SoCal - Day 1 - Highway 1

I have a tale for you.

10 Days in Southern California/Arizona/Nevada. Today we start with Day 1.

"Stretching 644 miles along the coast of California, Highway 1 stands as an asphalt metaphor for the Golden State. It links the "Baywatch" beaches of Los Angeles, the sheer cliffs of Big Sur, San Francisco's Golden Gate and the charm of Mendocino."

We begin our journey on Highway #1 near Monterey. Highway #1 is one of the most beautiful drives in America. It wasn't long until we were struck with the amazing sights like the picture above. (Many car comercials are filmed on the bridge in the picture.) We drove south through Big Sur State Park and kept curving around until we reached Santa Barbara.

We started with 19 People and 5 rental cars. Our convoy is in the picture below. Let me tell you, it is not easy coordinating 5 cars through major cities and highways. Someone always misses the exit. Good thing we all had cell phones. The yellow Focus and its driver were heading to San Diego alone. The other 4 where aboard for the whole trip. My car is in the front and it is a Grey Grand Am.


The coast is absolutely beautiful.


We stopped at Hearst Castle along the way. William Randolph Hearst lived there and Citizen Kane by Orwell is loosely based on him. Hearst was born in 1863 and turned the newspaper into a combination of reformist investigative reporting and lurid sensationalism. It was pretty interesting to see what kind of power he had by controlling communication and how relavent his biography is today.

We reached Santa Barbara around dinner time and proceeded directly to the beach. We had a good round of volley ball and took a trip to the end of the pier. We then drove through downtown Santa Barbara and we were quite amazed with the night life. We found a hotel up the highway a bit, stored our bags and turned right around to come back to downtown. We spent the night in Santa Barbara and it was a lot of fun.