It’s been on my travel list for a long time, and I finally made it happen: California’s National Parks and Highway 1 Coastline

Day 1, May 25th:

I started planning the trip with my mom and daughter for Memorial Day 2018. We decided to invite my grandparents as well since it would be a driving trip. I booked everyone’s flights from Kansas City to Los Angeles. To save money, we took the 7:25 AM flight, which made for an extremely early morning, especially with a two year old. We arrived at LAX by 9:00 AM PST local time. The luggage was a bit of a struggle, so I left the group to track down the rental car, and to come back a pick them up. This was a bit of a mistake because the car rental place was miles away, so I got stuck in traffic coming back into the airport to pick them up. Ultimately we made it through, but at this point we were all tired and exhausted. We had a new Ford Explorer that held us all nicely, with plenty of space.

We made it to Los Angeles, and mom found a good place to eat called 26 Beach Café in Marina del Rey. I had a delicious burger called the Bombay Curry Burger. It had a house made coconut curry sauce and mango chutney with lettuce and tomato. It was delicious. The place was small, but cute. It was a great find! Mom had never been to LA, so I drove her to see Venice Beach and all the surfer stands and little beach shops. We then continued up the coast to drive down Santa Monica Pier. It was a good driving tour even though we repeated a lot because of the one-way streets. Grandpa slept the whole time.

From there, I wanted to show mom Hollywood, so we took the heavily trafficked I-10. It gave us a decent view of the city, but I was sick of the traffic by the time we got there. We drove up and down Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, taking Vine Street, seeing some characters, and getting a lot of comments from my grandparents. We saw the Hollywood stars on the Walk of Fame. We weren’t that impressed, but mom and my grandparents got to check it off their list.

We looked up the best viewing point of the Hollywood Sign, so we headed to Lake Hollywood Park. We drove through a lot of beautiful winding roads on and around Mullholland Drive seeing extremely large houses, with break-taking views. We went by Hollywood Reservoir, and made it to Lake Hollywood Park, getting a spectacular viewing of the sign. It was also some nice green space where my daughter could play in a park to burn energy. We all took a little break here.

From here, our goal was to get to Highway 1 for the next part of our journey. We drove through the Santa Monica Mountains to get there. We took Latigo Canyon Road which was a pleasant drive. We pulled off at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and I got a stamp in my National Parks Passport book. It was a peaceful area, with hiking trails and restrooms. We saw some wildlife, and we pulled over and got some cherries from a Mercedes van that was selling them. We reached Highway 1 at Latigo Canyon and west and north along the coastline to see the Pacific Coast Highway. We drove through Malibu and stopped at Zuma Beach which gave us easy access to the sand and water. Mom, Rosalie (my daughter), and I walked down to the water (it was a long beach), and it was really cold. It was great to stretch our legs and get some fresh air, but it was way too cold and windy to stay there very long.  Back on Highway 1, we passed numerous state parks and beaches, including Point Mugu State Park. We made it to Ventura, CA that night. We decided to sleep there because it had been a really long day, and we were all exhausted. We found a Comfort Inn, and we got food to go at a terrible Mexican restaurant that’s not even worth mentioning. I wish we would have eaten at the In-N-Out Burger by our hotel. We all slept pretty well though.

Day 2, May 26th: Grandma’s Birthday

The next morning, we started out with breakfast at Denny’s across the street because it was included in our hotel cost. We got back on the road and continued along the coastline, driving through Santa Barbara, which made me think of the show Psych. We continued through Santa Maria, driving through Morro Bay, Sambria, and San Simeon. Everyone told us to drive up to see Hearst Castle, a 20^th-century mansion that is a National Historic Landmark. It was the residence for a newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst between 1919 and 1947. It is now a California State Park. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Castle. Mom and I walked around the visitor’s center. You could see the castle from the road, but it was very far away, so we drove up to the Visitor’s Center. We walked around reading everything for a while, and tickets to go on a bus were a several hours wait with a lot of stairs (and not even to the main part). We decided to pass (I’ll come back someday), and we got back on the road. It just wasn’t the right time for the extremely long tour with a baby and grandparents waiting in the car. It’s a really looks like a spectacular place. We also saw some elk and other wildlife around the area.

We continued up the coast and saw a huge amount of elephant seals on Vista Point (and the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery) sleeping on the beach, just lying there looking dead, but flicking sand on themselves every once in a while. It was really cool to see hundreds of them all piled on the beach sleeping.

From here, we started to enter Big Sur, and this is when the cliffs became steep and the road winding. The road was so close to the ocean, it provided beautiful views. We were all really hungry, so we pulled into a place called Ragged Point Inn and Resort. It was a first real chance to walk along the steep coastline to get some good pictures and views. The place had really nice green space and flowers, and we all had sandwiches on their picnic tables outside.

We drove on farther and came to a road closure at Salmon Creek Falls. We talked to some local hikers (they were so nice), and they suggested a backroad route that was the only option, but a HUGE detour to be able to get back on the road. [Side note: the road didn’t open back up until July 18^th, after a 14 month closure due to a massive landslide followed by an emergency repair project. As of July 18^th, you can now drive the whole 90 miles of coastline between Carmel and San Simeon.] So we backtracked to what probably ended up adding three hours to our trip. But it was surprisingly beautiful, and I’m so glad we did. We went back south passed Hearst Castle, passed San Simeon and Sambria, and took Highway 46 east. It was across the top of a mountain through vineyards and other ranches. We then hoped on Highway 101 for a short time north, and then we took G18 through Fort Hunter Liggett, an army fort. After exiting the fort, the roads went up through Los Padres National Forest (mountains) again (to cut back to the coast). It was extremely steep, and a bit scary to drive a times, but it was a neat drive. Coming out of the mountains, we were treated to a spectacular sunset. We got back to the coastline around Lucia, and headed north towards Monterey to try to find a place to sleep. We got to enjoy light and cool sunsets along the coastline for about 45 minutes more before it got dark. I was a bit bummed because it was supposed to be some of the most beautiful part of the coastline. I thought maybe I’d wake up early and try to drive it again the next day. We started feeling desperate for gasoline, and we finally came to one on the outskirts of Monterey to save us. It was expensive, but we didn’t care.  It’s better than getting stranded. We started to get desperate for a place to sleep in Monterey. We arrived much later than originally planned, and due to the holiday weekend, everything was booked. One of the hotels finally referred us to a friend’s hotel called Fireside Lodge, so we tried it. It was ridiculously expensive for what it was, but grandpa said he was sick of the car and wanted to stay. I was trying to negotiate the lady down to a lower rate, and mom starts hollering from the car for me. Rosalie is vomiting everywhere because of the curves. She’d gotten fussy, so I gave her the kindle to play on and apparently it made her carsick. Nevertheless, this sealed the deal for us to stay. Because the rooms were so limited, we got a suite with two rooms which was nice for our group size. Mom and I ran out to get dinner for the group, and we tried to get a little dessert to sing grandma happy birthday. It was a lame attempt, but the thought was there.

Day 3, May 27^th

Rosalie woke up early, which allowed us to drive back down south through the coast line to see what we missed at dark. Grandpa and Grandma slept in, so mom, Rosalie, and I had a nice little morning road trip. We saw the jaw-dropping Bixby Creek Bridge, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, McWay Falls, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, McWay Falls, Andrew Molera State Park, and Garrapata State Park all within in a couple of hours drive. We spent quite a bit of time in Big Sur State Park, seeing Colonial Tree. We enjoyed the outdoors and sunshine, playing on the walking bridges and looking in the root holes of the giant trees. It was all so beautiful, I’m so thankful we backtracked to do it in the daylight. We headed back to the hotel and picked up grandma and grandpa. We drove around Monterey a bit, visiting the scenic rocky cove of Asilomar State Beach, Carmel by the sea, and then decided to do the scenic 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula. It takes you around the coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions, and other beautiful attractions, including Lone Cypress, Bird Rock, and a forest of Cypress trees. You have to pay a toll to visit this road, but we think it was worth it.

From here, we headed north along Highway 1 to enjoy more of the coastline until we hit Highway 152 to cut east across the state to get us to Fresno. It was a long somewhat boring drive, but we saw a lot of fruit orchards and stopped to get some more cherries and some other fruits.  We were all pretty worn out because of all the miles we put in the last few days. We had a Chinese lunch in Fresno, and then headed south to go visit Sequoia National Park. We got back into scenic driving as we hit the mountains. I missed getting my national parks stamp because the visitor’s center closed an hour prior. We still had plenty of light to drive through the park. We stopped to see General Sherman tree, a giant sequoia that is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth. Parking was far away, but luckily we had grandpa’s handicapped sticker. We were able to park close, and grandma and grandpa were able to get out and see the tree as well. The trees are gigantic, and make you feel so small. We finished driving through the park, and headed back to Fresno (a 1.5 hour drive) to sleep for the night.

Day 4, May 28th 

We woke early to get a start on the day to see Kings Canyon National Park. I didn’t really know much about this park, so my expectations weren’t that high. Entering the park (I got my stamp), we saw some scarred land from previous fires. Pretty quickly, the drive turned out spectacular views of canyons and curves. I was driving, and a brown bear jumped off the mountain cliff to my right and ran in front of the car. I almost hit him, but luckily he continued on down the mountain. Nobody else in the car saw it, even though I was screaming with excitement! The canyons were amazing, and the rivers were rushing. There were peaceful valleys, and huge rivers with big boulders. It was really stunning, and I absolutely loved it. It looked like such a nice place to camp. Our route consisted of driving along Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, towards Cedar Grove passed Roaring River Falls, and to the end of the road. On the route back, we pulled in and saw General Grant tree, the second-largest giant sequoia by trunk volume. Around the tree was a nice park with other giant sequoias, and a hollowed out one that had fallen over that we could walk through.

Once we had finished with the park, we decided to try to get closer to Yosemite National Park for the night. We were going to tackle that park all day tomorrow, so we thought maybe we could find a lodge just outside of it. We found the Best Western Plus Yosemite Gateway Inn. It was actually a really cool place. It looked like a lodge, and it was settled up the side of a mountain. We got a suite, and so our place was bigger. Mom, Rosalie, and I went to the pool, and then we all went to dinner at Pop’s Restaurant. We were the only ones there, but we had good pasta.

Day 5, May 29^th

Today was our day to explore Yosemite National Park. I’d been once before in 2007, and I remembered it being beautiful. Memory served me well as the view points and vistas were outstanding. The park was busy, as expected, but the park ranger said it was not nearly as busy that day (Tuesday) as it had been the previous three days on the holiday weekend. We first made out way up Wawona Road and took at right on Glacier Point Rd. We had to wait in a well-organized line of cars to take our turn going out to Glacier Point (which provides the best views of Half Dome) because they limit the number of cars. After about half an hour, we made it to Glacier Point, stopping at the scenic overlooks along the way. Half Dome with the other mountains, and surrounding waterfalls, really is breathtaking. After we had looked our fill at Half Dome and saw the overlook of Yosemite Valley and El Capitan, we headed down to explore the visitor’s center. We got a picnic lunch at the park’s grocery store, and we had a nice lunch next to a bunch of rock climbers on one side and a meadow on the other. The mosquitoes were bad, so it was a bit rushed, but it was still a nice break. From Yosemite Valley, we explored the option of driving along Tioga Road to the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center  (grandpa really wanted to), and then rounding the top of the park on the north side to get back to San Francisco, but it was going to add about six hours to the trip, and we didn’t have it in us. As it started to get dark, we headed back across the state towards San Francisco. We had one day left on our trip, and we wanted to explore a bit more of the coastline as well as San Francisco. We made it to Oakland, CA and stayed in Best Western Plus Bayside Hotel, a new clean version of the hotel on the water of Brooklyn Basin. We walked a small trail along the water and ordered Mountain Mike’s Pizza for delivery. It was delicious.

Day 6, May 30^th

It was our last day of the trip. We had a good breakfast at the hotel, and then we headed north along the coastline (and back on Highway 1) to see Point Reyes National Seashore. It was a beautiful part of the coastline, and we drove out to a point where we could walk on a beach to the ocean. It was so windy, but a beautiful place. We tried to go to Muir Woods National Monument to see some the redwood trees, but apparently you have to get your ticket in advance. We drove around awhile in the area, and we saw a bunch of large trees (could have been redwoods), but we were disappointed to not get into the park. From there, we headed back south to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and drive around San Francisco’s hilly streets before making our way to the airport. Our rental car was due back at 5:00 PM, and our flight was at 7:00 PM. We got to the airport early to give grandma and grandpa plenty of time. We had dinner at the airport’s food court, and then we made it easily to our gate. Unfortunately, our flight kept getting delayed, enough so that we had a gate change across to the other side of the large airport. I can’t remember exactly, but I think it didn’t end up leaving until around 11:00 PM. Rosalie slept the whole flight home, and with the time change and flight time, we ended up getting home around 4:00-5:00 AM. I unfortunately had to work the next day, but my mom and grandparents were able to stay at home, so they could relax and watch Rosalie (letting her rest).

We packed a ton into six days visiting a naturally beautiful state with so much to see (and so much more still to see). It was a perfect trip for our group because of the span of ages. If you ever get a chance to go to California to see its beauty, definitely do it. We had a great family time together, and we created a lot of awesome memories.