On the Way to Monterey

 

 

On our first day we have a relatively easy drive to Monterey. About 15 miles south of San Francisco we get to go through new European style tunnels that just opened in March.  The mile long tunnels replace a section of the road called Devil's Slide (red line on the map) which was prone to frequent landslides and collapses that have closed the road for long periods of time.  A 160 foot section slipped five feet in 1995 causing the road to be closed for 150 days.  The debate on what do do with the road lasted over 40 years with the highway engineers pushing to move the road further inland as part of a regular highway.  There was a grass roots effort against this highway and eventually the people convinced the engineers to look at tunneling. The voters even decided to spend a lot more money to build these tunnels, a six year, $300 million project.  The end result is a safe, environmentally sensitive solution.  Good planning and good timing for us!

The first sizable coastal town south of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay is 25 miles from the city. It was a quiet farming community that’s slowly but surely changing into a Silicon Valley suburb.  The main event here is the annual Pumpkin Festival, held mid-October, which celebrates the coming of Halloween with a competition to determine the world’s largest pumpkin—winning gourds weigh as much as a half ton! After that we drive through miles of rolling green fields of brussels sprouts, pumpkins, cabbages, and artichokes (tourism for vegetarians!). Ten miles south of Pescadero  Pigeon Point Lighthouse has appeared in innumerable TV and print commercials.

The popular beach resort and college town of Santa Cruz (pop. 54,593) sits at the north end of Monterey Bay at the foot of a 3,000-foot-high ridge of mountains.  Santa Cruz takes its name from the ill-fated mission settlement begun here in 1777 but wiped out by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1840. Modern Santa Cruz was all but leveled by another earthquake in 1989 but has since recovered its stature.  The amusement park on the boardwalk here is the real attraction.The Giant Dipper roller coaster, open since 1924, is still one of the top 10 coasters in the country. Near the roller coaster is the beautiful Charles Looff carousel, one of only six left in the country, with 70 hand-carved wooden horses doing the same circuit they’ve followed since 1911.

Our next stop is the beautiful town of Monterey, the historic capital of Califormia.  Here we are going to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and take a stroll along Cannery Row.  We're spending the night here, but we'll try to take in a few sights further south to save time tomorrow.  Just south of Monterey is Pebble Beach, 17 mile drive and Pebble Beach..

The basic design of the aquarium pumps 2000 gallons per minute of Monterey Bay ocean water, night and day, through the more than 100 exhibit tanks. During the day the water is filtered for viewing clarity. During the night, raw (unfiltered) seawater is pumped through exhibits, bringing in food in the form of plankton. Waste ocean water from the aquarium is returned to the bay. This design makes the aquarium ecologically essentially part of the ocean in the Bay, and allows the culture of organisms such as Giant Kelp which are not suitable for ordinary saltwater aquariums.The centerpiece of the aquarium.Ocean's Edge Wing, is a 33-foot high 333,000-US-gallon tank for viewing California coastal marine life.   The largest tank in the aquarium is a 1,200,000 gallon tank in the Open Sea galleries which features one of the world's largest single-paned windows.   See a video of the aquarium!

Cannery Row in Monterey was the home to a number of sardine factories (now closed) which has been turned into a tourist mecca with shops and restaurants.

17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions.  Its a toll road (9.75) for us tourists, but a must-see.  One of the attractions is the Lone Cyprus Tree which is the symbol of Pebble Beach.

Pebble Beach has eight public and private 18-hole golf courses. Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill and Peter Hay Golf Course are owned by Pebble Beach Company and are all public courses. Several of these courses are widely celebrated, especially Pebble Beach Golf Links. Designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, it is the most famous course in the Western United States, and the only course which has ever beaten Pine Valley Golf Club to top spot in Golf Digest's biennial list of America's 100 greatest courses.

Our hotel for the night is the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa.  It sits out over the bay so its got a beautiful location and reputation. 

 

Today we leave San Francisco and head out to the Pacific Coast Highway.  We're taking two days to drive from San Francisco to Pismo Beach.  You can do the drive in three minutes here.

We'll be spending the night in Monterey.