop was The Bixby Bridge which was amazing although the lack of rails and the sheer drops were scary and I did have a few heart in my mouth moments with my rather energetic 6 year old!
It wasn’t long before we hit Big Sur, there are no signs to tell you you are in Big Sur but you just know and it was amazing! It is hard to put how it looked into words, so allow the photos do the talking.
We stopped off at one point and let the boys have a run and went down to this beautiful beach, which i have no idea the name of
As mentioned earlier due to the landslide we had to take the Nacimiento Fergusson Road which was very windy and incredibly scary with no barriers on the side of these windy roads.
It was quite high up and its highest point which meant for incredible views but literally heart attack driving. We drove through and army base at one point which was a little strange and we stopped several times to take some pictures.
The problem with road trips is that you need to go to the toilet now and again and I hadn’t really researched toilet stops. We stopped at a place called San Miguel and found a gas station with a toilet, we also grabbed an ice cream. When we resumed Lee took over the driving for the last 150 miles past Pismo, the final bit of the drive was mainly on the 101 so it was a shame not to get the full PCH experience (will do next time!)
i believe this is Morro Bay in the distance?
We arrived at the Marriott Santa Ynez; we weren’t sure what to expect as it only cost £60 for the night. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find a lovely hotel with a swimming pool and a laundry which by now was much needed, in fact it was one of our favourite hotels of the trip.
There were a few eating places nearby, so we walked over, the boys and Lee had dinner from a place called Carl Juniors, which was like a McDonalds. I didn’t fancy that so I had something from Panda Express. It wasn’t great but did the job, the boys were desperate to have a swim in the pool, which was outdoors and heated. I took the opportunity to do some laundry, although I did manage to leave my room key in the laundry room which resulted in a trek back to reception. The boys loved the pool and found a friend called Alexis who was with his Grandparents. It was still a little windy but as long as you kept your shoulders in the water it was fine.
We eventually got them out of the pool at 7.30pm and we went back to the room and watched TV. I took advantage of my Marriott discount and went to the in-house Starbucks and grabbed a large hot chocolate to take back to the room before bed time 😊.