From Palo Alto we were anxious to hit the coast again. The visit to silicon Valley had been worth it - Dad now knows where silicon Valley is... We hit the road towards Santa Cruz enjoying along the way the soft yellow hills, that so perfectly match what a Dane would call "Cowboy Landscape" - read: this is what the landscape looks like in European wild west novels and movies...Our first stop on the way is the Mission San Juan Bautista, but since I am doing a separate entry on Missions, you'll have to wait for details on that one. We continue on for another 30 minutes or so of driving through strawberry fields - quite literally. This was the is smelling part of the trip, the air is full of sweet, ripe and happy strawberry smells - we however do not envy their picking crews who are hard at work under the California sun.
Marine layer comes back to meet us and we know we most be very close to Monterey and indeed so we are. Since we've decided to steer clear of too crazy crowds after our San Fran visit we cruise right by the city and head straight for the 17-Mile Drive that takes you around the tip of the Monterey Peninsula. At exactly 50 cents per mile ($8.50 is the fee to enter the drive) - it's a lot less crowded than the public areas but still very well visited.
It is a pretty drive - but what impressed us most were not the views (they are no different then in many other places along the coast) but the wildlife that seemed to be thriving with the many visitors (or to some extend almost enjoying the attention). My favorites were the seals shown in this picture that were lined up for a tanning session - what you can't see in the pictures is, that there were more seals waiting in the water to hit the beach as soon as someone would take off or go for a dip. I'd dare say that this most be the Seal version of Orange County...
Anyway, we were finally ready to visit what Dad considered the most important part of the 17-Mile Drive - the Pebble Beach golf course. We where wondering whether they would let visitors in, but of course they do... Only to serve them outrageously expensive drinks on their nice little deck overlooking the 18th hole. (Yes this is the deck you see in the background on TV, when they go for the green on 18). Unfortunately the golfing we got to watch wasn't really all that impressive - or let's put it this way, I wouldn't be intimidated to play this course [but then again, I did beat Dad when we played Newcastle in Bellevue, WA -- sorry Dad - had to rub it in :)]
On we went, passing through the pretty little town of Carmel with all of its pretty little shops (note to reader: this is were Clint Eastwood once ruled as mayor), passing by the Carmel Mission (more later) and then finally hitting the road into the real Big Sur. We knew it was going to be 'lonely' and boy was it ever. Miles and miles of beautiful, rugged coastline and curvy road stretched before us.
We had decided that we wanted to stay the night in 'some crazy little place' and there are a few of these in the Big Sur, but the keyword really is 'few'. It took us quite a while and quite a few miles, before we came upon a place that had room for us - the magnificent 'town' of Gorda Springs. Gorda Springs is so small, that it doesn't even show up on most maps and still it is truly majestic in its own little way.
The 'town' consists of a general store, that is also a gas station, that is also a restaurant, that also has little hill side cabins for rent. I was thrilled, the entire trip I had been waiting for us to stay in a place with a view of the pacific and our little Cabin in Gorda was as close as you can come to perfecting that dream. Gorda's other claim to fame is its Whale Watching. Given that the coast is so steep at this spot, the Ocean right in front of it is very deep, which makes Whales come there to frolic - in December to March, so no whales for us, but definitely a place worth coming back to for that purpose.
There's not much else going on in Gorda, this was one of the places, where my "Wireless Internet?", question was answered with "we don't even get TV or cell phone reception out here" - so no connectivity for us this day. Instead the Cabin hostess was kind enough to give us a Duralog for our outdoor fireplace, so we spent the evening watching the ocean and the stars, catching a few passing satellites...
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