[Music]
we
are on our way home from carmel
and if you're not familiar with carmel
it is near monterey
and we didn't know this but there is a
military base
in monterey so while we're in carmel a
lot of people messaged us and was like
hey
i was stationed in monterey i love that
area carmel
anyways that's something we learned
while we were
taking this road trip and we're going to
kind of go over
what the road trip was like from la to
carmel
and we wanted to take the scenic route
so we left
la took the 101 and then went on the pch
or
pacific coast highway and that's where
you can get that beautiful
coastal view all the way up into carmel
yeah uh so yeah there's several routes
you can go
from la to the north but a lot of people
choose to go the pacific coast highway
because it's such a scenic highway
and it's considered you know one of the
world's best scenic views on the coast
so yeah i was like i definitely want to
go and i definitely wanted to check out
big sur
it's been on my bucket list forever so
i was like you know let's just take the
coast i know it's going to take a little
bit longer
but um definitely wanted to do that and
see bixby bridge which is one of the
most
famous stops on that um the coast
highway or one of the famous stops
yeah so total drive time when we googled
it from
la to carmel was about
six hours but it actually took us almost
eight and a half hours
and we're trying to figure out why did
it take us so long um we didn't really
take long stops we took
we stopped a few times for gas and water
um for the dogs we brought our pups with
us
and there was one stop that we took a
little bit extra time because there was
a great view
and uh so yeah we're just gonna kind of
go through the points on where we
stopped but
definitely calculate some more time than
six
hours because i was a little bit
surprised that
and we're not slow drivers i would say
it took eight hours yeah
so when we left la we took the 101
we did hit slight traffic so that kind
of set us back
a little bit once we passed the traffic
it was very smooth
very scenic the directions were very
straightforward
now we will say that unfortunately
california does not have great rest
stops
um so when you see a rest stop you need
to take it
especially when you're taking pch
because they're very limited
and like uh like if you if you happen to
miss a stop like us and then take a
you know a different stop that it's kind
of like
not one that was planned uh you might
end up with a really really
bad bathroom and expensive gas
you don't want that so definitely kind
of calculate where you want to stop to
buy gas or take a restroom break because
that was
something we were going to stop at our
first stop
crystal had figured out which exit but i
was driving and somehow i missed the
stop
so i think it was exit 91 or something
like that it was around exit 91.
um so there was four exits that
had some gas stations and food exits
um so i was like let's stop by one of
these so there was one
stop that had you know two gas stations
i believe
still small towns but at least they were
like normal-sized gas stations
but we passed those so then we ended up
at exit 91
evans road and it was such a tiny town
it was called summerland
oh yeah summerland is my name barbara
yeah yeah it reminds us of japan because
we used to go to this uh water amusement
park in japan called summerland anyway
that's how i remember at summerland
but i'm like oh this is gonna be like
great it's summerland uh
but no ended up being like the worst gas
station
stop ever what worst restroom yeah the
gas station was actually cute it was
really old-school looking
hi our first bathroom break in the
most interesting town yeah
this is the the most interesting gas
station i stopped by
it's so tiny but yeah so it's one of
those bathrooms where you go outside and
it's dirty it's really dim
it's you know both male and female can
use it so you know how that is usually
when the males share the females there's
just pee
everywhere so it's gross yeah so the
first stop was a big fail so after that
we
really made it a point to make sure
we're paying more attention when we make
the next stops
and um the second step what was the
second stop it's not
trying to think was that gonna be ragged
i think it was ragged right
so the next stop ragged point actually
was beautiful and
that is right when you get into the
entrance of big sur
and it's also there's an in there
there's a hotel there
so it's like combined as like this rest
stop with this pin
and big grassy area great for the dogs
[Music]
the property was amazing flowers and
chairs and there's a
very very beautiful viewpoint so we took
a lot of photos there as well
yeah you could actually take a hike down
there too there's a trail that you can
go
down there was plenty of parking when we
went it was a pretty like dreary day
so there weren't a lot of people out and
about and it was kind of chilly so
uh that beautiful location there
actually was places
to eat there um but it was closed by the
time we got there oh the dining was open
there's two kind of places the left side
had a dining restaurant i saw people and
that's fine
right side it's kind of like a takeout
food area yeah that was close
okay yeah cause i remember seeing that
closed because we arrived there
probably like 6 00 pm yeah
would you make sense why there wasn't a
lot of people there
right you will want to take the stop
when you get there because
after that it will be a very long
windy slow ride because then you're in
the mountains
and for the next about almost two hours
a little over two hours we'll be
just going through the mountains uh
although you will see you will pass by
a little cafes there was like one other
gas station
again tiny so it's not going to be 24
hours oh did we
say that the racket point did have a gas
station it was super expensive we didn't
say that okay so yeah there is a gas
station
at ragged point however it is super
super expensive it was like four dollars
or something and we're like uh no we're
not gonna say
it was close to five dollars a gallon
and right now in california it's about
i would say 360 a gallon is the average
right now it is
so yeah it was over a dollar more so
we're like
nope not getting gas here yeah so if you
if you have um gas like
left definitely skip that one and go to
the next one because
you will hit i think two other one
there's one other one
i know there's one for sure there's a
tiny one
yes in the big sur area then after that
um you won't hit another one until like
carmel like a big one
so yeah definitely keep in mind
of that when you're driving so yeah so
we stopped by there
and as candy said after that it's just
all windy roads for about two hours
yeah um we thought it would be less than
that candy actually was like wait is
this gps right
does it still say like like hour and a
half
because we kept on looking at when we
were driving you know the time went past
by super fast but once we got into the
mountains it kind of like slowed down
because we have to go so
slow and on top of that it was getting
dark
and it should have been more a lot more
light at that time
but it was foggy and it was like really
cloudy gloomy weather
so we had to be more careful driving
through these mountains
oh also you will lose reception for sure
is
yeah basically no reception so if you
need directions because that means just
one way but if you
are adamant about having you know
reception you're not going to get it
there
unfortunately there's no reception there
yeah and we wanted to make it to
bixby bridge so busy bridge is about
20 minutes before carmel and i wanted to
get there
by sunset which we did but it was dark
it was dark because it was so
cloudy and foggy i mean i still think
you know we got some great pictures even
in like foggy weather bixby bridge it's
a very scenic stop
look at that look at the views
this is gorgeous guys isn't this
gorgeous
right right isn't that worth it not
worth it
so yeah they have two parking spots one
is the main one
to the left and then there's like
another one to the right like uphill a
little bit so you just have to cross the
street
but for the most part i mean everybody
was parked on that one side
yeah it i mean people take their picture
and leave pretty fast
so it wasn't like it wasn't congested or
anything
not at all which i was so glad because
it's such a tiny area
and just you know one ways and i'm just
like ooh if there's no parking i don't
know
how how are we going to turn around like
it's kind of like tough to turn around
in this area
but yeah they gave me plenty of space
and it was a lot easier than i thought
yeah so overall uh yes
the view was amazing beautiful i wish we
would have left a little bit sooner
um that way we could have enjoyed the
you know the daylight
all the way through the mountains which
we weren't able to do
since we didn't think it was going to
take that long so give yourself
plenty of time um even if it says
uh i don't know if it says three hours
to get there maybe put in an extra hour
or two
on the other hand on the way back it's a
little bit different story
we did not take the scenic route
and we did leave we left at a different
time
and the weather was different it was
sunny and bright we left around
11 when we got to the foot or the start
of big sur
that was so beautiful yeah so yeah we
did take some of the scenic
like yeah not all the way we didn't take
pc we didn't take all of pca yeah
yeah so going back is a little bit
different
because the the part that's the same as
big sur the biggest part is exactly the
same the only difference was the weather
was way better for us
and we had complete we had daylight the
entire way
but once we left the big sur area
we didn't take um all of pch we decided
to
take go inland and when you go inland
there are more rest areas there are more
gas stations
you don't have to be you don't have to
really calculate as much i want to say
yeah you can relax a little bit more on
the drive so
on the way back uh we stopped by more
vista points
and lookouts like i wanted to do it on
the way up but we just had no time
there's no time for us to stop anywhere
except for
six feet bridge because that's dark so
we're like we can't we can't keep
stopping yeah yeah
so i really wanted to make it a bixby
bridge so i was like you know what we'll
just have to skip all this
and make sure we get to bixby bridge
which we did so i was like you know what
on the way back
let's make all those stops that we saw
like oh that's beautiful that's
beautiful
so we did and i think we made about
i don't know three to four stops uh in
the big sur
area so beautiful it's just so gorgeous
you have to make stops there
yeah you'll be missing out if you don't
yeah for sure and like
it was such a perfect day for it too i
mean it's such a stark difference from
when we came in
and leaving because when we came in it
was so dark and gloomy cloudy
and misty and then when we came back it
was all sunny
bright blue skies yeah um they had some
clouds but some cool clouds that made it
even more scenic like over the mountains
and the water color too like there was
like separate like some was like blue
some was aqua blue it was like a big
strip colors in the water
that was really pretty too the waves
crashing against the rocks oh it was
just like it was so dreamy
and then we uh what do we do oh
we saw the elephant seals
is where they're located at and i didn't
even know
they had a point where you can look at
seals here but apparently
seeing elephant seals in its natural
habitat is pretty rare
so it's special to see it in that area
so we definitely do that so we feel
special
yeah if you actually want to see seals
up close
and doing more than lounging definitely
go to la jolla california
yes because that is an amazing spot to
see seals
up close in their natural habitat as
well
so as candy mentioned uh we're not we
didn't totally take the scenic route but
we took some of it because
you have to anyway so we went through
big sur san simeon
and then we made a left into um
i believe it was 47 46 and we ended up
in 46.
so on that road is the highway
we saw this gas station that had this
huge
james dean cardboard um
so we're like let's just stop here for
guys
[Music]
james dean station yeah shell gas
station
i wonder if there's like james dean
stuff you can find there so we looked it
up later it's called blackwell's corner
james dean's last stop
and when i went to the bathroom in there
um and i came out
there's a wall plaster with like all
these like james dean like newspaper
articles and
magazine clippings and i wanted to kind
of get the history of like oh this is
probably why there's a big
um james dean outside but the thing was
not even like
chronological order so i'm like i'm just
reading like different articles and i'm
like you know what
i'm gonna look this up later because the
donkeys are in the car and it's 101
degrees outside
well crystal was there so they're not
like you know dying in the car but
i was like i better get back to the car
so yeah it was a great road trip we
learned some lessons
find some gas stations early
and don't go to evans road or summerland
calculate more time calculate more time
to go to
because the big sur area takes a while
to go through
yes it took us a little over two hours
to get through big sur
oh go look at the elephant seals because
they're rare to see in their national
habitat
yeah but yeah it's a great scenic road
to take
i highly recommend it take some time in
big sur if you can i
unfortunately couldn't leave earlier
than i i wanted to leave earlier
but i couldn't because i was still
working and i didn't get off work until
uh 1 30ish so that's why i had to leave
a little
a little later but yeah if you can leave
early
i definitely would and spend i don't
know like 10 hours on that drive
because there's just so many gorgeous
views gorgeous season you know what
even this drive back inland it's
actually pretty it is
yeah i just enjoy bad drive back inland
i mean of course psage is like way
prettier but
this drive too is not that bad if you're
in a rush yeah i mean it's um i love
the open landscape you can still see
mountains in the background
yeah it's very chill which i like
yeah i know you like that
so yeah um i guess that's about it
that's about it
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