More adventures along the Pacific Coast Highway



Rosella strolling along a typical street in
Carmel, Clint Eastwood's sleepy little town

Monday morning we woke up in Carmel, the sleepy little town that was made famous a few years ago because of notoriety of its mayor, none other than Clint Eastwood.   The village is also famous for its art studios so we got up later and went for a stroll in the village towards the beach and along the main art street to visit  a few of the many studios.



The famous Pebble Beach golf course
home of the 2010 U.S. Open

Shortly after we left Carmel, it was a glorious sunny day and we embarked on a scenic route called "The 17 Mile Drive" that took us into a great forest area riding in and out of the rugged Pacific coastline including where the famous Pebble Beach Golf course home of the 2010 and 2019 US Open.

Humongous waves crashing on the coastal
rocks along The 17 Mile Drive



Traffic along this scenic route travels at 20 mph so we took our good old time to travel the route  and we stoped many times to watch the splashing waves and wild currents wash up against the rocks along the shore line. 

More waves smashing the rocks along Pebble Beach

These were the biggest waves and strongest currents that I have ever witnessed! 



Lodge at Pebble Beach Golf Course

While exploring the golf course area, we spoke to an older couple who reside in the area and they encouraged us to go into the club house, because Pebble Beach is a public course and anyone can go there . 

This and a cart is what you get for $400

If you want to golf Pebble Beach, the current green feed are in the $400 to $500 range for a round of golf.  Everywhere on the course, they were setting up temporary structures, the couple we met told us they were the VIP's and camera crews for the 2011 - AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament to be held here shortly.  Later in the afternoon we made our way to Santa Cruz, here we were about 50 miles south of San Francisco

Beautiful fountain along
 Cannery Row in Monterey

Quite a while back, we had sent a ticket request to attend the taping of The Ellen Degeneres Show on Thursday.  Since we never got a confirmation, we decided to be in Los Angeles on Thursday morning and call for same day tickets soTuesday morning, we decided to head back south towards Los Angeles and not go to San Francisco. 

Since Monterey was close by and we had lots of time to get to LA by Wednesday afternoon, we decided to explore this scenic harbour town.  We strolled along the Fisherman's warf and continued along the way to Cannery Row, the old section of town where fish canneries boomed in the 1940's and 50's.  Many of the old buildings have been restored and now house gift shops and boutiques.

Driving the PCHWY from San Fran to LA  is much more scenic than driving north rom LA to San Fran.  Tonight we stayed in San Luis Obispo, at the same Bestwestern as earlier this week



The Santa Barbara Harbour






Today, Wednesday, we made our way to Los Angeles visiting Santa Barbara along the way.    Santa Barbara which is home to the likes of Oprah, John Travolta Steve Martin and others is often referred to as the "American Riviera" with its mountains, turquoise blue water and location in the hills. 

Lunch on the Santa Barbara Harbour Front

When we got there, we headed for the waterfront and had a nice lunch overlooking the harbour. 

The Santa Barbara Mission

After exploring the pier, we and then proceeded along to visit the Santa Barbara Mission which was founded in 1786.  There are 21 missions which have been preserved along the California coast line from San Diego on up the northern coastline.  Sixty miles later and we arrived at our hotel in Loas Angeles.  While I was this Blog post to send out today,  Rosella went for a walk and found a hairdresser.  She was supposed to have her hair done last Friday before we decided to leave a day early because of the storm on Saturday.   After we have a bite to eat, we will probably play a few hands of cards, our first oportunity since we left Shediac.