Category: Road Tripping

Driving the California Coast in a convertible!  It’s the California dream, right?  I’m lucky enough to live in the LA area and own a little convertible Miata. So, here is my list of my favorite places to stop while driving along the coast.  This article is meant to be a sampler of places to visit. Based on your likes, you may want to dive deeper into a particular city so I’ve included a lot of links. Have fun and make your own memory driving the California Coastline. 

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. You can get a view like nowhere else by walking across the bridge.  Often this walk is chilly as the natural breezes and the fog can blow off the Pacific Ocean so you might want to see if you need a jacket before you set off.

Afterward, relax in Chrissy Field, take a nap, another selfie with the bridge behind you or watch people flying kites.  The Painted Lady Homes are also near here. At this end of the Bay is the Walt Disney Family Museum with hours upon hours of sight-seeing memorabilia collected by Walt and his daughter who has a home here.  The Ghiradelli Chocolate store is right up the hill if you’re hankering for something sweet and close by is the end of the cable car track so you can literally watch the workers turn the cable cars turn around. 

Walking along the bay from Chrissy Field, you pass Fisherman’s Warf, Pier 39 and can walk down along the Embarcadero.  If you go out on the piers, you can see and hear the seals barking, smell the fisherman’s catches, eat clam chowder in a bread bowl at one of the many restaurants and visit the Ferry Building filled with small shops and gourmet foods. If your feet are exhausted from all this walking, you can always hop a cable cars that travels parallel to the Bay. From the east end, you can see the Bay Bridge, which is my favorite at night when they turn on the LEDs, fish float alongside the bridge in lights.

If you’re really up for a hike, walk up hill to Lombard Street, the curviest street around or to Coit Tower for an unbelievable view.  Want the view without the walk, I’d suggest a drink at The View Lounge at the Marriott. -Make sure you get there when it first opens for the best seat.

One of Monterey’s claim to fames is John Steinbeck who wrote many novels here including Cannery Row. Many of the canneries are now restaurants and shops that you can browse through.  Monterey is also known for its world-renown aquarium.   The Monterey Bay Aquarium is huge and the best that I’ve been in.  You can touch a starfish, poke a sea anemone and see humongous fishes swimming all around you.  One of my favorite things to watch here are the jellyfish that slowly glide through the water.  Monterey is also along the whale migration route and in the spring, you can go out on a boat whale watching.  On our trip, we saw a few whales but what was more fun for me was the hundreds of dolphins that followed our boat, riding along our bow.  One must do is the 17-mile drive in Monterey.  Pebble Beach is here and the curvy road goes along some of the most beautiful coastline in the world.

If you haven’t had your fill of hiking yet, stop in Big Sur for a walk within the State Park.  There are huge Redwood trees and plenty of hikes to choose from.

William Randolph Hearst was a newspaper and media mogul who control much of the newspaper messaging during the late 1800s/early 1900s, relying on sensationalism and crude exaggeration, he was either loved or hated by his readers. Yes, Patti Hearst is his granddaughter.  With his millions of dollars and an inheritance, William Randolph creating Hearst Ranch, a spread that included 250,000 acres and building Hearst Castle designed by architect Julia Morgan, By 1947, included 165 rooms and 123 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways and was still considered unfinished.  You a take a variety of tours. 

I also recommending stopping at Hearst Ranch Winery on your way out or beforehand.  It sits on the westside of Highway 1 next to the beach and has some really good wines.  This is one of my “must stops” for wine lovers along the way.

Morro Bay is the epidemy of a smaller beach town and I love it.  Looking out to the bay is Morro Rock, a huge bolder that springs up out of the water and gives the town its name.  Along, the water are small shops and places to eat.  This town has a lazy layback feel and you can sit and watch the sea otters, seals and birds play in the bay for hours, especially in the morning before it gets busy.  If you’re more energetic, walk the rock!

Pismo Beach is another small beach town and is super popular with sports enthusiast.  This is the only area in California where you actually drive on the beach, so its worth spending some time here.   There are about 3,500 acres of sand dunes at the Oceano Dunes SVRA/Pismo State Park that also offers camping.   As you cruise the sand, there will be plenty of people watching with See-Doos jumping the waves, dune buggies and quads racing around and kites flying high.  You can also dig up the famous Pismo Clams but make sure you have a license.

When you get to Santa Maria/Lompoc area, the highway cuts inland and I suggest you go a little further to go wine tasting in this area.  The Edna Valley and San Luis Obispo wine regions are world renown for their many award-winning wineries and tasting rooms.  Some of my favorites are listed in this blog post.

Solvang is next.  It’s a Danish town with windmills and cute Danish cottages that host shops and restaurants.  If you can’t make it to some of the local wineries, Solvang also has lots of tasting rooms so you can sample many of the local wineries at once.

Malibu goes on forever with some of the most beautiful ocean front property around.  Much of it is fronted with homes so you can’t see the beach as you drive along it but get out of the car and walk though one of the public access areas to the water, (look for the little signs) you get to not only view the Pacific to the west can see some huge homes to the right.  Malibu is also home to the Getty Villa. Paul Getty, an oil magnate, built the Getty Villa adjacent to his home to house his art collection.  Today it acts as an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.  The tickets are free but you need to order them early and pay for parking. There are many events held at the Getty include Greek plays in the outdoor auditorium.  You can spend an entire morning or afternoon roaming the gardens and art collections.

Long Beach is home to the RMS Queen Mary and Long Beach Aquarium. The Port of Los Angeles is comprised of the Port of LA and the Port of Long Beach.  It’s one of the world’s busiest seaports for international trade in North America and the number one container port in the U.S. with 9.5M containers handled in 2018.  Within Long Beach is also the RMS Queen Mary.  It now acts as a hotel, museum and restaurant.  It needs some maintenance but if you are into haunted old ships, this is the place for you.  The ship was delivered in 1936 and sailed until 1967.  I know many friends who have stayed here and absolutely believe its haunted although I didn’t didn’t see or hear anything when I spent the night many years ago.  Long Beach is also host the Aquarium of the Pacific and has lots of restaurants to choose from in its Downtown and at Shoreline Village.

Along Highway 101 or commonly known as PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) is the arts district of Laguna Beach.  The many galleries display a wide variety of art along with shopping and yummy restaurants.  The Pageant of the Masters (July-September), an outdoor show where real people recreate works of art along with the annual Sawdust Festival, an arts and crafts fair, is held here from June to August. 

San Diego is a huge city with many things to see and do.  During the last 30 years, the Gas Lamp district has undergone a renaissance and now has a large amount of stores and restaurants.  On Friday and Saturday nights, the streets are filled with people partying, slipping into the bars to hear music or just dancing along the sidewalks.  There are plenty of pedi-cars to take you from place to place but negotiate the price before you hop in.   In the Gas Lamp is also PetCo Stadium, home to the San Diego Padres Baseball Team. Also in San Diego’s Mission Bay is Sea World, the USS Midway Museum and in Old Town, you can visit 36 historical sites and museums, shops and restaurants. If you want a really nice night or Sunday Brunch, head on over to the Hotel Del Coronado. Its beautiful but pricey.