Joe's Travel Blog: California Road Trip (05/14/2018

This marked my first business trip following leaving my prior employer - was now on my own! I had meetings in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and given it was still a bit early, figured, why not drive from LA to SF? The Pacific Highway 1 route is considered one of the most scenic in North America, if not the world, and it's been on my list for a while now.

We began in Beverly Hills, then went to Venice Beach, Santa Barbara (really, just the downtown and Steams Wharf), Santa Maria, Pismo Beach (where there are seriously nice estates!), Cambria (a cute little town that felt like it was stuck in the 50s), Hearst Castle (built by a newspaper magnate in the early 20th century with a desire to make it feel 'European', importing much of the artwork and materials), then up to Ragged Point before we had to turn back due to the 2017 landslide that was blocking Hwy 1 at the time (it has since re-opened in July).

From Ragged Point we drove straight until Carmel-by-the-Sea, another really quaint town, famous for its rich artistic history, and the 17 Mile Drive, a scenic drive that takes you through some of the highlights of the Monterrey Bay coast. From there we dipped south to catch the top of Big Sur, and then it was back to business in the Bay Area (with a quick opportunity to catch the annual Bay to Breakers run as well as hike the Stanford Dish trail and catching some nature in the process).

California really is beautiful and the climate is perfect, especially just south of the Bay Area. In the small towns, people were genuinely friendly and curious about your story and where you're from. It's a really not a bad place to spend some downtime, especially in advanced years.

Beverly Hills, and Venice Beach