The First Day: Driving Up |
On our first day, we drove from Westwood to San Francisco on Route 101. We drove through the towns of Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and Salinas before stopping in Monterey. Within 30 seconds of parking next to Monterey Bay, we saw multiple whales and sea otters. We walked along Cannery Row and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium before heading to San Francisco. We used the alternate Hecker Pass route to get back to the main freeway and got to see some amazing redwood forest. After driving in traffic through the South Bay and East Bay, we crossed the Bay Bridge. Immediately after arriving on the San Francisco side of the bridge, we were greeted by some extremely difficult driving, as well as a naked homeless man.
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Where we stayed:We stayed in a high-rise apartment building in the SoMa area of the city. The building was located on Mission Bay across the street from the San Francisco CalTrain station and a couple blocks from AT&T Park, home of the Giants. We had an amazing view of Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, Twin Peaks, Sutro Tower, the Market Street high-rises, and much more.
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Where we went: |
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Chinatown & Fisherman's Wharf
Big Sur to Morro Bay |
On our way back to LA, we decided to take scenic Highway 1 along the coast. We began in Santa Cruz and drove along Monterey Bay and through Carmel. We stopped at many overlooks to see the huge cliffs, and see the seals and whales below. In Big Sur, we took a hike through the forest before continuing south. We were also able to see some California condors when we stopped at another overlook. We had our longest stop at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Here we took a hike through a redwood forest along a creek and then saw McWay Falls; a huge waterfall that falls from a cliff to the beach below. We continued driving south and passed through a few small towns until arriving at San Simeon where we were able to have a view of Hearst Castle while watching some elephant seals sleep and fight. After leaving San Simeon, we headed to Morro Bay where we were able to see the sunset before finishing the drive back to LA.
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Some cool video clips from the trip
clip art from : http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/3271-don-t-call-it-frisco-the-history-of-san-francisco-s-nicknames