Driving south on Highway 1 from San Francisco to Monterey

After grabbing the rental car from near our hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf, we again ate breakfast (açaí bowls and breakfast sandwiches) from Café de Casa and hit the road pretty early. The highlight of the day arrived right away, when we decided to pull over at Pacifica, just south of the city, because of the massive waves breaking down below Highway 1.

We followed other cars down a street that was closed due to flooding but got through and ended up in a perfect spot where we pulled over out of harm’s way. Then we walked a half block over to the water. I had never seen such big waves before, not even in Brazil. They were breaking higher than the top of a nearby pier. And they were crashing against the wall in front of us and even occasionally blasting water all the way across the street onto the houses unlucky enough to be situated there. We later started to get emergency warnings on our phones advising people to stay away from coastal areas.

We actually were lucky enough to speak with some San Francisco locals a couple of days before at breakfast who advised us that we may not be able to get through Highway 1 about half the way between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in Big Sur, because of an eroded part of the road in one small stretch. That means our California coastal dream vacation takes a little bit of a hit since we will have to take a bigger stretch inland on the 101 than we had planned.

Anyway, the waves continued to be pretty huge all the way down to our next stop, which was a beautiful short hike along the beach at Half Moon Bay. The flowers and steep overlooks down to the beach in this spot make it a definite must-see of the California coast. We had also hoped to stop a little further down at Ano Nuevos State Park to see the seals, but it was high season and, without tickets to those tours, it wasn’t worth the simple non-tour hike.

We opted to keep going and ended up getting to meet our cousins from Potomac, Maryland in Santa Cruz. They were on their way back from Monterey to San Francisco where their immediate family is, and so it was a perfect collision for lunch near the boardwalk and pier. The beaches there looked a little like they had been through the wringer overnight, with kelp and seaweed everywhere, and the remnants of an angry sea at high tide pocking the landscape. Somewhat lucky for the parents, the amusement park rides were closed because of the high and dangerous tides, so we just hung out on the beach a bit then ate a lunch (clam chowder in a bread bowl) at the Ideal Bar and Grill on the waterfront.

Next we hightailed it down the coast, stopping only once, at a farm stand in artichoke country, to the Monterey Bay Lodge, a funky little motel chosen mainly for its proximity to a nice skatepark for my son. We took in our luggage then went to meet a friend of my brother’s who lives nearby and who offered to hand off free passes to the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, located along John Steinbeck’s equally storied Cannery Row. We had about an hour to race through the building, which ended up being ideal because the crowds had thinned out right before closing time. The jellyfish and tuna were definite highlights.

By the time we finished with the aquarium, we were out of steam and opted to skip dining out and instead picked up some understated but excellent sushi from Ocean Sushi Deli and some much-needed food from Trader Joe’s, which appears to be cheaper in California than back home - which is saying a lot for California, where we’re no doubt spending a fortune, especially on food. Then, despite thinking our motel might be a little bit of a dump, Zoey and I headed to the pool and had a great time playing football catch, the crusher game, and getting pruned in the hot tub and warmed outdoor pool, both of which were saltwater. The other folks in the pool area we talked to agreed that this place is a little bit of a gem and definitely does the pool more right than a lot of the big boys like Marriott and Hilton sometimes do.

Hopefully it will be a good night’s sleep because tomorrow might be the most action-packed day we’ll have on this trip.