<– Day 25 – Apr. 13th: Port Why-Knee-Me | OVERVIEW | Day 27 – Apr. 15th: Strolling Monterey –>

Henry is looking toward the coast on our way from Paso Robles to Highway 1.

Today’s goal was to drive Highway 1 north to Monterey, California.

Today we drove from Arroyo Grande – Pismo Beach area to Monterey.

We started off this morning with a quick visit to Pismo Beach to say we’d been there and done that. One thing we didn’t do was give into the temptation for some pastries from Old West Cinnamon Rolls, though my mouth sure watered as we passed their store front.

Pismo Beach pier.

After a short walk on the Pismo Beach pier, we drove north to Paso Robles to visit the highly recommended Pioneer Museum. When we arrived, I discovered that I hadn’t read the fine print; it was only opened Thursday through Sunday.  Still, there were a few exhibits outside, so we entertained ourselves for a little while.

The front of the Pioneer Museum. Me wondering how I missed the fact that the museum is only opened from Thursday-Sunday

Ann took the news of the museum’s closure pretty well. I only stayed in jail for a little while.

I got a little worried when she found this witch’s pot and began uttering the words “Double Double Toil and Trouble“.

If you travel anywhere along the coast you are likely to run across signs with bells for El Camino Real, one of the early roads through California. Bells were added along the route at the turn of the 19th century.

We left the museum about noon, so I YELPed for a place to eat. Tortilla Town showed promise, so we dropped by for some food.

I was most interested in trying their gorditas, which is a masa-like pita filled with a choice of meat and fixings. The only option for gorditas on the menu was to order a set of three, which I filled with pork and beef. The first gordita filled me up, yet it was so good I couldn’t stop until I finished all three.

These gorditas were delicious.

Ann had the tacos, which were also very good.

While delicious, the gorditas proved to be my downfall. By the time we left Paso Robles and returned to the coast, I was feeling pretty sleepy. I guess all the travel coupled with a full belly finally caught up to me. I turned over driving to Ann and we wound our way up the coast taking photos and me trying to nap. But, truthfully, I couldn’t wait to reach our motel.

Along the coast south of the Big Sur area is famous Hearst Castle. The cost of a tour is $25 and we considered going, but decided that since we’d both seen it, that we’d save it for a later visit. If you’ve never been, it is a pretty amazing place. Here’s a photo of it we took from Highway 1:

Despite my sleepiness, we stopped multiple times to take photos of the postcard-perfect coast:

The squirrels sure like the coast.

Beautiful view (not of us, but of the coast).

Lots of cliff areas in the Big Sur area.

More water and views . . .

A few hours later, we made it to the city of Monterey. We check into our motel and I immediately hit the bed for a long nap 🙂

On Tuesday we had planned to visit the Monterey Aquarium. However, when we learned it costs $40 a person, we scratched that plan. Even the active military discount was $37! So, we’ll tour the wharf and some of the beaches.

<– Day 25 – Apr. 13th: Port Why-Knee-Me | OVERVIEW | Day 27 – Apr. 15th: Strolling Monterey –>