The Pacific Coast Highway: Monday, July 4, 2011

Today I saw some of the most amazing roads I have ever seen.  I was trying very hard to hug the coast as much as possible.  The GPS took me away from the coast and I started looking for a place to turn around.  I am glad I didn't.  I found myself on a two lane road going through some mountains and it was a great time.  I was somewhere in wine country.

From there, I set the course back to the coast.  At first, I was on roads that were populated.  There were people, cars, beaches, and expensive homes.  Then, all of the sudden, I found the real Pacific Coast Highway.  Two lanes, middle of nowhere, driving with cliffs and the ocean to the left and mountains to the right.  It was something else!  I did start to panic at one point when I was getting low on gas and there was nothing around.  I did finally come up to a gas station and paid $5.59 per gallon for fuel.  When I pulled in, the station was empty.  When I left, it was full of people.  I got to talking to a family from Sweden and the father started talking about cars.  He said he had to hold his head in shame because he bought a Japanese car.   I asked what he bought and it was a Nissan GTR.  He said he tweaked it some and it was up to 600 hp (his GTR was probably in the $90,000 range).  Anyway, I had dinner at this same stop because I wasn't sure how long it would be to the next place.

When night fell, the scenery turned kind of crazy.  All the sudden there was this thick fog or mist that settled on the coast.  I drove a little bit in the dark and then called it a night.  I used the Hotwire.com site and it has been working great.

Mileage: Starting 75,717 & Ending 76,032 = 315
Stayed in Seaside, CA
States Visited: California


Short video on the Pacific Coast Highway:

Sunset.  You also get a feel for the road if you look to the right:

The highway at night (apparently I fell in love with the word 'crazy' while filming this):

Wine country:

Some coastal animal life.  I was uncomfortably cold taking this picture in shorts and a polo:

Coastal shot:

Crazy gas prices:

Where I had my grilled Red Snapper for dinner:

Sunset: