Pacific Coast Highway: Palo Alto to San Luis Obispo

Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31, 1999

With Mike Vermeulen.

Friday, May 28

From my place in Palo Alto to Mike's place in San Jose, 18 miles in the evening.

Saturday, May 29

San Jose to Monterey, 74 miles.

Departure from San Jose, 5:45am.

Arrival at Seaside, which I was impressed has both a Border's bookstore (barely visible at the bottom left of the flags) and its web address posted (on the blue sign below "City of Seaside".

 

Sunday, May 30

Monterey to San Simeon, 100 miles.

The start of the incredible scenery. The pictures here are just a small sample, and aren't even close to giving the feel of being there.

Breakfast in Big Sur before the first of the big climbs.

Lucia, the smallest town I've ever seen.

An extremely expensive lunch in Gorda.

To give an idea of the scale, Mike is just barely visible as a dot in the middle of the picture. This is the start of the last of the big climbs.

At last the county border.

Ragged Point.

Highway 1 straightens out.

Monday, May 31

San Simeon to San Luis Obispo, 45 miles.

Morro Rock.

Breakfast in Morro Bay. My favorite of all the restaurants we ate at, although they don't take credit cards.

The distinctive hills surrounding San Luis Obispo.

The engineering building at Cal Poly. The campus was deserted on Memorial Day, but several people, presumedly grad students, could be seen through the windows here.

The Amtrak station.

Our train home.

San Luis Obispo to San Jose via Amtrak. A wonderful ride, highly recommended.

San Jose to Palo Alto at night along El Camino Real, 19 miles.

Total distance: 256 miles.