Monterey and Big Sur
Picture-postcard destination in California
Who hasn’t seen the postcard motives of the famous Highway 1, Bixby Bridge and Big Sur? It is one of the most popular road trips in the world and a bucket list item for many. If you are like Charlie not driving however, there are some complications to overcome.
Charlie decided to spend a few days in the town of Monterey north of Big Sur and to see if she could get to coast from there.
Getting to Monterey
Charlie took the Amtrak from San Francisco which was in total a 5-hour-journey with some wait times in between. San Francisco doesn’t have a train station and the trip started with a bus journey over the Bay Bridge to Emeryville. There, Charlie had approximately an hour layover before she got on the train to Salinas. From there, it was another bus journey to get to Monterey. All of that was on the same ticket and the busses were organized by Amtrak. The transfer from Salinas was a mini bus with a very personal service. The driver dropped Charlie off in front of her accommodation. She did not expect that. (For the return journey though, she had to walk to the Transit Center in Monterey.)
The town of Monterey
Monterey is on a peninsula overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay – a popular spot for whale watching. The town centre is mostly built in Mexican-style architecture, whereas other parts of the town show Victorian houses. Charlie mostly noticed them along Lighthouse Avenue. The row of houses could have been taken out of a quaint English village.
The places that are mostly frequented by tourists are Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row. Both places are connected by a recreational trail along the coast and you find plenty of shops and restaurants in this area. Fisherman’s Wharf is the place where the whale watching tours start. Similar to what Charlie had seen in San Diego and San Francisco, the pier has a viewpoint from where you can see sea lions. Well, you probably hear them long before you can see them.
The 17-Mile-Drive
Apart from whale watching there is one activity that most tourists do in Monterey: the 17-Mile-Drive. The name goes back to the original purpose as a horse carriage route that was exactly 17 miles long. Today, it is mostly a street that leads to all the golf courses and provides scenic views over the coast and from the mountains near Monterey.
Charlie hired an e-Bike from Adventures by the Sea near Fisherman’s Wharf and started the journey from there. She rode along the coastal trail to Cannery Row and Pacific Grove, past the lighthouse and around the point of the peninsula to Asilomar beach. That’s where she spotted some surfers in the water.
From there it wasn’t far anymore to the entrance of the 17-mile-drive. Cars have to pay to enter, bikes can just pass by the gates. The whole trail is very well marked and there are always signposts that guide the way. Charlie stopped again at Spanish Bay and watched some more surfers before she continued along the coast to several viewpoints. There was another opportunity to watch the sea lions. Up to Seal Point, there was a cycle lane along the road. From there on, the official bike route goes away from the coast. Charlie however wanted to see the rest of the coastal route with the Lone Cypress and Ghost Trees. She continued cycling along the road all the way to Pebble Beach. It is a popular golf course and there is a visitor centre too. It was the only point along the whole 17-mile-drive where Charlie spotted public restrooms.
This was approximately the half-way-point of the loop and from now on it should get interesting as traffic increased and the road went uphill into the mountains. There was one point where Charlie had to check with the employees of the area to find the right way and not end up with her bike on the highway towards Carmel.
It was a steep hill from there and Charlie was happy to have had an engine to assist during the climb. Once she was back near the starting point, she also spotted a deer along the road. She made another quick stop Spanish Bay where quite a few painters had set up their stations to capture the landscape on canvas.
It was time to make her way back to return the bike. It was past 4 p.m., the sunset was close on this December day and she also felt cold by now. She wished she would have had a pair of gloves.
Bixby Bridge and Point Sur
So, what about Big Sur now? It is no secret that California is the least pedestrian-friendly part Charlie has been to. The only way to get to Big Sur seemed to be by car. There are no guided tours. The only option Charlie could find would have been to hire a private driver. The cost? 600 Dollars!
How much did she want to see Big Sur? Not that much!
She wasn’t out of ideas just yet…
On her way to Mavericks the week before, she had spotted an airport and quite a few small airplanes around the bay. Maybe there was something like that near Monterey too!
A quick search online guided Charlie to the flight school Aero Dynamic Aviation in Monterey. They specialized in pilot training and similar to the flight school in Newquay also offered touring flights. The price for that? 200 Dollars! Still not cheap, but more affordable. (A rental car for the day might have cost the same.)
It was only one week to go and Charlie would only be in Monterey for two days. Would she be lucky enough to get a flight slot?
She was… There was exactly on slot free for the Thursday morning and she took it. On the day, she had to be lucky once more for the weather to be on her side. And she was.
The pilot, Bert, asked her how long ago she had booked that experience and was surprised when she said that it was only a week before. Sometimes you just have to be lucky.
They flew along the coast where Charlie had cycled the day before, past point Lobos where Brad Pitt owned a house, all the way to Bixby Bridge and Point Sur. For the return, they flew over the property of Clint Eastwood and did a loop over Monterey Bay to watch out for whales. They didn’t see any.
Since this was also considered a flight lesson, Charlie landed and started the plane two times on the way back and was given a pilots log book. Maybe there’s a new goal for her?
Onwards travel from Monterey to Los Angeles
The final destination of Charlie’s California trip was Los Angeles. She took the Amtrak bus back to Salinas and got on a 9-hour-train-journey from there. She can confidently call it the train trip of a lifetime. Just after San Luis de Obispo, all phone connections dropped. Instead, she got coastal views. Exactly at the time when the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean, the train rode along the beaches of California. Charlie got a spot in the observation car and a coffee and enjoyed the most wonderful thing nature could offer.
