One of the most scenic roads in California is the State Route One. The combination of beautiful November weather and traveling down CA-1 to the Monterey Bay Area made for a great two week getaway.
The coast is filled with quaint towns, farms, trails and beaches. Stopping in Pescadero is required for any visit to this part of the coast. For a town of ~600 people, the town delivers with a plentiful market, goat dairy farm tours, fabulous deli, coffee shops, a proper restaurants and Mexican food from the gas station.
The Costanoa Campground served as home base for one week. The campground benefits from the associated lodge amenities including a general store, spa, restaurants, comfort stations, gardens and trails. On Friday nights, there is live music.
In addition to the plethora of amenities, camping with ocean views, built in fire pit, barbecue, dining table seems like cheating. We loved it.
Bar cart? Camping? Yep, definitely not our usual style of campground. Based on the rear tire looking flat, not enough people were buying drinks.
An RV or boat owner’s nightmare is fire on board. Sadly, this rig was destroyed by a faulty inverter.
No RVs were harmed due to our fire.
Week two of the trip, took us to Carmel. The Carmel and Pebble Beach areas are known for beautiful seaside scenery. Photo ops abound. Fall camping leaves the beaches like Carmel State Beach virtually empty.
Bean Hollow’s one mile Arroyo de los Frijoles Trail delights on a brilliant day. Frijoles, Beans – get it.
Pebble Beach’s coastal trail along 17 mile drive is stunning. Also stunning is the $11.25 price tag for accessing 17 mile drive. Well worth it.
Carmel Valley is the lesser known area just outside Carmel by the Sea. Lacking awareness on the existence of a town called Carmel Valley, the village’s plentiful restaurants, wineries and shops took us by surprise.
“Wildlife” did not appear to be phased by our presence.
Fort Ord, near the town of Monterey, is a former military post that is being repurposed into the Fort Ord Dunes State Park and National Monument. Having closed in 1994, the project to restore environmental impacts and clean up the military facilities and munitions is ongoing.
Between Fort Ord Dunes and Monterey State beaches, 21 miles of beaches link six state parks. Wow.
The infinite beauty of the Monterey Peninsula draws not only us to coast down the one. Until next time.
An Airstream! Seems we just missed you at Costanoa. We took a year off to travel in a Rockwood 2608. Just left Ocean Mesa in SB.
Sarah and Darrell
Hi Sarah and Darrell! Great to hear from you. Looks like you sold Scrimshaw. What is the next boat? Where are planning to travel in 2023? We’d love to see you.