[QUOTE]Originally posted by thunderchicken
[B]Sometimes, I wish I was in California.

 

I like it further up the road to Cambria, great restaurant there called the Sea Chest, Yum, Yum. Did the drive from Orange County up to Monterrey a couple years ago. Wish I had my S2000, the rental minivan took some of the fun out of it! Phil

 

Man, it sucks down here. Low of 61, high of 76!

 

Thanks for rubbing it in. We had 10" of snow on Friday, and it is snowing right now again. Low of 10, high of 25, YAY. Why do I live here?

 

SteveUCI: There's nothing like a nice drive up the coast to clear your mind and put things in perspective!

Barry WY: I always thought the sixties were the coolest I would have loved to experienced the late sixties in California as a young adult (late teens or early twenties). Free Love, Flower Power, Hendrix, Joplin, Doors... Growing up in the era of Disco & Punk is not exactly what I would have chosen for myself.

VinceD: Over the years, I have been up and down the PCH from San Diego to Vancouver a few times. I agree that Big Sur/Carmel/Monterey area is one of the most beautiful places anywhere. Since my previous trips were in vehicles ranging from LS400 to RX-7, I can't wait to get a whiff of that cool salty Big Sur air in my S with top down BTW, driving up to Marin county over the Golden Gate near sunset isn't all that bad either Except for the traffic, of course.

VTECPHIL#6829: We stayed in Cambria 4 or 5 years ago while touring Hearst Castle. Never had a chance to dine at Sea Chest. Will give them a try this spring

 

Ah yes... I'm 56 and have been driving the stretch of Highway 1 between Monterey and Lucia for 40 years; on a daily basis for about seven years when I lived in Big Sur & worked in Monterey. Needless to say, the road's changed quite a bit. In those early days it was quite possible to drive between Carmel and Big Sur on an afternoon and see but one or two other vehicles. One full-moon night in 1964, a few high school friends & I drove a Renault Dauphine with no headlights north from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to Carmel High School, where we finally were nabbed by a CHP officer who made us park the car and call for a ride. The neat thing was it was so bright from the moon, we hadn't needed headlights! Another time, a year or two later, we were passed on a blind curve (just south of the entrance to Molera State Park) by an MGA. About a mile later we encountered the MG again, this time imbedded in the front of a big American sedan. Both the MG's occupants (a newly married cpl from SF) were dead!
I think one of my favorite all time non-sports car drives "Down the Coast" (as we say here in Monterey) was circa 1969, when my friend was running a a car detailing business and had British Motors of Monterey as a client. They gave him a Rolls Silver Cloud to detail and you guessed it: we plied that barge up and down the coast all day, pulling over to give rides to only the most outrageous-looking hitch-hiking hippies. We had to keep the Rolls overnight to get the patchouli smell out of it!
That was then. Now, the damn federal government has coerced the state into double-yellow-lining almost the entire road, even in places where it's perfectly safe to pass. Those execrable "Botts Dots" ruin every decent turn line and our once-honorable Highway Patrol is sissified with several different kinds of radar. It's a bitter pill! And add to all that the hordes of tourists driving their motorized porta-potties, and the Harley porksters who seem always to be IN THE WAY, the general disrepair of the roadway (Highway 1 in the Big Sur area is in very, very bad shape, rated "F" by the state) and what you're often left with is a clown parade.
So what does an old fella do? In my case, I drag my aging butt out of bed early on a weekday morning, about 6:30 or so, get in the S2K, put the top down and zip down the coast to about the Esalen Institute, then turn around and head home. It's possible at that time of day to get in some pretty fine driving, even with the accursed Botts Dots.
BTW, in Cambria the best restaurant (IMO) is The Brambles. In Big Sur, it's Sierra Mar at Post Ranch (if you can abide the snootiness of the staff) tho Ventana Inn is very good also. Breakfast in Big Sur? Deetjen's. And Nepenthe is always fun, if just to see what they're getting for an Ambrosia Burger these days.
If you like, drop me a PM if you're planning to drive our part of the coast (there's a neat and very scenic "short cut" between Lucia on Highway 1 and King City on Highway 101 - do not try it going east to west!). If you have any questions about the drive, or need help on your itinerary in Big Sur or the Monterey Peninsula, I'll try to help.
Just please remember that Highway 1 can sneak up on you real fast. CalTrans does its best, but there some strange, off-camber turns now exist because of road damage. In the memorable words of the late, great James Dean, "Drive careful, the life you save might just be mine!"