Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip: 7 Days Driving Along the California Coast

pacific coast highway also known as highway 1 is one of the most famous and beautiful drives on earth the drive travels 655 miles across the coast of california and along the way passes famous cities like los angeles and san francisco plus world-renowned attractions like the monterey bay aquarium and hearst castle my dad and i set out to drive it over seven days and here's the full video for our road trip let me know what your favorite part is or if you have any questions in the comments also i put together an ebook that covers some of my favorite locations along the route and has a link to a map i made with places that i stopped at or considered stopping at you can purchase it in the description if you're interested and let's jump into it our journey of pacific coast highway began by arriving at the official start which is in the city of dana point unfortunately there are not really any signs noting the start hey guys i'm here with pops we're at the southern end of pacific coast highway and we're going to take seven days and head all the way to the northern end let's do it if you're doing this drive like us note that the southern california portion is the most difficult to navigate there can often be a ton of traffic and the beaches can be busy so you really need to know what your main items are going to be as you go through orange county and los angeles our first stop was in laguna beach and we parked on the corner of macauley street and pacific coast highway and made our way down towards the beach first stop on pacific coast highway victoria beach the pirates tower is right there victoria beach is where the famous pirates tower is which sits right on the coast parking can be difficult here as you have to park on pacific coast highway and walk down so you really need to know where you're going if you want to see it if you don't get an early start and it's a busy summer day i'd probably skip it once you come around the bend you'll see the iconic pirates tower right in front of you [Music] this is the famous pirates tower laguna beach inside victoria beach and it's really fun to see the tower is only really accessible at low tide and it was built in 1926 as a stairway down to the beach for one of the residents there's also a few tide pools you can see here and if you're traveling with a family this is a great place to explore first stop on pch is it a good one pretty cool amazing guy did that it's only downhill from here we said goodbye to victoria beach and headed north there's many other great beaches in the area including main beach and shaw's cove as you'll hear me say many times in this video you could easily spend an entire week in just the orange county section and not see it all after passing corona del mar we took a detour to ride the balboa island ferry this is slightly off pacific coast highway but how cool is it to park your car and ride a ferry cross the ferry travels only a thousand feet and it can hold three cars it's been in this area for over a hundred years and is still a family-run business it's just a really fun little excursion that doesn't take too long and doesn't take you too far off the pacific coast highway after getting off feel free to park and explore balboa which has some rides for kids [Music] for us though we skipped this and just continued north the drive here leaves newport beach behind and heads into the popular town of huntington beach [Music] our next stop is huntington beach pacific city to get some coffee if you're coming through here at lunchtime there's lots of food options with lemonade being one of my favorites for a great healthy meal for us though still early in the morning so we stopped at phil's coffee this is a california institution from the bay area which has some great coffee and makes amazing lattes what do we get pops we got the mint that's pretty awesome it's coffee and muddled mint milk and sugar and deliciousness it may sound weird but don't knock it till you try it it's a personal favorite of mine only about 10 minutes north was our next stop at the bolsa chica ecological reserve [Music] this is a coastal wetland which is located right across the street from the beach it's a great place for a nice morning stroll with the elevated walkway that goes over the water it's also an absolutely amazing spot for migratory birds and for bird watching if you're into that kind of thing after leaving the reserve the road goes around long beach and stays inland for a little while we just pushed through this section and made our next stop a short excursion over to manhattan beach manhattan beach has one of my favorite piers in southern california it's the oldest concrete pier that's still standing on the west coast and it's over 900 feet long it's a great place to watch the surfers or to watch all the crazy birds that were diving into the water when we were there out at the end of the pier there's a small free aquarium that you can see watch out pops the aquarium is tiny with only a few small fish tanks and one little tide pool area that being said it is free so it's awesome for a family to be able to come down here and to see some fish while you're walking around this is small but it's a fun little aquarium right on the end of the pier that mountain range right there is the malibu area that we're heading to later today when you're at manhattan beach be sure to come up to this parking area so you can get this view of the pier the palm trees after leaving manhattan beach we headed back to highway 1 which continues inland and actually goes past the lax airport i try to avoid this area of los angeles as much as i possibly can but it was still early so it wasn't too bad so believe it or not pch actually runs right past lax airport so we stopped here to get my favorite in and out as you've probably noticed on any of the road trip videos with my dad and i we love stopping anywhere we can see planes this in and out is one of the best areas for that as lax is an incredibly busy airport and it's right next to it so you get to see planes landing constantly what's your in and out order this is the number two animal style and you are never disappointed with this let us know what your favorite in-n-out order is in the comments continuing on pacific coast highway the route is slow going in this section there's a ton of stop lights and traffic as you continue past marina del rey venice beach and then on to santa monica our next stop brought us to the santa monica pier i didn't really want to come to santa monica pier on this trip but i figured it's iconic pca so we had to stop by it's pretty busy on the weekends though so do know that going in the only reason why i didn't want to come is just because it gets incredibly busy on a summer weekend i'd always wanted to ride the ferris wheel so i tried to convince my dad to go with me but if you've watched our previous videos you could know how well that went since i didn't have a ferris wheel partner and they said you had to have two to ride we just walked around the santa monica pier and took in some of the sights last time we were here was for the route 66 video which you can see right here i've been back here a few times but not with my dad and it was really fun to relive some of our route 66 memories as we walked along the pier this was the starting point for our day journey along route 66 took in the view saw the street performers and now we're heading on to malibu leaving santa monica pacific coast highway runs right along the coast through malibu while you're basically driving along the beach it's actually hard to see the beach because of all the houses that have been built up along it it's a little bit of a bummer in this section as the views are not that great even though you're so close to the water malibu is another place with amazing things that you can do especially if you have the time to hike or explore some of the beaches a few spots that we skipped that you might want to check out are the getty villa and the malibu pier plus we tried to get to point doom but weren't able to find anywhere to park if you're driving pch in the summer note that malibu is very difficult to park at and to get around i'll show some clips of the last time i was at point doom as it's amazing but definitely no parking right now point doom is a small hill that forms the northern end of the santa monica bay the hiking trails here are short but they lead to amazing viewpoints of the cove in one direction and malibu's most popular beach the other direction the parking lot for point doom only holds about 8 cars but there is a large paid parking lot below which will add a little bit of distance to the hike but is worth it as well point doom is also where the statue of liberty ending scene for the original planet of the apes was filmed leaving point doom we passed one of my other favorite beaches el matador state beach and continued to leo carrillo here you can pay the entrance fee and then go under pacific coast highway in order to get to a parking lot with an amazing beach and some sea caves this area is only really accessible and low tide as well and after rounding one of the bends we saw the first small cave if you continue on though there's a much better sea cave that you can actually walk all the way through my dad's six seven and this cave was probably a good three feet above his head this is a much bigger sea cave than the first one i was in really awesome pops is tadpole in right now trying to find some crabs crabs among the cnn one of my dad's tasks on the road trip is to find the wildlife and so he's always on the hunt for some there's also this awesome arch out here if you happen to go and it's not low tide you can actually see the arch from the above coastal bluffs trail but it's fun to be able to walk down and get close to it if you're just looking for a relaxing beautiful beach to hang out at for a half day leo carrillo is definitely a good place for that as well that ended up being a really great experience seeing the sea cave at low tide like that i've never seen that before basically any beach you pick in malibu is going to be great now we're heading on about three minutes drive north from leo carrillo is neptune's net one of the most popular places to eat on the southern california portion of pacific coast highway neptune's net has been here since the 1950s and has been featured in tons of movies over the years it's a great spot for seafood but especially known for the fish and chips they have nice flavor great crispiness very good that's a great spot to get some fish now we're heading on finishing our time in malibu and going to oxnard as you finish the malibu portion of pacific coast highway you'll pass point magu state park which is a great place for hiking i have another video hiking that area on my channel if you're interested before the road heads inland you'll see the massive magoo rock there's a nice pull out on the left hand side about a hundred yards before that'll give you some great views of the rock we are right here at the end of malibu in the santa monica mountains and about to head inland here the road says goodbye to the coast for the next 25 minutes before it arrives in ventura this is our last stop of the day point magu missile park we could see missiles and these signs and plaques have seen better days here point mugu missile park is right off pacific coast highway here you can see many of the different missiles that were tested at the naval air station point magu it's a short stop but it's fun to see and great to let the kids get out and run around a little bit just like that our first day on pch is done we're going to stay with some friends at oxnard and we will see you tomorrow morning day two we're in ventura first stop pete's breakfast house i was introduced to pizza about 10 years ago when i saw a diner's drive-ins and dives episode that had the restaurant i've come here many times over the years as it's a fun diner with great food starting the day with the pancake roll from diners drive-ins and dives and pop size frosted flake french toast because he's a 12 year old child the pancake roll is filled and topped with yogurt fresh fruit and granola and it's always a good call it's a ton of food though so you could easily share it after leaving pete's we decided to spend a few minutes in ventura and headed up to grant park grant park is a popular place for sunset but it was pretty early in the day and we were the only people there the cross is part of sarah cross park which is inside of grant park and from the historic cross you can see amazing views of the coastline and down to the city of ventura normally you can see the channel islands out here but you can't today it's a little bit cloudy this is also a great spot in the city for sunset but we're leaving ventura and we're heading to santa barbara if you want more recommendations in ventura or in santa barbara i have list videos on my channel of some of my favorite spots in each city this section of the drive is one of the best parts in the southern california area as you go along the coast the entire way after about 35 minutes of driving we made it to downtown santa barbara we're here in downtown santa barbara at the courthouse supposedly you're supposed to be able to go up in there i don't know if it's open for pokemon i'd always wanted to visit the top of the courthouse and i was excited to learn that it was open [Music] view we are going to the view sweet after a couple years of it being closed we're finally able to go up in the tower it is awesome up here from what i've read online the santa barbara courthouse tower is open from eight to five on weekdays it's a pretty stunning place to access for free as the views of the mountains and the city are incredible you can even see the santa barbara mission right there after soaking in the views for a little bit longer we decided to take the stairs down and see a little bit more of the courthouse [Music] on the way down be sure to make a stop at the mural room which is only a few floors below the tower the murals here cover the walls of the 6 000 square foot room they were painted by daniel grossbeck and they're absolutely stunning to see the murals tell the story of santa barbara with many of its historic events depicted on the walls it's one of those places you're going to want to give yourself some time to explore after finishing the mural room you can continue to explore the courthouse grounds if you'd like this building was built in 1929 in a spanish colonial revival style and it's a national historic landmark that was a lot of fun definitely do it if you're here on a weekday and we're heading to the pier [Music] before we went to the pier i wanted to show my dad the morning bay fig the morton bay fig can be found right next to the train station in downtown santa barbara it's supposedly the largest tree of its kind in the united states the last time it was measured the circumference of the tree was 41 and a half feet next we headed out to stearns wharf a popular attraction in the city of santa barbara this is also one of the few remaining piers in california that you can still drive on the pier has many restaurants and from here you can board some of the boat tours that take you around the area i wanted to visit the sea center though as it had recently reopened and i had never been before polar bear at the sea center the sea center is interactive with multiple things that you can touch which makes it great for families or adults like us that just want to touch some sea life touch the spiny sea urchin pops i've eaten them before yeah that is so crazy hey look it's pops we found lobster's fish what the heck needless to say this is a lot of fun to go to we got to look at a worm under a microscope they pulled up some crabs and then it had all the tanks you'd normally see in an aquarium as well on a smaller scale leaving stern's wharf we began the drive north again which goes along the coast for another 30 to 40 minutes i recommend putting the arroyo hondo vista point into google maps and heading there next it's about 30 minutes north of the city and you will have to make a u-turn in order to access it i always like getting off at this viewpoint just because it has this really cool cement bridge and then it has that really cool railroad bridge of course the bridge on the left is for the trains and then the bridge on the right was built in 1918 and served as pch southbound until 1984. it's still an active train track so don't walk on it as you continue north pacific coast highway leaves the ocean views behind and heads inland for a while here's also where it goes through one of only a few tunnels on the entire route here you'll also have to make the decision to stay on pacific coast highway or go on highway 101. i often see people talk about visiting solvang on a pch road trip but solvang is not on the route pch goes in through longpoke here and through a more rural area or you can stay on highway 101 and you can head up to solvang and some of the other attractions since this was a pch road trip for us we stayed on highway 1 and headed to lompoc if you're interested while you're in lompoc they have a ton of murals so you can stop and see any of the different murals all around the city the city has 40 different murals throughout the downtown area many which talk about historic aspects of lone poke it's actually pretty cool to be able to walk around or to drive and just to see a bunch of them as you're in the city [Music] we made it to lompoc at lunchtime and this is the top rated place in the city so we're gonna check it out pops and i are eating salads our body needs i think this green stuff is called salad can't complain about eddie's grill it had great food before leaving the city we're stopping at la parisima state historic park which is a recreated old mission and it's actually a really fun spot josh and i are taking a nap after our salad lunch la parisima mission was one of the 21 spanish california missions it was founded in 1787 and at one point in time had 300 000 acres the area is run by the state park system now and it's really well preserved it gives you a fascinating understanding of this interesting part of california's history this is the apartment of the highest ranking officer at the time a little sparse they still have the chapel the different barracks rooms and many animal corrals all of which show you what life would have been like during this time period check out this epic bowl look at those horns on that thing what'd you think about la priesima it's really educational it really gives you a feel for what these missions must have been like they did a really good job restoring everything it's definitely worth the stop if you're interested in this kind of history don't hit the porta potty truck pops that's right it's important shot get the porta potty truck on the road yep yeah real pch along this portion of the drive there's lots of farmland as you enter the small town of guadalupe the center wasn't open when we were there but it talks about the unique history of cecil b demille's ten commandments which was filmed in the dunes in 1923. before heading onto pismo beach we did a little detour to do a short hike this is the oso flacco trail which takes you out to the dunes unfortunately it's really windy right now which isn't a great time to hike to the sand but we're just going to go check out the lake this trail does have beach access you can head all the way out walk through the dunes and then end at the beach for us though we just wanted to do the portion with the oso flacco boardwalk as it goes over the lake and it looked really beautiful in pictures check it out this drawing shows the bird standing on the log was a beautiful spot and there was multiple people there that were bird watching we're saying goodbye to the lake and we're heading to the dunes some parts are a little uneven but it is a boardwalk pretty much the entire way so i would think that this is wheelchair accessible you can't hear me in the following clip but it was so windy and the sand was just blowing in our face so this was our turnaround point another 25 minutes north on pch brought us to pismo beach one of my favorite things to do in the pismo beach area is actually to drive on the beach it's the only place i know of in california that you can do this and it's a pretty incredible experience to take your car and drive down on the sand with sand on one side and the waves on the other pops is driving on the beach this is pretty crazy i don't see any speed limit sign so i'm just going to go for it i think it's at 15 miles an hour i got out in the crazy wind so i could get some action shots of my dad driving on the sand kicking pops out so i can have some fun too yeah go for it there is an entrance fee to do this but one of the coolest parts about it is that you can drive about a mile north and then you can actually access another road that will take you into pismo beach just like that our driving on the sand journey is done there's our exit that's such a fun experience you should definitely do it if you have a car that's able to we have a four wheel drive car just so that we don't get stuck and there's a ton of warnings about not driving in a car without four-wheel drive or knowing what you're doing in the sand so take that at your own risk but it's definitely a blast leaving the sand behind it was only a couple blocks to get back on pch towards pismo beach this is the pismo beach butterfly grove if you come november to february be sure to go in there and see all the butterflies it wasn't the right time for us but i've seen thousands of butterflies there before we made it to pismo beach pismo beach is a great tourist town along the central coast and it's a good place for an overnight as well the city visitor center is an airstream on the pier the pismo beach pier was built in 1924 and then rebuilt in 1984. it also went through a renovation a couple years ago and this is the first time that i visited in a while where you could actually go on it this is so epic it's a beautiful day the waves are crazy there's the cars down on the beach that we were driving on it's nice spot you cannot leave pismo beach without going to splash cafe that's where we're headed next splash cafe has been a pismo beach icon since 1989. people come from all over to try their fantastic clam chowder clam chowder and bread bowl i got seafood topping on mine pop's got extra clams and green onions on his can't go wrong at splash pops is digging in always perfect it's so creamy it's like almost gonna give you a stomachache but in the best way possible i've been coming here for about a decade now and i've never been let down alex pops to how tall you are compared to that clam you're taller than a clam from pismo beach the road heads inland pass the famous madonna inn and towards san luis obispo san luis obispo is one of my favorite college towns and i always stop when i'm in the area downtown slo is an awesome place to explore great shops great food but we're going to the gum wall many of the stores nearby the gum wall actually sell gum inside of them ready to go gum wall there's lots of room for more gum so come on i know what you're saying the gum wall is pretty gross but it's been here since the 70s and it's a local attraction i want to put my gum on the wall but i'm actually enjoying it it's pretty good it's actually pretty good i'm kind of waiting for the flavor to go away first pops is up how many pieces of gum you think are on here i'm gonna guess a million i'm gonna go 999 000. price is right here perfect it's a beautiful work of art after checking out the gum wall be sure to walk around downtown san luis obispo a little bit there's lots of great shops and restaurants this is right in the downtown area the restaurants they all look out over this water it's a beautiful little walk especially with family you can also see one of the 21 spanish california missions here as well if it's open when you visit and something that you're interested in [Music] for us though we just headed to one of my favorite coffee shops called scout grabbed a latte and then headed on highway 1 stays inland for the next 20-30 minutes before you arrive in morro bay made it to our hotel in morro bay with that nice view and this beautiful floral print incredible we're just chilling for a few minutes and then we're gonna go shoot the sunset check out the view from our deck of our hotel that's pretty sweet the massive moral rock is the fixture of moro bay and it sits at 581 feet tall it's actually a volcanic plug and it's connected to the mainland so you can walk all the way out to it if you're interested i tried to enjoy the start of a broadband session with this freezing pool we headed to downtown morro bay first to take in the views and then headed out to one of my favorite beaches to watch the end of the sunset we made it to our official sunset spot which is moro strand state beach hiking out to get some pictures i love this spot for sunset as there's a small parking area and it's a quick walk out to the sand into a great view of morro rock not exactly what i was expecting but i can't say i'm disappointed it is beautiful here there was only a few other people watching the sunset with us on the entire beach and we just walked around soaked it in from all the different viewpoints [Music] that's it for sunset morrow bay tomorrow we head to big sur found this coffee shop right next to our hotel got some bagel sandwiches start the day i'll just cream cheese for you that'll work saying goodbye to morro bay and starting the drive to big sur if you're gonna drive through big sur like we did be sure to get an early start as there's so much you're gonna want to see on the drive this is brown butter cookie company in cayuco's it's not open right now because it's early in the morning but it's an amazing place to stop if you're coming through when they're open definitely grab one of their cookies espresso is my favorite right on the outskirts of caicos before you get back on highway one there's a short little trail that takes you down to a shipwreck you can already see the top of it peeking out right there it's crazy the tide is so low you can actually walk out to it i wasn't able to do that last time i was here believe it or not this ship ran aground in 2017 and it was too costly to remove so it just stayed here now it's a pretty cool little tourist attraction on the drive so crazy i'm literally walking on sand out to the shipwreck i didn't check the tide schedule when i went so i'm not sure how low the tide was this day but i've been here a couple times in the past and i've never seen anything like this on this day we could walk all the way out to the shipwreck and see how rusted out and corroded it was it's pretty cool to be able to see it up close like this it took my dad a little while to make it down to the shipwreck as it's pretty steep along the cliffside so do know that if you're coming out here it's captain pops the benefit of spending so long at the shipwreck is that brown butter cookie company is now open so we can go get some before heading towards big sur i will say this place is pricey but it's good all right pops let's see what you think of brown butter cookie company yeah delicious a little salty awesome it's very interesting yeah all right i got my espresso cookies so now we can officially head on if you're driving without stopping it's about three hours from morro bay to monterey it easily takes an entire day though as there's so much to stop and see before hitting the big sur coastline we stopped in cambria this is the moonstone beach area of cambria there's all these hotels along one side and then there's this awesome coastal boardwalk along the other side it is a great place for like a weekend even if you don't want to spend much time in cambria be sure to drive along moonstone drive it doesn't add much time to the drive and the views are stunning as you go along the coast also if you wanted to spend an extra day along the drive this is a great place for a relaxing 24 hours amy and i have stayed in cambria a couple times in the past and it's a special place for us is just so beautiful as you head north from cambria you'll hit the town of san simeon which to me is where the big sur coastline views begin of course you can also visit hurst castle here which i love but i wouldn't do it unless you have a half day to explore trying to add it to a big sur day means you have to rush a lot of other stops along the way if you're interested in visiting the castle though i have two videos on my channels of different tours i've taken and it's a great place to explore from hearst castle it's about a seven minute drive to one of my favorite stops on pch the elephant seal overlook if you've ever wanted to see these animals this is one of the best places to see them according to their website at some points during the year they could have up to 17 000 elephant seals on the shore the peak times are january april and october there's an elevated half-mile trail from the parking area that you can walk to get many different views of these massive animals it's hilarious to just watch them barking at each other and flicking sand on their backs the males are get huge like up to 5 000 pounds the females are a lot smaller they can lay on the beach for a month while they're molting and this is pretty much all females pretty much all females that we saw here after leaving the elephant seals we drove past the lighthouse and made our way north along the big sur coastline towards ragged point note that this area is prone to landslides and over the last 10 years there's been multiple times where you couldn't drive through the big sur coastline because of damage to the roads so be sure to check before you plan a pch drive we're here at ragged point inn which is kind of like the unofficial start to the big sur coastline can explore a little bit before starting the big drive you can technically get down to the coast from here but uh it looks pretty steep pops can't remember if he's ever been to big sur so i'm excited to show it to him today one of the highlights at ragged point is the art installation known as the portal to big sur it's a large wooden circle that perfectly frames the coastline also how do you not remember whether you've been to big sur when you're at ragged point be sure to walk all the way out to the end because you get this cool forest and then an awesome view right at the point this is a good picture of what the big sur road looks like too it's windy and there's some big drops ragged point also has an inn and a restaurant and i've never stayed there myself but let me know if you have in the comments from ragged point in the next 70 miles is a two-lane windy road with big drop-offs on one side this is why this area takes so long to drive is that the views are so amazing there's lots of turnouts everywhere and the road is just slow going i know people try to drive this fast but i recommend it an entire day here my dad and i left the ragged point area at around 10 a.m and we didn't get to carmel till 7 30 p.m big sur is one of those places you want to stop and see the viewpoints so plan time to pull out as many as you can there are many great hikes and things to do along the way which we'll of course show you but the road is definitely the destination in big sur the coastline is stunning every way you look with massive rocks out on the water and lots of different beaches with waves crashing on them getting that iphone gold right there i should also note that if you have the opportunity it's better to drive north to south on this road if you do that you're on the coastal side the entire time so you get better views while you drive that being said my dad hates drop-offs as he's driving so he preferred the south to north route heading out to sand dollar beach sand dollar beach has a paid parking area but it's one of the easiest to access beaches along the big sur coast it's a short hike to get down to it if you want to hang out by the sand all day or you can just go to a few of the overlooks and get amazing coastal views of the cove check out this overlook sand dollar beach if you're looking for a good place to spend the day on the beach this is hard to beat be sure to bring ten dollars in cash though for the fees driving on we passed lime kiln state park which is another personal favorite of mine there's a great hike to a waterfall and historic lime kilns there the windy road continued to give way to amazing viewpoints a few of my favorite viewpoints on the route are the ones that lead up to the big creek bridge they don't really have names but if you put big creek bridge into your map you'll see as you get close to it you do need a zoom lens to be able to zoom across the water to see the bridge though this is them working on the original route the first time they drove through it some cool photos here and then this shows how they had to build this bridge in order to allow landscape slides to go underneath it leaving the viewpoint there's another pullout right before the big creek bridge of course this bridge is nowhere near as popular as bixby but i still think it's an amazing place for photos as you cross the big creek bridge the next stop is mcwave falls the most famous view in big sur and about 13 minutes north apparently the state park is closed you could normally walk right here to get a view but not today still pretty awesome though mcwave falls is an 80-foot waterfall also known as a tidal fall as it falls directly into the ocean it's one of two tidal falls in california with the other one being alamere falls and point reyes what do you think pops just gorgeous he had never seen mcquay falls before it's pretty hard to beat that california site right there it's one of the most recognizable views on pacific coast highway and ever since it became popular with social media it's been drawing people from all over the world to visit even when the park is open you're not allowed to go down to the beach so this is the only viewpoint for the falls on the way to the next viewpoint consider stopping at partington cove if you have time to hike we didn't on this trip but i have a video of it on my channel just another random viewpoint in big sur no big deal apparently this is a good spot to see whales but this is the only whale i've seen today whale is a spectacular sight as you continue on you leave the coast for a little bit and the drive heads into the village of big sur you can stop at the henry miller library if it's open or you can head on to our lunch spot made it into penthe which is one of the busiest places to eat so it's hard to find parking but hopefully pops got us a table already this is one of the only places to eat in the big sur area so i had to drop my dad off and wait for about 15 minutes to find a place to park it's well worth it though as it's an awesome spot with some of the best views you'll ever see at a restaurant well done you got us a good table though this is great look at that while some of the best views are along the bar seating on the outside of the restaurant there's basically no bad views into pente most all of the tables look out towards the coastline but my dad got us a pretty sweet spot out in the open the famous ambrosia burger good burger very nice burger overall the food's well prepared and feels relatively healthy it is a pricey spot though so know that going in after leaving nepenthe it's about a five minute drive to the turn off for our next spot pfeiffer beach there's no sign and it's a 1.5 lane road basically all the way down to the beach i recommend putting it into your google maps while you still have reception which can be pretty spotty in big sur last time i was there pfeiffer beach cost ten dollars so bring cash for this one as well once you park it's about a five to seven minute walk down to the beach this beach has a few things that make it amazing but the first is the purple sand that you could often see after a good rain it wasn't that vibrant on this visit but it's still pretty impressive to see a beach with purple sand on it i mean how often do you see that next there are two massive rocks which are right out on the water one that many people often climb and another that has a famous arch that people take pictures of the arch is known as keyhole arch and there are a few times of the year that the sun shines directly through it at sunset people line up hours in advance to see that and i've never seen it myself it's freezing cold and crazy wind but viper beach is still amazing over the years i've spent a decent amount of time at this beach once you find parking it actually never gets too busy as the parking lots are relatively small even got a little bit of purple sand right in front of keyhole arch after exploring a little bit longer we started the walk back to the car leaving pfeiffer beach that's an incredible spot but unfortunately it was crazy windy so she's whipping up the sand and getting as long as i wanted a couple more spots in big sur before we're done for the day do remember that the drive out is slow going as you do have to pull over if any other cars are coming down the next stop for us was a few miles up the road at pfeiffer big sur state park this park also has a day use fee to access the hiking trails we parked in de use slot 1 the hike along the river path and then up the pfeiffer falls trail the river path is the first half mile and it is accessible we're in pfeiffer big sur state park and we're heading out on the pfeiffer falls trail feels like we've done a lot today already but this is actually our first real hike it's only two miles this park is not what you traditionally think of when you think of big sur it trades the stunning coastal views for a nice shaded forest check this out it is steps across the river i've never seen anything like that before super cool as you complete the half mile river path you'll get to a grove of massive coastal redwoods this is also where the historic lodge is and the start of the official trail we headed out on the pfeiffer falls valley view trail and you can do it as a loop or you can just go to pfeiffer falls after doing both of them i'd probably just do the pfeiffer falls trail next time and look at all those redwood trees wow the trail heads up almost immediately and it's a good amount of switchbacks before you get your first and only real view we saw on the trail there we go we got a nice little view nothing crazy but it's pretty there's a turkey vulture floating above us probably hoping that pops passes out on the trail so it could have something to eat we made it to the top i haven't seen much of a valley view i don't know maybe it goes that way but we're just gonna go to pfeiffer falls and we're gonna call this the valley view maybe that trail keeps going and gets to a good viewpoint i have no idea other than that it was kind of anticlimactic there was that one view of the valley and that was about it so you could probably just go to pfeiffer falls and back if you're doing this i hear the waterfall it's right in front of us somewhere that's a pretty nice valley view too with all those redwood trees from the split it's only about a quarter of a mile mostly downhill to get to the waterfall that's better than i was thinking it was gonna be this is pfeiffer falls pretty good-sized waterfall fun little hike pfeiffer falls is about a 60-foot waterfall and there's a little viewing platform that you can take it in from [Music] that was a really nice waterfall decent amount of flow in the middle of may we're gonna take the other trail back through the redwoods to the car on the way back down we realized how amazing the actual pfeiffer falls trail is it was way better than valley view with a stunning bridge and amazing views of the redwoods all around you that was an incredible trail definitely do the pfeiffer falls section so you can see the redwoods and then the waterfall we're almost back to the car and then we're heading to our last stop in big sur as we headed towards bixby bridge we passed the point sir lighthouse you can only access that via guided tour and i have a video on that on my channel as well eventually we rounded a corner and saw a pull out with the amazing bixby bridge way out in front of us i love bridges so this is always one of my favorite stops on the big sur drive made it to bixby bridge in the crazy wind bixby bridge was built in 1932 in order to navigate around the old coast road which heads 11 miles inland and often washes out from landslides bixby bridge is one of the highest single span arch bridges in the world it's so popular because the bridge is cool to see and the setting is just magnificent i recommend carefully walking to the other side of the road so you can get some views from behind the bridge with the ocean out in front of it also note that there's not a lot of parking here and this spot is very popular so you may have to wait if you want to see it look at how cool it is that the shadow is being cast on the mountain from the bridge [Music] that's it for our time in big sur we're heading into monterey to get some dinner and end our day on pch bixby bridge yes or no it's amazing i think it was built in 1932 and it's still standing it's pretty incredible as we were heading north towards monterey we saw amazing views off to the left at garapata state park so we decided to pull off and walk one of the trails [Music] i thought we were done with big sur at bixby bridge but it's so hard to stop this amazing coast so we're at one more stop the trail we ended up walking out on was the half mile bluffs trail along the way there was a little bridge that crossed the creek and then amazing coastal views and a couple different viewpoints the coastal views here were some of the best that we saw and we sat here for a good 20 to 30 minutes just watching the waves crash on the rocks that ended up being one of our favorite spots of the day it was absolutely incredible don't sleep on it on your way out of big sur now we're heading on to monterey to have some dinner when we arrived at old fisherman's wharf in monterey we were greeted by a ton of seals inviting pups to be a part of their gang that's right i'd be happy to join i have no idea what the seals were all about but it was a fun welcome to monterey and then we headed over to the old fisherman's grotto one of my favorite spots in the city as i've said a few times this is also a pricey meal on the road trip and there's lots of other cheaper places you can eat if you want i love the clam chowder here and they say it's their own monterey style clam chowder plus if you're being healthy like me be sure to get it with a garlic butter toasted bread bowl and be sure to ask for a table by the window if you're there at sunset and they have one don't worry the seals are still barking finished our dinner at the old fisherman's grotto in monterey that place is pricey but it's a really good meal if you're looking for something like that we're heading to the hotel and that is the end of day three after arriving in monterey the previous night we didn't get to spend any time in the city as we had to continue on this is a perfect example of pch having months worth of stuff to do and trying to fit into seven days if you're looking for things to do in monterey be sure to go to the aquarium and i have another 14 recommendations on my channel that you can see first stop of the day we're in the town of aptos and this is the sunken ship in seacliff state beach this beach is an awesome place to spend a day on the sand but by far the most notable thing here is the boat that's off the end of the pier the boat is known as the ss palo alto and it was built for world war one unfortunately it was completed after the war was over so it sat for a while before making its way here [Music] look at that bird's hell each one's got their own little spot down the road there's kind of funny there's a lot of birds out there they brought the ship over here and then they eventually sunk it and made an amusement park on top of it complete with the carnival games and even a dance floor the end of the pier was damaged so you can't get too close to it and now the boat is home to hundreds of birds it's actually pretty impressive to see how many birds are sitting out on the old boat be sure to walk or drive to the top of the hill as you can get a great view looking down at the boat as well heading on we made a quick detour at capitola to see the colorful painted houses so when you're walking down this street find this little alleyway and as you go down it you will see the houses these houses were originally built as condos in 1925. most of them are privately owned but you can look at them from afar and you can walk the path that goes along the front of them for me it's just a quick fun spot to get a photo and there are places to eat or grab a coffee if you want our next stop brought us over to santa cruz another place you could spend a week exploring the boardwalk wasn't open in the morning when we got there so we headed out to the pier to explore a little bit and grab something to eat much like the santa barbara pier you can drive all the way out to the end of the santa cruz pier i know i've already said this in this video but places like santa cruz and monterey we're going through them relatively quickly you could spend entire weekends or even weeks here so if you want to see more things to do in either of these cities or any other ones on the list check the description i'll post all my videos that i have for other content it's only 10 30 and we're gonna have lobster rolls and half moon bay later but we figured we might try the fish tacos at the famous sagnaro brothers luckily there was no line this early and we got to wash the seals a little bit while we waited for our food pop's got our fish tacos these look delicious been here since 1937. here we go 1937 fish tacos i hope that they haven't been sitting here since 1937. very nice fish is favorable little spice to it not fried very nice definitely a good place to get some fish tacos be sure to see the seals at the end of the pier before you leave too [Applause] [Music] after watching the seals we walked around the pier a little bit more taking in some of the views and then continue to head north this is one of my favorite places in santa cruz natural bridges state park pop's first experience check out that awesome arch right in the middle of the water pretty cool right there used to be two but this one broke in the 70s so only one the rock arch is a great place to see birds and you can sit on the sand and watch the surface at the beach that's the first of two cool rock formations we're gonna see today next up is shark fin cove as you head north from santa cruz the cities melt away and you get small towns and nice coastal views made it to the turn off for shark fin cove there's no sign or anything so you definitely have to know where you're going this spot is really well known and popular now but it used to be a hidden gem on pch shark fin cove pops another really interesting uh logical formation if you want to visit the beach you can walk down this trail or you can walk along the edge and you can get some different views down at it shark fin cove is of course famous for the massive rock that's out in the middle of the water that looks like a shark fin it's an incredible spot and i like walking around the upper bluffs and getting some views down towards it this place is amazing if you come here though please pack out your trash every time i come there's more and more trash down there so take care of spots like this it's places like this that make pacific coast highway the amazing road trip that it is [Music] i've been here many times and i love it every time i get to see it one of these times i'm actually gonna go hang out on the beach but we got too much stuff to do on pch to do that today after about seven minutes of driving we saw a sign for pies and the swanton berry farm figured we had to pull over and see what it was about i don't have a lot of information about it as no one was banning the shop but there was an area to pay and you just picked out what you wanted pop's selected this place for us so hopefully it's a good spot it's looking pretty strong though raspberry cream raspberry cream i'm going with like a straight fruit pie i think i'll go blackberry raspberry it's pretty awesome you just grab a pie you can self check out or you can use cash very efficient let's go give it a try you guys know if you watch me and pop's road trips that there's not a good video until pop sticks his head in one of these things today he's becoming a strawberry oh what that strawberry has gone bad nobody wants to eat that one it's a cool little spot you can sit and eat with the ocean in the background there's things for kids to play but it's freezing cold and windy so we're eating in the car the pies were great for a little pit stop and the blackberry raspberry was our favorite as we continued north the coastal views were amazing and there was a couple beaches that you could hang out at we skipped by them but we did stop at any good pull out we found the next major stop for us was the pigeon point lighthouse it's really windy here too but this is the pigeon point lighthouse and you can actually stay here if you book it in advance while the lighthouse is completely off limits you can explore the surrounding area the hostel rooms are on the right side and there's a coastal trail on the left side in the middle there's some information about the shipwrecks that happened in this area i'd love to stay here one day if you have done it let me know in the comments how it is i can't imagine how cool it would be to take night sky photos of the lighthouse just to be able to wake up to these amazing coastal views if you want to see me make a video on staying here let me know in the comments as you continue north keep your eyes peeled for the viewpoint called dolphin sunset point the coastal bluffs are pretty incredible from there by the time we got to half moon bay it was already the early afternoon and we were getting hungry we skipped the downtown area and went straight to our lunch spot next up we're at one of the most famous fish places on the entire route sam's chowder house this is another spot that gets really busy with people often lining up before they even open also note that it's pricey as well but it's one of the best lobster rolls i've had on the west coast pops wanted to share with me when this is the only thing that we're eating today i said i'm not sharing my lobster roll with you what the heck is wrong because i'm getting my own look at those massive pieces of lobster it's amazing this is the naked style lobster roll that's the best i've had that's amazing outside of boston this is another spot that has lots of outdoor seating and great views out over the coast all right so that's basically our lunch and dinner for today but in a few stops i'm going to show you a fun cheap place to eat at if you want something different now we're heading on to mavericks mavericks is only a five minute drive from our lunch spot i knew the waves probably wouldn't be big but i wanted to see it for myself as i had never been maverick's in half moon bay is one of the most famous surfing breaks in california and even the entire united states i've never seen it before so i'm excited to finally check out this california legend it's usually only going off in the winter but we'll see what it's like today from the parking area it's about a one mile round trip walk out to the beach when you make it to pillar point harbor you'll be at the viewing location for mavericks danger deadly waves at any time the waves break about a half mile off the shore though so it's not like you'll see massive waves right next to the sand during the right time of year these waves can be 25 feet tall and some have even been up to 60 feet tall it was fun to finally see the spot for myself but there wasn't much to do here so we continued on as we approached the tunnels that led to pacifica we headed off to the left to go to devil's slide this is the devil slide coastal trail that's a bunker from world war ii but this is a mile and a quarter that you can walk along this old piece of pacific coast highway we're not going to do the entire thing today because i want to do a hike in san francisco and i did it like a couple months ago so you can see the full video of this right here the devil's slide was a particularly dangerous part of pacific coast highway due to the grade and how often it got washed out from landslides what's awesome is that when they completed the tunnel they left the road here for hikers and bikers to enjoy it's a place i come back to again and again as it's just an amazing walk and it's cool to be able to walk on old pacific coast highway from here the trail continues up for about another mile around a couple more bends that actually goes into another parking area this was where we turned around and we only walked about a quarter of a mile before heading back it's pretty cool to see the views of the bunker on the coastline as you're walking back to your car as you head through the tunnel note that this is easily the longest tunnel on pacific coast highway when you come out you'll be driving down to the town of pacifica we've made it to the beach side taco bell and what you may not know is that pops loves taco bell so this is a huge stop for him we're not eating though because we already did just get a drink sit by the beach for a minute got a baja blast freeze and pop's got a non-alcoholic margarita freeze pretty good this is just an awesome spot along the coast as you can park for free for 30 minutes if you're eating at the taco bell and then you can just sit and look out over the ocean and watch the surfers leaving pacifica and the beach taco bell and we're heading in to san francisco as we left pacifico we decided not to stop again until we made it into san francisco i love the land's end trail and i wanted to introduce it to my dad so we headed straight there the landsand trail is accessed from the sutro bass parking area in the northwest corner of san francisco this is where we're at we're going to start right here go down to sutro baths and then go all along the coastal trail sutro baths were developed in 1894 by adolf sutro who was a self-made millionaire the area started as an ocean aquarium and eventually expanded to a massive historic bathhouse during a high tide the pools were filled by the pacific ocean and the bats could accommodate up to 10 000 people the bats waned in popularity over the next few decades until they were eventually closed the building itself was destroyed in 1966 by a fire and you can explore what remains at the sutra bath site today this area is also amazing for sunset i'll play some clips right here and then we're going to start the official trail [Music] to officially start the land's end trail you'll hike up and around to the point lobos viewpoint area which gives you some great views out towards the rocks and across the coast check it out do you see the heart in the rock right there if you're pressed for time you can always just explore the sutro bass go to this viewpoint and then head on from here we're saying goodbye to the sutro bats and we're heading up that way towards the landsand trail the trail from here to the end is 1.7 miles each way so about three and a half miles round trip this trail is easily one of the most beautiful urban trails in all of california you'll see the views just keep getting better and better as we continue on we found pops he was too lazy to come down to sutro bass with me right around the first bend the golden gate bridge comes into view from this viewpoint you can see the remains of shipwrecks mile rock lighthouse and the golden gate bridge you'll basically see the golden gate bridge on and off for the entire rest of the hike that little point out there is where we're hiking down to as like the halfway point of this trail look at all these shipwrecks that have happened right off of this point here's a couple of them right here and then this is the mile rock lighthouse which isn't here anymore but it used to be right there at this cut-off i definitely recommend going left and down to the viewpoint before heading on to finish the trail pops is ready to go back up we're heading around to right where that guy is there's mile rock beach right there and there is the golden gate bridge this viewpoint is one of the best for the golden gate bridge along this trail as you get an unobstructed view with just the water out in front of you and the bridge check out this view it's incredible when you turn to the left you'll get an amazing view of mile rock beach from the overlook or you can continue along the trail and walk down to it i recommend walking down to it if you have the energy as it is beautiful but it is a good steep walk to get back up to the trail afterwards what i love most about mile rock beach is that it feels rugged even though you're so close to the city plus there's some great photo opportunities with the big rocks and seeing the waves crashing over them and you can see the golden gate bridge peeking out behind the corner and the remains of mile rock lighthouse out in the distance once you decide to say goodbye to the beach it's a good climb on a bunch of stairs to get back to the trail finish the climb up from mile rock beach heading on pops is gonna demonstrate by sprinting up a bit i always find this part so funny as it's basically just stairs that go up for no reason and as soon as you get to the top they go immediately back down again that was some good uphill lot of steps i can't overstate how stunning this trail is literally the golden gate bridge at every bend and break in the trees and just amazing views out towards the marin headlands and out into the ocean we're just about at the end of the trail it's right up there eagles point overlook is great because it's very subtle with just a few benches and unobscured views of the golden gate bridge it's a great endpoint for this trail and just sit and relax at the benches for a while and soak it all in that was a beautiful hike that was a beautiful hike well maintained not hard yeah that was really nice made it to the end of the trail so now all that's left is to walk back or i mean you're in san francisco you could take an uber if you're tired that's it for this day on pch we will see you tomorrow day five started off like all great days should on pacific coast highway with a stop for donuts bob's donuts is a local institution in san francisco's nob hill area and it's one of my favorite donut shops in the state there's usually a line in the morning but it goes pretty fast and it's always worth waiting for the crumb donuts here san francisco is noisy but this is what you get at bob's crumb donut cheers pops is trying the famous well he already tried it famous crumb doughnut it just gets all over the place when you take a bite from bob's we made our way down to alcatraz to spend a couple hours on the island this video is shortened in just some of the highlights but you can watch the full video on alcatraz on my channel to get to alcatraz i'd recommend taking public transportation or ride share parking can be incredibly expensive in this part of san francisco plus the area is known for car break-ins as well also be sure to get your tickets in advance even weeks or months in advance as they sell out during the summer and during busy times of the year before boarding they have a replica of the islands you can see what you're about to explore i recommend you get the first boat of the day as you're the first group to go over to the island so there's a lot less people on it once you're there you can return on any boat that you would like [Music] saying goodbye to san francisco and heading off to alcatraz island the trip to alcatraz is only around 15 minutes on the way over you get great views of the island the golden gate bridge the bay bridge and even downtown san francisco just the boat ride itself is a highlight on the visit to alcatraz [Music] we made it to alcatraz island the rock we're going to explore i would recommend that you plan for at least a few hours and possibly a half day to spend on the island just so you know they said walking up to the cell house is about 13 flights of stairs but for those with mobility issues they do have a little trim you can take to get up there our first stop was to walk to the cell house to get there before all the crowds started appearing entering the main prison on alcatraz and grabbing our audio tour we were the first people to enter the cell house we had to wait a little bit for the audio tours to get set up but once they were you could grab an audio tour and then it was self-guided for you to explore the prison and to stop at the different numbers to hear what they had to say this is a fantastic audio tour that takes you all around the cell house and tells different stories of prisoners and guards the cell house was originally supposed to hold 600 prisoners and when it was built it was the largest steel reinforced concrete structure in the world some of the famous inmates there's the bird man there's machine gun kelly and scarface al capone in some of the cells you could see books or you could see art that the inmates were working on [Music] here's some information on them escaping digging it out with a spoon and there was a cell that had a replica of a fake body that was actually created by one of the inmates during an escape attempt finishing the audio tour in the dining hall after turning in your audio tour you'll head down to a small museum about incarceration and then a large store for the property in order to leave store basically escaping the prison block what'd you think of alcatraz prison yeah it's very depressing make sure you listen to the audio tour to really appreciate it for sure from there we headed out to explore the lighthouse which was the first built on the west coast and the remains of the warden house on the south side of the island there used to be more structures but basically now it's just a view over to downtown san francisco and an area for the mini birds that nest on alcatraz to hang out the most common bird you'll see here is the western gull but you'll also see some cormorants that are nesting here as well here's a few more shots of some of the birds we saw [Music] as you make your way around the western side of the cell block there's not a lot of structures to see but you can see a lot of the beautiful garden areas great views out across the bay and even more birds if you're into birding this is definitely the place to be there's thousands of birds today heading up to the recreation area and then to explore the other part of the island this is where all the baseball games took place in alcatraz the recreation area when you make it to the eastern side of the island there's a few more buildings to explore including the guard house and the officers club not sure how many of you play call of duty but you'll notice all this from the rebirth island map let me know if you fee if you know some of these spots in the comments after exploring the eastern side of the island you can stay longer and see some of the things you've missed or you can head back down to where the boat picks up and get on the next available boat catching the bow back to alcatraz and we're going to explore more pch this is the other type of parking it's outdoor but they've had lots of problems with car break-ins so that's why we didn't park out here and just be warned as pops and i were walking past the parking structure to take some pictures for this video and show you someone actually broke into a car sold some stuff and ran away so uh while we were walking by literally while we were walking by in the middle of the day people got pictures of license plate and all that kind of stuff but who knows so i would probably not park there right now if i were you here's our nice parking garage so hopefully our car is still good our car is still in good condition and it was only 19 to park which is pretty good for san francisco i'll take that as a win before leaving san francisco we wanted to stop at the palace of fine arts and then the golden gate bridge the palace of fine arts was built in 1915 for the panama pacific international exposition it was designed to convert the watery bog that was there before into a beautiful place to display art for the exposition this beautiful structure was built just for the event and not to withstand the elements over many decades it started crumbling in the 1950s so it was rebuilt from 1964 to 1974 to look exactly like it would have over the last century it's become an important part of san francisco and a beautiful place for both locals and tourists to explore sure to walk around the whole thing go inside and then go around the outer portion to see it with the lake as well it's one of those places you could easily spend an hour just walking around the stunning lagoon looking at the structure and just learning about all the history do note that there's only street parking and during the weekends it can be pretty busy and hard to find a parking spot here [Music] from the palace of fine arts we began heading north again with one more stop in san francisco at the golden gate bridge welcome center this is another place where parking can be very challenging but if you wait for a little bit people are usually coming and going relatively quickly the welcome center has a lot of souvenirs and information on the bridge and there's many history plaques around that you can read about before leaving san francisco we're at the golden gate bridge welcome spinner which is the easiest way to see the bridge before you drive over it of course the main draw here is the bridge and it's one of the best views in the city not a bad view right if you're interested you can actually walk out on the golden gate bridge from here as well my dad and i explored for about 20 minutes grabbed a coffee at the roundhouse cafe with some great views of the bridge and then began to head north there were also multiple signs here about car breakings that's it for the san francisco point of the pch trip i have a ton of other recommendations for san francisco in the description now we're heading on to muir woods as you leave the welcome center get your camera ready as there's something just iconic about driving on the golden gate bridge as we continued to head north on highway 1 we got off and took a short detour towards muir woods the road then winds through the mountains and down into muir woods note that currently if you want to visit the park you have to get a permit online and in advance to control the crowds the main parking area fills up quickly so you'll have to use one of the overflow lots that adds about a quarter of a mile to the hike we're here starting at the visitor center we're gonna go all the way out and then take the hillside trail back this trail can really be as long or short as you would like there are multiple bridges along the way that allow you to cross over the creek and make the trail into a loop almost immediately there's a pretty giant tree doing the full loop is about two miles round trip and takes about an hour and a half this is a really great family-friendly trail as there's multiple bridges you can cross to go back whenever you want to go back and you're on an elevated boardwalk pretty much the entire time so it's relatively easy the first grove you'll enter is the founders grove which has a massive tree that's named for gifford pinchot he was an early conservationist that helped to preserve a lot of the force that you see today as you head further back you leave the crowds behind here you may get some solitude and be able to hear the calming sounds of nature basically everywhere you look you'll see massive trees surrounding you on both sides of the creek all these bugs that you see flying are ladybugs neither my dad or i had ever seen anything like this there were thousands of ladybugs flying all around you as you continue back on the trail [Music] the next grove you'll enter is cathedral grove and this is where you can see the most stunning trees on the trail they ask you to be quiet as you enter this grove and just to take in the surroundings as you walk under the trees look at that six seven pops right there these massive trees can't even hardly see you this grove is where the tallest and oldest coastal redwoods are in the entire mirawoods area also note that this trail is wheelchair accessible for the boardwalk portion and as you continue on there's more loose gravel in potholes but we did see wheelchair users continue past that that being said i don't think the non-boardwalk portion is specifically designed for wheelchairs i can't believe i'm with all these massive trees and there's swarms of ladybugs that are coming around me like i'm like a disney princess or something there's pops with all the ladybugs his disney princess moment just another redwood grove 4 inch ring no big deal so once you make it here you can either go back the way that you came or you can take the hillside trail the previous time i visited muir woods the hillside trail was closed so i was excited to see a new portion of the muir woods area this time the other portion of the trail is definitely more beautiful but this is cool to be up this high and be able to look down on some of the trees look at those views down on the main trail and then we're up here next to some crazy trees ourselves made it back to bridge two found pops and we're heading on as you connect with bridge two the last portion of the trail is the bohemian grove trail the area was named after the bohemian club which held one of its meetings here in the late 1800s after passing this tree it's only about a five minute walk back to the visitor center completing your time in muir woods heading out of muir woods a few more stops on pch before we end today as you leave muir woods you can take frank valley road all the way back down to highway 1 near the coast technically you're skipping a short portion but you connect right back with the road at muir beach overlook one of my favorite stops in this area we're coming off the hill we're at the muir beach overlook there's where we were at in muir woods and then we came all the way down through this canyon now we're at the overlook mirror beach overlook was part of the coastal defense system which is why you'll still see some of the remains there today [Music] the main reason to visit though is to take this short walk along the cliff's edge out to one of the best overlooks you'll see on all pacific coast highway just getting to the overlook is fun itself as it feels adventurous as you walk along the narrow path with amazing views on both sides it's a crazy windy show pretty much every time i've been here it's been crazy windy but the views are amazing with san francisco in one direction and the point reyes peninsula in the other direction when you're done exploring you pretty much just walk back the way you came and try not to get blown off man it's crazy windy but that was incredible as you leave the overlook you'll be on a windy two-lane road with coastal views out in front of you some of the best views in this section are when you cross the hill and see stinson beach [Music] right as you're coming down the hill be sure to watch for the overlook on the left hand side from here you can see stinson beach stretching out into the distance and it's a pretty great place for photography we decided to spend the night in a fun hotel in bellinas so we went around the bolinas lagoon and towards the city our hotel in bellinis was called smiley's saloon while the history is a little shaky it supposedly started in 1851 and it may be the oldest continuously operated saloon on the west coast do note that if you're trying to stay in the point reyes area of pacific coast highway pretty much all of the hotels are going to be expensive this one was pricey but it was fun to stay in a historic spot and to go visit the saloon before ending our day it had a really lively atmosphere fun people to hang out with and good food that's the end of day five on pch [Music] saying goodbye to bellinas and smileys which i learned is the oldest saloon on the west coast yesterday and we are heading on towards mendocino the main reason we stayed in bolinas is that i wanted to spend some time in point reyes national seashore when you plan your trip you'll have to decide whether you want to do this or not but i recommend only doing it if you have at least a half day before heading into the park we decided to head over to bovine bakery to grab some breakfast so we're at this popular bakery in point reyes and we got the morning bun morning bun coffee cake and the savory scone that was a really good spot for breakfast pops and i both like the morning bun poppy cake that was our favorite heading into point reyes national seashore as you head towards the park you'll pass the small town of inverness explore a little behind the store and you'll find something cool first stop we're going out to the shipwreck in inverness this area is private property but they do give you a right to pass in order to see the boat but you never know that could always be taken away too this isn't actually a shipwreck the previous owner had plans to fix the boat up but never got around to it and just left it to decay on the shoreline right here there were many plans to remove it but it's so popular with local photographers that they left it in place the other times i've been here this has been surrounded by water so it's pretty crazy to just be able to walk right up to it the shipwreck was damaged by a fire in 2016 but it's still a cool place to see i wonder how long this boat is still going to be here for as it is made a lot out of wood and it looks like this back area is basically covered in sand now and it's falling apart so might not be here for another 10 years you can literally walk along the sand all the way up to the boat leaving the ss point reyes behind we headed into the national seashore our end goal was to visit the lighthouse but we made a few stops along the way as we're coming down the road this is the entrance to the cypress tree tunnel for some reason it's closed not sure why i can walk in but that is the famous cypress tree tunnel right there many photographers have driven from far away to take pictures here and it's a great spot for photos in the early morning or the late afternoon light if you want to visit the lighthouse like we did it's a good 20 mile drive from pacific coast highway and it takes at least 45 minutes this is because it's a two lane road with many working farms and you can't go very fast on this drive eventually we made it to the parking area and one of my favorite views in california as you look out the coastline is basically a straight line that stretches out as far as you can see into the distance it's such a stunning view and i never get tired of seeing it note that the lighthouse is only open two days a week but even when it's not open you can still take the quarter mile trail out to look at it which is well worth the walk as we were walking a deer jumped in front of the path and then walked in front of the coastline this was one of the coolest things i've ever seen with wildlife in california with the deer walking and the coastline views behind it i spent a good 20 minutes here just trying to get the perfect photo and the deer didn't care at all that i was there [Music] as you continue on this leaning tree is also popular for photos since it's so unique [Music] look at where the employees live how do you beat that as you make it to the lighthouse there's a small museum that's open when the lighthouse is open a whale skull and then great views of the lighthouse down below you this is as far as you can get when it's closed but it's definitely still worth walking out for as it's one of the coolest lighthouses on the west coast i don't know about you but i think this view is worth the extra effort what do you think the lighthouse here was constructed and first lit in 1870 heading out of point reyes and we're heading on to oysters at hog island there's weeks worth of stuff to do with this national seashore if you want to spend more time here but we had to continue on our pch road trip [Music] as you make it back to pacific coast highway you'll be driving along the east side of the tamales bay this is a beautiful area with a few small towns and no cell reception [Music] it's also home to an oyster lovers mecca called hog island oyster company hog island is a place i've been coming to for years and used to be able to just picnic on the benches overlooking the bay now the spot is so popular that you need to get reservations in advance in order to get a spot here also note that it's an expensive place but it's definitely the best oysters i've ever had my dad and i got a charcuterie board with local cheeses a dozen raw oysters and some barbecue oysters for me it doesn't get better than the raw oysters and be sure to ask for some horseradish to go with them for some reason my dad used a little fork to eat his oyster literally nobody eats oysters like that creamy sweet they're delicious cheers best oysters i've ever had if you've never eaten oysters or you don't think you'd even like them i would suggest you just give them a try here it may change your mind it's delicious actually if you don't want to get a reservation you can get your oysters to go and here's some locations that you can eat them at [Music] that's the look of a man who just ate 12 oysters right there that was another pricey meal but it's hard to think of something better you can eat on pacific coast highway than those oysters as you leave hog island pacific coast highway heads inland here for a little while before reaching the town of bodega [Music] if you're a fan of alfred hitchcock then be sure to stop in bodega which is different than bodega bay and it's actually before it on highway 1. so this is the house from the alfred hitchcock movie the birds which was fictional there's a bird also it is still a private residence so just take your pictures from the road it's a fun quick stop on pacific coast highway as you drive on highway 1 goes back to the coast in the town of bodega bay as you leave bodega bay you'll enter one of the top three most beautiful sections of coast on the drive this section is pretty much all part of sonoma coast state park and there's many different beaches and pullouts with amazing views this state park runs along the coast for about 20 miles all the way up past the town of jenner along the way you'll see dozens of rock arches many different beaches and lots of boulders sitting out in the water it's one of those spots along the drive that you really want to plan to spend some time at there's a viewpoint about every half mile and my dad and i found it hard to not stop at all of them as you get close to jenner watch for the road that leads to goat rock state beach while we didn't have time to go all the way down to the beach just going to the viewpoint for goat rock was well worth the extra excursion this honestly looks like an amazing place to spend the day with some great hiking trails and just stunning views stop being at cafe aquatica and jenner to get some coffee jenner's a pretty small town that doesn't have a lot of places to stop but i've been coming to cafe aquatica anytime i'm in the area and it's always good for coffee goat rock is what we just saw we're at jenner now and then we're heading all the way off of the map for tonight this is an epic place to have coffee or to have something to eat you can sit on those picnic tables right out there or you can sit in here and be blocked by the wind if you're into kayaking this is an amazing spot to do that on the russian river i have a video on that you can watch it's really old though as you leave jenner the road heads up hill and you can look back towards goat rock and the beach it's staggering how different the northern california beaches are from the southern california ones the road is windy here and it feels very remote especially looking back the way you came we continue north along the coast for another 25 minutes before arriving at our next stop fort ross state historic park fort ross cost ten dollars to visit when i went but it's a fascinating part of pre-california history at the visitor center there's a great museum where you can learn all about the native americans that lived in the area and then the russian influence in the 1800s california's first windmill this is what the fort looked like in 1840 this is the slide chute that they used until the late 1800s that's how they loaded the boats from the fort that is awesome it's fascinating as it's a part of the area's history i had never heard about before i visited from the visitor center it's about a quarter mile to walk over to the old fort the shore trail to the fort is wheelchair accessible as you approach the fort you'll realize how big and how good the condition of it is basically everything here is a reconstruction as pacific coast highway at one point in time went through the fort before it was diverted after that happened many of the destroyed buildings were rebuilt and the only building that's original here is the commander's house never seen anything like this before it's a wood water fountain not working but that's crazy check it out you can read it in english and you can read it in russian when we were there all of the buildings were open and you could walk inside of each one of them some were decorated to look like what they would have looked like and some had basically nothing in them it's interesting to see the cannons in this tower looking out over the beautiful coastline this place is fascinating to explore you don't think much about the russian influence of california to me the most interesting building was the chapel just the way that it was constructed with the round top is not something that you ever see one of the signs that the fort said that at one point in time there were 59 buildings here there's only five left so it must have been a pretty impressive complex back in the day after leaving the fort we walked along the coastal trail back to the parking lot right next to the parking lot be sure to see the replica of the original fort ross windmill only a five minute drive from fort ross you'll reach the timber cove resort here you can see the 93 foot tall peace totem right out on the hillside the work was created by famed sculpture artist ben bufano he began it in 1962 and worked on it for seven years completing it right before he passed away [Music] ten minutes later we made it to the cruise rhododendron reserve i randomly saw this place on google maps on the way up and i researched that the flowers normally bloom in june so we decided to give it a try to get to the reserve you have to turn off pacific coast highway on cruise ranch road and drive for about a mile the reserve has two main trails the chinese gulch trail and the phillips gulch trail both of the trails are one mile each way and they connect with each other at the end so you can make it into one big loop that's two miles there's some up in the trees above us right now almost immediately we were greeted with some flowers it wasn't as many as i expected but it was cool to still see some on the hike wow look at this trail has redwoods the land here was part of a large ranch that was established in the 1880s the cruz family managed the ranch until this part of the land was eventually donated to the california state park system in 1933. of course the flowers are the main draw here but the reserve also has douglas fir and second growth redwoods we're only a quarter mile into the trail and i've already stopped caring about the rhododendrons because the drill is so beautiful this is definitely one to do the chinese gulch part of the trail goes up and down over a few different hillsides giving you views down into the valleys and up towards the trees this is the largest collection of rhododendron we've seen so far pretty cool there's like eight or nine different buds on this tree we're about halfway through the trail this has been beautiful some flowers amazing redwood trees shade light rays everything you want in a trail pops is walking into the light ray abducted by aliens that's so cool i originally thought the light rays were from dirt that was being kicked up by the cars that were driving by us on the dirt road but when we later got back to pch we realized that there was a small fire in the area and this was actually smoke that we were seeing during this portion of the trail you pretty much go downhill for three quarters of a mile and then in the last quarter of the mile is straight uphill back to the car starting the final uphill push the car look i love southern california but it doesn't hold a candle to some of these northern california trails finish the trail pops has something to say about it this trail is a hidden gem there are some rhododendrons not a lot but the other things make up for it the um redwoods and the fern and everything and the little bridges it's great i agree that was an awesome trail now we're heading on to point arena as we left the reserve the smoke was getting worse and i had to call my hotel to figure out how to go around pch to get there we were told about this fun little chapel on the side of the road so we're gonna go check it out hopefully it's still open also as you can see it's smoky now there's a fire that's rolled in near the point arena area but luckily we can go around it and still get to our hotel tonight that's how it goes when you're traveling in california now this building is known as the sea ranch chapel it took seven months to build and was completed in december of 1985. apparently it's open to the public 365 days a year and it's definitely something you want to stop and see [Music] this place is beautiful it is supposed to look like a shell they say and it is it's really unique to see along the route it's pretty tiny so we didn't stay for very long but both my dad and i love seeing things like this on our road trips [Music] all right we're heading off highway 1 to go around the fire for about 30 minutes and to get to point arena unfortunately the fire made me skip bowling ball beach which is something i really wanted to see but at least we were still able to get to our hotel for the night there was like no options when i was looking online i found the wildflower motel in point arena this is honestly a pretty awesome spot i'm excited about it after checking into our hotel we headed over to the point arena wharf and put in a pizza order to eat while watching the sunset the pier here is a legit fishing pier with a shower for fishermen and places to dock your boat and nothing else the beach right next to the pier is beautiful though and the sun was amazing as it was setting behind the bluffs pops just came back with the pizza so heading to get something to eat before ending the day what the heck there's a slice already gone how could that happen shout out to point arena pizza it was pretty great planning the elder from russian river pizza and the sunset that's it for day six on pacific coast highway we'll see you tomorrow to finish the road trip [Music] i didn't even know before i booked a hotel here that this place delivers breakfast in the morning so we got oatmeal for pops and a breakfast sandwich for me pretty strong meal you got some toast you got oatmeal and you got a whole bunch of toppings looks amazing that's a pretty good-looking breakfast sandwich for a hotel saying goodbye to the wildflower boutique motel and we are starting the last day on pch the town of point arena's most famous attraction is the lighthouse out on the coast it's about 10 minutes off pacific coast highway but the drive there is stunning with great coastal views and even a small arch out in the water if you want to be active there's a couple pull-offs with hiking trails that you can do or as you drive to the lighthouse be sure to look for the pull-out on the left that gives you a direct view across the coast to the lighthouse unfortunately the point arena lighthouse doesn't open for a few more hours so this is as close as we can get but you can't actually go up in it when it's open take a tour i thought that was the closest you can get but you can actually get all the way up here where this arch is and then that's where the pay station is people are exiting but we can't go in this is the closest you can get this lighthouse has been here since 1908 and it's definitely worth coming when they're open to take the tour i did it a long time ago and being able to go to the top and see the views was pretty cool from point arena to mendocino it's about an hour's drive along the way it feels very remote without a lot of houses and breathtaking views of the dramatic coastline this is just another random pull out on the side of the road much of the drive here is along coastal bluffs without any way down to the beaches below you it's amazing to see beaches like this without any people on them and it's one of my favorite sections of the drive [Music] eventually you'll cross over the big river estuary and arrive in the town of mendocino mendocino is a very relaxed town and it's a nice area to walk around if you have time we're here in the town of mendocino which is a great place to stay or to get some food one of the best things to do here is this little walk along the headlands which takes you some beautiful coastal views i highly recommend you check out portuguese beach while you're at the mendocino headlands it's a little bit of a steep and slippery walk down to the beach but it's well worth the effort on the right side of the beach there's an awesome little arch the mendocino headlands area just feels like it has secrets like this that you have to discover by exploring all that work for nothing for nothing when you make it back up from the beach continue along to the point for a special surprise before you head on be sure to walk all the way out to the point so you can see this epic blow hole that they have whoa it's not every day that you get to see something like this and this is just one of a few of them that are in the area if you have the time continue exploring as there's lots of different trails you can take what i love about the mendocino headlands is that i see something different every time i come it's also an amazing place for sunset and it's nice during certain times of the year when the wildflowers are blooming [Music] after finishing our short hike we headed out of mendocino to a lesser visited state park we're in russian gulch state park which is north of mendocino and has one of my favorite views on all of pch are you guys ready for it the low tide kind of messes it up there's usually water right there but look at that bridge with the island and the ocean plus there's a beautiful shaded picnic area here you can utilize with these views it was one of the worst times of day to take pictures as it was backlit and low tide while you're here you might as well head out to the devil sinkhole which is right on the headlands trail the headlands area of the state park has a lot of short trails with the most popular going to the sinkhole this is kind of like the one we saw in mendocino but has more of a beach than just water it's also really low tide for devil's punch bowl too looks like you could hang out on that beach but i'll have to go down to it pops is all about the arches what do you feel about the sinkholes though yeah it's kind of cool i'd like to wish i could see more water coming in there pops has been counting all the arches and taking pictures of them and i think we're at like arch number seven or something like that look at how clear that water is you can see all the way to the bottom pops taking his arch photo it's impossible to overstate how impressive these areas are the coastline feels so much more dramatic as you head north on pacific coast highway it's been a really beautiful time to hike this area of mendocino i've never seen it with all these wildflowers like we have right now also if you want another hike in this park i have a waterfall hike that i did a few years ago you can see in the description after leaving the state park it was only a seven minute drive to our next stop another lighthouse on pch next up we're heading out to point cabrio lighthouse it's a half mile walk from the parking area down to the lighthouse but you have a disability plaque where you can actually go park right up next to it [Music] you're doing this walk with the family they have little signs that have quiz questions basically the entire way down the walk here is easy as it's just a half mile on a flat paved road it's good to have a windbreaker though as this is the second time i've been here and it's been really windy both times we've almost made it to the lighthouse and check it out the light is on that's pretty sweet this lighthouse was built in 1909 and it was automated in the 1970s but it's still a working lighthouse when you get there you can go into the bottom floor and there's a museum with all sorts of different information on the area and on the lighthouse itself it also talks about the mini wrecks that they had on the coast here when you leave the lighthouse look for the little building off to the left as you're walking back there's even a couple aquariums out here which is pretty cool to see especially with young children they're a little cloudy but this is the head light keepers house before you leave be sure to go into the little museum that they have here that shows what life was like for the light keepers this is definitely a great stop on pch with the short hike the nice lighthouse and the museums saying goodbye to the lighthouse and we're heading into fort bragg for lunch as you enter fort bragg and cross over the noyo river turn right immediately and head down to the noyo fish company place your order for some great fish tacos and grab yourself a spot out on the deck while you're waiting for your food you can even watch the fishing boats go by pops went big with some fish tacos very good good fit very crispy a little sweet the mango nice the fish and chips are also good here but the fish tacos are really where it's at [Music] after filling up on fresh fish we headed through fort bragg to the most popular attraction in the area glass beach we're here at glass beach in fort bragg which is everybody's favorite spot to go on pch until they get here realize that it's usually not that much glass and it's not super impressive but we'll see today maybe there'll be more glass than last time i was here from the parking area it's about a quarter mile walk down to glass beach there it is glass beach and go down and see how much glass is on the sand this area used to be a dump site which is why you can see all these pieces like this left over from appliances or something back in the 50s nice little man-made waterfall all right we have made it to glass beach which looks a lot like this it's pretty cool some greens some browns and clear there's definitely still a decent amount of glass in this one section one of the things you'll usually notice is that most of the colored pieces are gone so you'll find a lot of clear pieces some browns but like the greens and some of the other ones they get picked up really quickly it's kind of crazy that some of these rusted pieces of rock and metal are actually tide pools now for me i like glass beach and i think it's really fascinating to learn more about the history of this spot that being said a lot of people often complain to me about how anti-climactic it is i mean it's just like this it's like all those different pieces of glass in there certainly unique well worth a stop just don't expect a crazy amount of glass and definitely don't expect a lot of colors i have a full video on my channel on glass beach if you want to learn more about the history of this unique spot from glass beach it's only a two minute drive to our next stop the pudding creek trestle this is the pudding creek trestle right here you can walk and bike across it go down hang out at the beach if you want or just take some pictures of it as you know i love old birches so always a stop for me here's what it looks like when it was in use did you learn any facts for us yes originally for train that was converted so there could be trucks and then ultimately just this kind of pedestrian as you get back on pch there's another view of the pudding creek trestle from below if you want to get some other pictures leaving fort bragg the road gets remote again and it heads inland before connecting with the coast this final drive along the coast is only about 20 minutes and it's the last fuse you're going to get of the ocean before finishing pacific coast highway as you enter the town of westport be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next unique attraction we're reaching the end of the coastal part of our road trip but no road trip would be complete without paying homage to the westport whale [Music] what do you think about the westport whale pops are you back on route 66 again it reminds me of the blue whale of katusa pretty fun there's not a lot of information about the whale so i can't really tell you anything you can go inside and it seemed like it was about 30 feet long also i saw online that the blacksmith shop next door is actually an airbnb so next time i'm in the area i'm gonna have to stay here you are lovely pass it on [Music] pop's got a fact about the whale the whale is just a roadside attraction that's trying to inspire people to follow their dreams which is awesome i'm sure you guys remember pop's great pose at the shark in florida so i have to relive that [Laughter] here that's pretty good definitely don't miss this stop on your pch road trip heading on saying goodbye to the historic westport whale was bittersweet as that meant our road trip was coming to an end [Music] we still took every opportunity to soak in the views and to pull out at any viewpoint we could find [Music] pops was also able to find a couple more ocean arches to add to his list pops the arch hunter has found another arch eventually we could see the road heading inland and knew that our time with the coast was over [Music] you have been amazing california coast thank you so much bye-bye from here our road takes us inland it was hard for my dad and i to pull ourselves away from this spot anytime you finish a great road trip especially one that's a week long like this you just really don't want it to end as you head inland it's about 14 miles to reach the official end of highway 1 pacific coast highway luckily there was one more stop before we finished made it to our last stop on the road trip the drive-thru tree the drive-through tree is just a roadside gimmick at the intersection of highway 1 and highway 101. i've been here many times over the years and the price has actually gone up a decent amount to 15 per car that being said it certainly is unique and it's a fun place to take a photo of your car driving through the tree the drive-through tree has been here since 1937 which means it's almost been a hundred years of people driving through this tree if you have a really big car though you might want to skip this one nice work you didn't break my car i was trying not to there's also a gift shop here and a few more places for families to explore with some downed trees and other things to look at one end that's the end of our seven day epic pacific coast highway road trip it was an awesome one thank you so much for following along with us let us know what your favorite part was in the comments section and we will see you on the next road trip [Music] you

Channel: California Through My Lens

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Length: 114min 37sec (6877 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 04 2022