There are quicker ways to get to Los Angeles from San Francisco, but a long held ambition was to drive the Pacific Coast Highway, the Big Sur.


The end of the road trip wasn’t about speed so we decided to factor in a visit to Monteray, the Sea Otters at the Aquarium, were exerting a pull, as was Steinbeck’s ‘Cannery Row’, a favourite book.


The sardine canneries are long gone but the quaint waterfront factory buildings have been repurposed as bars and restaurants and the area gentrified.

The Big Sur generally refers to the 71 miles of Highway 1 or the Pacific Coast Highway, from Carmel (just south of Monteray) to San Luis Obispo.


It is a stunning section of coastal scenery, not to be rushed, especially with a soundtrack of Jackson Browne playing in my head…It would be fair to say, for that reason alone, I probably enjoyed the drive more than the rest of the family.



There was no rush so we took our time, stopping to explore, watch the local wildlife and found a colony of Elephant Seals basking on the beach at Piedras Blanca, near San Simeon.

Beyond San Luis Obispo our road left the coast and we found ourselves at a lunch stop in the town of Solvang near Santa Barbera.


Solvang was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish travelers. The architecture is ‘Danish Pastiche’ including a copy of the Little Mermaid statue and a 1/3rd scale copy of Copenhagen’s Rundtaarn.


On the streets customised Hot-rods and Harley Davidson motorcycles blend with the Danish vernacular architecture, and park outside roadside café’s serving pastries and Danish open sandwiches.


Our California road trip has served up a final delight to cap the many surprises we have experienced in this favoured land.

Tomorrow we return to LAX.