California Road Trip PET
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:12 pm
Just got back last night from an eight day road trip, reconnecting with some places in my home state and visiting some that I had never been to before. Here was the itinerary:
Day 1 - Fallbrook to Pacific Grove (Monterey), up I 5 to I 405 to US 101, hang a left at Salinas and head to the coast.
Day 2 - Walk around Cannery Row in the early morning, visit Point Lobos, then drive to Napa, up CA 1 to US 101 to I 880 to CA 29 . Dinner with bro and his fiance, who had come over from Sacramento.
Day 3 - Visit some wineries and an olive oil mill with bro.
Day 4 - Drive to Mendocino, up CA 29 to CA 128, through St. Helena, Calistoga, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Booneville the Alexander and Anderson Valleys, Navarro River Redwoods, to the coast and then up CA 1 to Ft. Bragg. Visit MacKerricher State Park and Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg. Back to Mendocino to the B&B.
Day 5 - Walk around the headlands in Mendocino. Six mile hike to the waterfall in Russian Gulch State Park. Walk around Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. Long hot bath at the B&B.
Day 6 - Drive to Cambria, down CA 1 to the Golden Gate Bridge, making the mistake of not heading east to US 101 at Petaluma, which added a couple of hours of driving and terror on the coast route through Marin County. Down the 101 to CA 46 and over to Cambria.
Day 7 - Half a day at Hearst Castle and half a day visiting some wineries in Paso Robles, then out to Morro Bay on CA 41. Walk around Morro Rock, catch some dinner and then back to Cambria on CA 1.
Day 8 - Down CA 1 to SLO then back home the same way we went.
Here are some pics from the first couple of days. I'll post some from later in the trip as I get time.
The Steinbeck Center and Museum in Salinas. Both of us read East of Eden in the last year and we wanted to see this place. The website said "open 364 days a year" so we figured we would make a stop on the way to Monterey. Turns out they were having some kind of street fair where if you paid $100 you get "free wine" and entrance to the museum. No entry otherwise. We got out of town and continued on our way.
The view from our room in Pacific Grove
The B&B was one of the original mansions in the area and the rooms are all filled with antiques.
Point Lobos has to be one of the most spectacular places on earth. Snapshots really don't do it justice, but I got a couple hundred pics of rocks, trees and water anyway on a walk of about 4 or 5 miles. Here are a few.
South side of the point in the morning, clouds just clearing.
Mr. & Mrs. Mikey, for all your photo collections.
A friend we met on the trail.
There were a lot of seals making a lot of noise out on that rock.
Point Lobos is famous for sea otters, but we didn't sea any. They must have been at their otter home.
Day 1 - Fallbrook to Pacific Grove (Monterey), up I 5 to I 405 to US 101, hang a left at Salinas and head to the coast.
Day 2 - Walk around Cannery Row in the early morning, visit Point Lobos, then drive to Napa, up CA 1 to US 101 to I 880 to CA 29 . Dinner with bro and his fiance, who had come over from Sacramento.
Day 3 - Visit some wineries and an olive oil mill with bro.
Day 4 - Drive to Mendocino, up CA 29 to CA 128, through St. Helena, Calistoga, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Booneville the Alexander and Anderson Valleys, Navarro River Redwoods, to the coast and then up CA 1 to Ft. Bragg. Visit MacKerricher State Park and Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg. Back to Mendocino to the B&B.
Day 5 - Walk around the headlands in Mendocino. Six mile hike to the waterfall in Russian Gulch State Park. Walk around Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. Long hot bath at the B&B.
Day 6 - Drive to Cambria, down CA 1 to the Golden Gate Bridge, making the mistake of not heading east to US 101 at Petaluma, which added a couple of hours of driving and terror on the coast route through Marin County. Down the 101 to CA 46 and over to Cambria.
Day 7 - Half a day at Hearst Castle and half a day visiting some wineries in Paso Robles, then out to Morro Bay on CA 41. Walk around Morro Rock, catch some dinner and then back to Cambria on CA 1.
Day 8 - Down CA 1 to SLO then back home the same way we went.
Here are some pics from the first couple of days. I'll post some from later in the trip as I get time.
The Steinbeck Center and Museum in Salinas. Both of us read East of Eden in the last year and we wanted to see this place. The website said "open 364 days a year" so we figured we would make a stop on the way to Monterey. Turns out they were having some kind of street fair where if you paid $100 you get "free wine" and entrance to the museum. No entry otherwise. We got out of town and continued on our way.
The view from our room in Pacific Grove
The B&B was one of the original mansions in the area and the rooms are all filled with antiques.
Point Lobos has to be one of the most spectacular places on earth. Snapshots really don't do it justice, but I got a couple hundred pics of rocks, trees and water anyway on a walk of about 4 or 5 miles. Here are a few.
South side of the point in the morning, clouds just clearing.
Mr. & Mrs. Mikey, for all your photo collections.
A friend we met on the trail.
There were a lot of seals making a lot of noise out on that rock.
Point Lobos is famous for sea otters, but we didn't sea any. They must have been at their otter home.