A Day on Route 1

After my rant about BB 61 USS Iowa and San Francisco, it seemed like a great idea to get out of Dodge for a bit. So, we picked up Grandma Christine, age almost 90, and Anita and I headed out on Route 1. We headed south from Carmel to Big Sur and on to Lucia and Gorda. As always, it was glorious.

We have given Christine the title of: Saint Christine the Fog Slayer. She did not let us down. The fog was thick as we descended Carmel Valley Road before turning south on Route 1. But we had not gone five miles before we were in gleaming sunshine.

We stopped just south of Big Sur at the Julia Pfeiffer State Park, always one of my favorite places. Anita had never seen the waterfall there. It was one of the few times I got to show her something.

From there we headed south and had lunch at The Lucia Lodge restaurant, the only restaurant for that matter... in fact the only buildings, in the metropolis of Lucia, perched on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. If you put aside the cost of the $15 hamburger, it was nice. (Ah heck, I guess they are entitled to charge something for the view.)

We drove on. The highway through this area is for the most part carved out of the cliff faces anywhere from 500 to a thousand feet over the ocean. Evidence of winter rock slides is everywhere. It's exciting and scenic.

We arrived in Gorda, home of the most expensive gasoline in the United States I am told. Fortunately, we were not in need of any of that product. It is a popular whale watching location.

Christine by this time was getting pretty tired of our road trip. We had to remind her this was a "No Whining Zone." She did pretty well all things considered.

The we turned around and headed back north. At Big Creek, south of Big Sur, there is a huge double arched bridge. Anita and I stopped to snap some shots. I'll have to forego posting mine as all I was shooting was 35mm today, and that will need to be developed.

Now I'm home, doing laundry and getting ready to face another week of work. The trip helped heal the soul from the damage of the last week of similar effort. I'm ready to go.