Along The Central Coast of California

Wednesday, May 1st - - No matter how many times I take this route, it never ceases to amaze me. This stretch of highway has got to be one of the prettiest (and most challenging) drives in our beautiful country! It doesn't hurt that I had an absolutely gorgeous day for my drive north along the Coast Highway with lots of  sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s.

I didn't take a lot of photos - my goal for today was simply to relax, enjoy myself and the scenery, and to get to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (26 miles south of Carmel and about 90 miles north of Morro Bay) before nightfall. That 90 mile drive took me nearly five hours. Yes, I stopped. A lot. It was fantastic!

Along the southern section of the Central Coast, a "few" miles north of Morro Bay - the hills and mountains are still some distance from the coastline but there are still cliffs to navigate to get down to the water. This wasn't one of them but there were a few places where you could actually get to the beach.

Occasionally, the highway weaved inland through canyons and around hills. You can see a small stretch of the road in the upper right corner.

Guardrails along the highway are present only in some areas, particularly where there is a distinct drop-off or very sharp curve.

There were a few delays along the way for road construction, but no long waits. I would imagine there are longer waits on the weekends when there is more traffic.

Yeah, it was a gorgeous day!

You can just barely see it, but to the right of the "big rock" in the water is one of the many bridges, engineering marvels, really.

A close-up of the bridge in the previous photo.

I arrived safely at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in plenty of time to admire the big trees and take a walk around the campground.  My site was next to a little stream and the sound of the water flowing by was very relaxing. I didn't see the sunset over the ocean but the sky above the trees surrounding the campground was filled with many shades of pink and pale orange. It was a fitting end to a great day.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Along The Central Coast of California," Kinexxions, posted May 30, 2013 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2013/05/along-central-coast-of-california.html : accessed [access date])