California's Pacific Coast Highway | One Day Central Coast Road Trip up CA State Highway 1

The California coast is a magical place with a variety of scenery to offer. In early December I had the opportunity to drive from Pismo Beach to Monterey along the coast on State Highway 1. Further up, north of San Francisco, Hwy 1 becomes very narrow and windy with very steep cliffs. But this part of the road is much easier driving, as it has some fairly straight parts and mostly gentler curves. The road is narrow in places, and invariably there is work being done on it as it tends to crumble into the sea and require constant maintenance. But what beautiful scenery, it really reminded me of how lucky I am to live in such an amazing and diverse state.

The weather was beautiful and the since it is the off season for tourists, the traffic was light. As we drove northward we watched the coastline change from the sandy southern California beaches to the bluffs and craggy cliffs of the north coast.

Winter is the breeding season for elephant seals and seven miles north of San Simeon we passed the Piedras Blancas rookery, a large breeding ground for up to 17,000 of these huge animals. It is open to the public free of charge.

Many times even just pulling off the road to look down at the ocean you can see sea lions swimming in the water or sunning themselves on the rocks below or whales surfacing to breathe.

We stopped a a charming little art gallery, the Coast Gallery, in Big Sur. It is built from Redwood water storage tanks and has an eclectic variety of art, ranging from paintings to wood and glass creations. We didn't buy anything, just browsed, and we made no other stops on this trip except to pull over at turnouts to look at the view and take a few pictures. It was an economical little adventure, as all it cost us was a tank of gas.

I’ve lived in California most of my life, and spent my early years in the beach cities of southern California. But in later years I moved inland to the desert and mountains. I really miss the ocean. I was so thankful to have this opportunity to reconnect.

If you are interested in spending more time at the central California coast, you might check out this beautiful article I found that gives some fantastic details about places to stay and things to do along this route.