Saturday 18 June 2016

Big Sur and our last big drive

On Wednesday we left Monterey and headed south on Highway 1. We stopped quickly at Carmel to have a look in daylight at the cute little town we had seen at sunset the night before.



Our plan was to drive down the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) through Big Sur. There were a few things we had thought we would try to see on the way, but slower traffic, less passing lanes, windy roads and roadworks put paid to a lot of that.

Plus I was sick. I got a scratchy throat from somewhere on our way from Salt Lake City to Carson City. I had taken a some medication for it and it seemed to have been on the mend. However by the time we reached Monterey I had developed a horrid cough. So another visit to the drugstore for cough medicine and things seemed like they were going well - except that I had woken up on Wednesday with no voice at all !





 Bixby Bridge built in 1932


Anyways, it was a nice drive, with great views in places. Big Sur was a surprise. I did not expect to find a redwood forest there. We saw signs about sea otter and elephant seals, but had decided we'd give them a miss since we have seals too - and we'd see them all the time driving from Blenheim to Christchurch. But when we came around a corner and were greeted with what looked like a carpet of seals sunbaking on the beach in front of us, we had to stop and get a photo of them as it was so different to anything we had seen before.


The Pacific Coast Highway is a lot longer and slower than the inland routes and that meant we were suddenly pushed for time at the end of the day. We phoned the rental company and confirmed we could return the car the following morning.

Once we were out of the car and had had a coffee back in Santa Monica I began to feel a bit more human, and my cough seemed to be responding to the treatment. Yay. I was tired though and really looking forward to bed.

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