Lighthouse Sprint: a Pacific Coast highway roadtrip from Monterey to Avila

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Stay at the Lighthouse Lodge and Cottages in Pacific Grove the night before.  This way, you can get your jellyfish “fix” at Monterey’s aquarium, pause at Cannery Row to get “in character” with a few chapters of Steinbeck, and check out the longest operating lighthouse on the entire West coast, Point Pinos,  the day before….

Because TODAY is going to be a long roadtrip down the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH, California’s coastal highway 1, from Monterey to Port San Luis.

An early stroll amongst the coastal redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park make for a great start on the Pacific Coast Highway!  These giant trees, found only on the coast here in southern OR and central CA, feel like grandfathers, stretching to infinity as you stand at their base (did you know they grow 2-3' per year?)  My arms stretched wide yet could not encircle even a 1/3 of their trunk.   I paused there to rub their big slabs of bark and couldn’t help but imagine the centuries of people who had stood there, like me, in this same spot.

You can pop into the gift shop for some very unique feather art (creative work of Carmel artist, Nancy Proto-Robinson) and some history of Big Sur (did you know that in 1900, the population was much higher than it is today, yet the Old Coast Road - now your route along the Pacific Coast Highway -  was little more than a wagon trail).    Then make a short cappuccino stop at Café Kevah, for caffeine with a view!

90 miles and 2 hours of Pacific Coast Highway coastline are waiting for your camera!  You’ll cross the Bixby Bridge (famous as the most photographed bridge on this coast) and vista after vista of Big Sur:

By the time you get down the Pacific Coast Highway to TreeBones, you’ll be ready for lunch and some curiousities.  This lodge is mostly yurts, set into the cliffs on the eastern side of the PCH.  Up there where your ears pop, there’s a pool and the Pacific Coast Highway’s best sushi bar (closed on Tuesdays!), plus an actual human nest, designed by local architect Jayson Fann who entwined up to 1000 eucalyptus branches!  It's available for rent for the night… if you dare.  It’s not much more than non-insulated ball of sticks (I DID call it a nest!) with a single mattress on the floor.  But, OH, the view!  (and the bragging rights!)

A short 30 minutes more on Pacific Coast Highway takes you to the end of Big Sur, marked by the Ragged Point Inn.   Here, you can get the PCH’s Best Chai Latte  (according to Trek America Guide, Will Borchert) and take a short but intense nature trail which serpentines down the cliff to the small beach of Ragged Point.

Whatever you do, though, don’t gas up here! It's $6.09/gallon!

20 minutes later on your Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip will bring you past the Piedras Blancas Light Station, established 1875. Tours are by appointment only - check out this schedule.

But if you miss a tour, don’t worry – you can’t miss the elephant seal rookery at Point Piedras Blancas, at Hearst St Simeon State Park .  All year long, these creatures haul out of the sea alongside the Pacific Coast Highway.  In Fall, the bachelors sun and sleep;  winter brings pregnant moms who give birth, nurse for 1 month, mate, and return to the sea with another pregnancy (and I thought 4 sons in 5 ½ years was intense!)   Spring and summer haulout is the annual molt.  
Basically, elephant seals are deep sea divers who hunt at amazing depths of up to 5000' for periods of 20 minutes or longer, then alternate with weeks (or even months) of foodless rest.

Next stop on your Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip is mandatory, whether you’re hungry or not!  At Morro Strand, find Tognazzini’s Dockside.
Dogs may allow their 2-legged companions to accompany them on this outdoor deck, and while you're waiting for your ahi tuna appetizer (8 ozs, 9 bucks!), your K9 can help himself to this basket 'o bones.
Pacific Coast Highway dining, served over the water in the shadow of Morro rock, is simply sinful to pass by.

Finally, you’ll pull into Avila Beach, where you’ll find the unremarkable but sparkling and beautifully located Lighthouse Suites.   But where’s the Port San Luis lighthouse, you ask?  That’s right, you can’t see it – because you have to work a little to get to it!  Stay tuned for my next blog, Paddle to the light!

Enjoyed this virtual Pacific Coast Highway roadtrip?   

I can design a REAL one for you.  

Call me today at Tough Love Travel to talk about the possibilities:  (609)923-0304!