Big Sur Road Trip
Pfeiffer beach at Big Sur, Sunday, May 28, 1:30pm PST.
Although we would have been quite content to stay home, watch TV, and ponder the intricacies of the rubik’s cube, we decided to take advantage of our three-day weekend and see the sights.
We got up mega early on Sunday (8am) and hit the road. We took highway 101 down to Gilroy and then cut over to Monterey via hwy 156. We had never driven this way before and it is SO much better than going through Santa Cruz. Taking hwy 17 to Santa Cruz is a clusterfuck. Never again.
Once we got to Monterey, we, or I, immediately pissed off the state parks service by getting in the wrong lane to enter the scenic (and pricey) 17-mile drive. We have no pictures of the lovely, historic, scenic, blah blah blah 17-mile drive because A: I was annoyed that we had to pay an $8.75 toll to basically drive around some rich folks’ neighborhood and B: I had to pee and was on the lookout for a free restroom. We found one at the end of our journey at the Pebble Beach clubhouse (so chic!).
Next, we cruised down hwy 1 and checked out the scenery. Although I’ve been down hwy 1 north of Monterey a few times, none of the beaches or cliffs looked quite as dramatic as those of the Big Sur region. Maybe it was the sunlight, maybe it was the absence of much traffic on a Sunday morning, but damn if it wasn’t pretty. We drove for about 45 minutes until we hit Big Sur proper. Big Sur isn’t as much of a town as it is a series of inns, state parks, and small shopping centers sprinkled along a wooded highway. We stopped at one just past the entrance to Pfeiffer state park. We picked up some sandwiches and planned our next stop.
Since there is so much to see in Big Sur, we had to choose our destination wisely. I knew beforehand that we wouldn’t have time to see everything, so I thought we’d hit the highlights while we were down there. After lunch, we found the nearby entrance to Pfeiffer beach. We drove down the winding, 1-lane road and passed many swimsuited hikers heading down to the beach. “What idiots!” we thought as we cruised past them. Didn’t they know that it was 2 miles to the beach and that they’d have to hike back up the hill when they were done? Tsk, tsk. We pulled up to the entrance and the woman at the gate told us we were lucky: even though the sign at the top of the road had said “lot full” (huh?), there were a few spots open. We paid our $5 and happily parked in one of the few spots left. So THAT’S why those idiots were trekking down the road. I guess our cluelessness paid off.
We changed into our shorts, applied sunscreen, ditched our shoes and headed down the path to the shore. The path leading down to the beach became rocky once we got closer to the shore. We had to step over some stones and little slivers of driftwood to get to the water. I cringed as I stepped on a particularly sharp piece of wood. The pain subsided and I decided to walk it off. A few minutes later, I could tell there was something stuck in my foot. “Dammit,” I thought. I had a splinter or something wedged in my foot. I looked down and, under the clump of sand, I saw something clear sticking out. What the hell was it? I tugged on it and felt a twinge of pain. Whatever it was, it was stuck tight. Then I realized that it was a strip of skin I’d scraped free of my foot. Eeeew! It didn’t hurt and I wasn’t bleeding but man, it looked nasty. I kept that foot out of the water and stepped gingerly. I was fine. It just looked nasty.
We hung out on the beach for about an hour. There were lots of families there with little kids. Someone had set up a volleyball net and some girls were playing lacrosse. Lacrosse? Anyway, a fun time was had by all. It was a bit chilly though. We found an out of the way spot and set up camp. Then, the drowsiness set in. After about 20 minutes, we decided to get up and walk some more. The cold air woke us up a bit and we decided to head back to the car. I cleaned up my foot, dusted off all of the sand, and then drove back up the coast as the sun sank lower toward the horizon. We got home around 5pm, showered, and I crashed. At least we had Monday to fully recuperate.
Tuesday 30 May 2006 | sarah | Photos, Cool