Gorgeous coast - Carmel, Big Sur, Cayucos, California

November 10, 2012

Gorgeous coast - Carmel, Big Sur, Cayucos, California

After a great time in Saint George, Utah area, Donna and I headed to the California coast. The Pacific coast of the United States is a gorgeous coast, and the Big Sur coast of California is definitely one of the great coastal drives in the world. We have been here before, but it is a wonderful area to return to. A town we have driven by a number of times but never veered off of Highway 1 to explore is Carmel, California. This time we did it, and spent three nights in Carmel. It is as beautiful as we had heard it was. Right next door is Pebble Beach and its world famous golf course (only about $450 to play a round of 18 holes). Carmel has so many quaint homes and fairy book style cottages. It is probably the most beautiful little town we have ever visited in the US. It is also the wealthiest town we have ever visited, with a median home value of just under $1,000,000. So I guess we won't be purchasing a home in Carmel anytime soon, as Donna noted we couldn't even afford to buy a tough shed in Carmel. It also is famous for having Doris Day as a resident (she owns a very nice boutique hotel a block away from where we stayed (Green Lantern Inn - very quaint, and reasonable for Carmel), Betty White, and most famously Clint Eastwood (famous actor, director, and now talker to empty chairs), who was mayor for two years in the mid 1980's). Just a few miles outside of town is Point Lobos Reserve, a beautiful state park/reserve on the Pacific - we spent a day there hiking, and really enjoyed it. Some good eats in town, and just such a beautiful spot to relax. Very high end shopping, but we're not big shoppers anyway.

After three days in Carmel, we drove down the Big Sur coast and ended up in Cayucos, California, the "last funky beach town in Caliifornia". This is where we came as a family a number of times when the kids were growing up, and it was very nostalgic to walk the beach (twice a day), and just relax in another peaceful and beautiful setting.

Then back to Colorado after ten days on the road. Only 2800 miles this time, a weak showing by Halffield road trip standards. We would have lingered but Donna had to get back to her job. That's right Donna has gone back to work. She works part time as the occupational therapist at the Anchor Center for Blind Children, and loves it (they love her too, they actually went after her to go to work there, and are being very flexible with allowing her to take some extra time off periodically so that we can continue our adventures together)

Lots of pics, since I love the coast so much.