Ah, the central California coast.  This could easily turn into a pages long post, but again, I’m going to simply do an overview.  There’s a lot of ground to cover between Los Angeles and San Francisco but we’re going to hover along the coastline because the middle of California is mostly agriculture and farmland.  Now if that’s your jam, let me know and we can talk and come up with a true central California adventure.

Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo

Starting South and working North, once outside of Los Angeles County what calls the attention of most is Santa Barbara.  Next in a small cluster is Santa Maria, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo.  Keep in mind that along this route, aka the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), you’ll find another wine grape growing area.  For you wine sipping folks, definitely take your time to check out this part of the state.  There’s more to California wine than Napa and Sonoma.  I’ll talk about some really nice black owned wineries that you’ll find in this area in an upcoming blog post.

Pismo Beach

A note for the naturalists…Pismo Beach is where you’ll find monarch butterflies when they’re doing their migration in February.  Climate change in its role as villain, is doing a number on the butterfly population so if you can and your timing is good, definitely make the effort to check the Pismo Beach Butterfly Grove.

San Simeon and Hearst Castle

Another pit stop along the drive up to the Bay Area is Cambria/San Simeon and Hearst Castle.  It’s off the beaten path, but the drive to get there is beautiful and it’s an opportunity to see how the other side lives.

Big Sur to Monterey

Keep going up PCH and you’ll hit Big Sur, then Carmel and Monterey.  Along this drive it’s all about looking out the window and making random stops whenever you want to get out, walk around and take in the beauty.  You’re going to get awesome pictures and see some views you might recognize as popular spots for that classic California scene.

Santa Cruz

Once you hit Santa Cruz, you’re basically knocking on the Bay Area’s front door. Once you get out of the Santa Cruz mountains you’ll be in the Bay Area.  I would be leaving a significant point out here if I didn’t mention the California Missions.  Picture me taking a deep sigh as I type this because I have “issues” with the whole notion of what the Jesuits were trying to do with their mission building, but it’s part of California history, so I’ll eventually go into it in future posts.  Just know that I have a personal bias that’s going to cloud what I write no matter how many edits I do, so please forgive or just skip all together.

This concludes the really quick flyover of the central California coast route.  Needless to say, there’s a lot more to come, so stay tuned!

May the road rise to meet you and the wind be at your back,

Jae