Tourist First: California: Vaccinated and on the Road Again

Jane amid the redwoods at Glen Oaks in Big Sur.

There's a term used in Japan for getting out and immersing oneself in nature: shinrin-yoku, which translates as "forest bathing." There's probably no better place for that than Big Sur, our favorite stop on a 12-day road trip from our home in San Diego north to Healdsburg in Sonoma County and back. Much of the trip, which coincided with California's easing of Covid-19 mask guidelines, was on U.S. 101 and California 1 along the coast. Jane and I were fully vaccinated and eager to travel again, although not quite ready to fly. We originally had thought of driving as far north as Portland, Oregon, or even Seattle, but searching for places to stay en route revealed a shortage of available rooms and high prices for those that were available. So we scaled back.

We probably didn't choose the best time for this trip. With many businesses fully reopening after months of pandemic-related restrictions, hotels and restaurants were not fully staffed nor able to offer pre-pandemic levels of service. We did see people still wearing masks. California's guidance at the time was that unvaccinated people should still wear masks in shared indoor spaces and outdoors where social distancing wasn't possible. With only about two-thirds of the state's 12-and-older population vaccinated, I imagine that a lot of unvaccinated people who might be anti-mask anyway are going bare-faced.

With almost everyone suddenly eager to go out again without a mask, most places we went were crowded. Going in June meant dealing with what coastal Californians know as "June gloom," overcast mornings if not entire days, thick fog and chilly sea breezes, which may be why traffic was bearable at Big Sur. We had little bright sun the entire trip, outdoor dining was under propane or electric heaters, and sweatshirts and jackets were needed. (This was while the Pacific Northwest was baking under a "heat dome.")

Another post focuses on California Route 1 between Morro Bay and Monterey.

We left San Diego on June 16, a Wednesday, for the relatively short drive to Santa Barbara. We tried to limit our time in the car each day to less than five hours, and we were in Santa Barbara in time for lunch. We stayed at the Harbor House Inn, a cozy motor lodge a couple of blocks from the beach. From it we could easily walk out to Stern's Wharf, which is home to several restaurants and shops, and walk to the "Funk Zone," a former warehouse district converted into what I would call a drinking district. It's a good place to taste Santa Barbara wines, which we did. Dinner was on State Street at Santo Mezcal, which offered outdoor tables. Like most restaurants we encountered, Santo Mezcal was first-come, first-served, and no reservations. And menus were accessed via our telephones using QR codes, sort of a nuisance but more sanitary and environmentally friendly than paper menus.

The next day took us north along the coast to Morro Bay (best bumper sticker of trip: "Here Today, Gone to Morro"), a small town famous for a big rock. "The Gibraltar of the Pacific" towers over the entrance to a large bay boasting sea otters and sea lions. We stayed at the Anderson Inn, and one of the better meals of our trip was at its Galley Seafood Grill and Bar. We found good food also at Stax, a wine bar and small-plates place where we had lunch and dinner on a Friday. Morro Bay has loads of paddle-boarders and kayakers who are cautioned to avoid getting close to sea lions and sea otters lest those creature become too tame. As it is, ground squirrels around the shore practically tug on your shoelaces begging for food. Morro Bay, dominated by the rock and by the three towering smokestacks of a shuttered power plant, is basically a waterfront strip of restaurants, shops and motels, but still a lot of fun. We'd readily go back.

After two nights in Morro Bay, we headed farther north through Big Sur (where we stopped on the way home) for one night in Monterey, mainly to visit its famous aquarium. The Monterey Bay Aquarium lived up to its reputation -- we saw more sea otters, live jellyfish, live squid, live octopi and other sea creatures beyond counting. We stayed at the Spindrift Inn, which is on Cannery Row steps from the aquarium, and between the somewhat shopworn hotel and the Bubba Gump ambience of Cannery Row, we did not get a good impression of the city. One place we would recommend is Pierce Ranch Vineyards tasting room. Nice wine and nice people. We also had our first indoor restaurant dinner in 16 months or so, at Namaste Indian Bistro. And First Awakenings gave us a fine lunch. All of these are a short walk from Cannery Row.

After a morning at the aquarium, we left that Sunday, June 20, for the rather long drive to Healdsburg. We set our GPS to avoid tolls, so we ended up driving through western San Francisco, up its congested 19th Street and over the Golden Gate Bridge, all this to avoid a northbound-only bridge toll on a route that might have been a bit faster. After the bridge we were in the rolling hills of Marin County, then through Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma County, and finally in Healdsburg, which we visited a couple of decades ago on a wine vacation when we were living in New York. We stayed this time at the Harmon Guest House, a stylish hotel just off the town square. Two nights here meant two dinners, one at Willy's Seafood and Raw Bar (excellent crab cakes) and one at Bravas, a tapas bar where we had paella. We walked a couple of miles north of the square to Simi Winery, which offers tastings of small-batch wines. We also did a tasting at Stephen & Walker, which has a tasting room near the Harmon. This being our second tasting of the day, we were easy prey for the salesman/server and we left with a couple pricey bottles of petite syrah. (Jane and I have a rule about not buying art after drinking -- the reason for the rule is now used as a doorstop -- but we have no such rule about wine.) I'm sure we'll enjoy those bottles.

We then headed for Big Sur, this time going around the east side of San Francisco Bay, back through Monterey and retracing our steps down scenic California 1 and past Pebble Beach and Carmel-by-the-Sea. Most of the drive is within view of the ocean; the road is often a narrow ribbon between a shear drop on the west side and totally vertical rock walls on the east, with plenty of places to pull over and take selfies. The terrain is coastal desert (few trees, lots of rocks and scraggly chapparal) north and south of the unincorporated village of Big Sur, so the change is especially dramatic when at Big Sur you find yourself amid miles of towering redwood trees, babbling creeks and lush vegetation. We stayed three nights at Glen Oaks, which straddles California 1, the only road to, from and through Big Sur. The east side, where we stayed is mostly a refurbished motor lodge. The west side has a restaurant, several individual cabins (which were fully booked) and a trail though its own private redwood grove, an ideal place for shinrin-yoku. We did several hikes, saw the iconic McWay Waterfall, which at highest tides falls directly into the Pacific, and had a couple of very good dinners -- one at Nepenthe, which is housed in a Frank Lloyd Wright-type building with incredible ocean and mountain views, and one at the Big Sur Bakery, which has no views but does a great job with arctic char. Both have good wine lists. If you don't finish your bottle at dinner, California law allows you to put the cork back in and take the remaining wine with you. That means no pressure to finish a bottle before driving away, as well as a nice nightcap when you get home. Each night we finished our wine at a shared firepit at Glen Oaks, which, by the way, supplies all the makings for s'mores if you're still hungry.

From Big Sur, it was south on California 1 and U.S. 101 to Solvang, a rather bizarre Danish-themed wine town. We stayed at the sprawling Hotel Corque, which was convenient for exploring the few blocks that make up Solvang. Gift shops, fudge shops, tasting rooms, hotels and restaurants are all in half-timbered buildings that mimic traditional Danish architecture. We enjoyed a pleasant-enough wine tasting at Sanger, which has different labels for its French- and its Italian-inspired wines. We had a more-than-pleasant dinner at First & Oak, highlighted by an uncommonly good orange wine (a white wine fermented on the skins).

Back on the road the next morning, we headed south, back to the coast, down the length of Malibu and slid easily into Santa Monica, where we stayed at the Huntley a few blocks from the Santa Monica Pier and less than a block off Wilshire Boulevard. I'd recommend the Huntley only for its location. We walked along the beach the three miles though tony Santa Monica and seedy Venice Beach to the Venice canals, which were about as serene as I remember them from a visit decades ago. After the walk back, we ended up having a small-plates dinner at the Fig at Fairmont Miramar, across the street from the Huntley.

The next morning, Sunday, June 27, we found traffic mostly moving well as we drove through Los Angeles and on home to San Diego, the route entirely on interstate highways. We hope some day to return to Morro Bay and Big Sur.

Here are some photos:

What appears to be a sailing class for children, as seen
from Stern's Wharf in Santa Barbara.

The harbor in Santa Barbara, a cozy city of about 90,000.

Morro Rock, 576 feet tall, slips into fog at Morro Bay.

Rock stacking seems to be big thing along California's
Central coast. These are on the beach by Morro Rock, but
we saw similar scenes in Big Sur and Point Lobos.

Early morning view from our balcony at the Anderson Inn.

A sea otter in Morro Bay. Photographed from the shore. I didn't take a phone or
camera with me when we kayaked and got within a few meters of these animals.

Wine tasting at Pierce Ranch Vineyard's tasting room on Wave Street, a short walk from Cannery Row in Monterey. Their grapes are from southeastern Monterey County.

Cannery Row ends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

A kelp forest at the aquarium teems with fish of all sorts.

Living sea nettle appear surreal as they pulsate and move around a huge tank.

Outdoor spaces connect the aquarium with the Pacific Ocean.
Squid appear translucent as they propel themselves around their tank.

Since octopi are nocturnal, their area in the aquarium is quite dark.

A bridge connects the Harmon in Healdsburg with a lounging deck in the woods behind it.

An outdoor mural in Healdsburg, a wine town in the heart of Sonoma County.

The town square in Healdsburg is surrounded by chic shop and tasting rooms.

Signs like this remind visitors that Big Sur can be a dangerous place.

Rocks keep the biggest waves from reaching Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur.

The view from one of many overlooks along the coast at Big Sur.

In most of the country, the Big Sur River would be called a creek.

A cliche shot, but I couldn't resist. Besides, it's impossible to photograph an entire redwood except at a great distance.

Another redwood, this one in the private grove belonging to Glen Oaks, the inn where we stayed.

The wine village of Solvang was developed in the early 1900s with a Danish architectural theme.
Our last stop before driving home to San Diego was in Santa Monica,
which is just south of Malibu, north of Venice Beach and west of downtown Los Angeles.

The canals just east of the beach in Venice are lined with single-family and multi-family homes. Public sidewalks on both sides of all the canals allow visitors to see this unusual community. Many homes have little docks across the sidewalks from their front doors. The flag? We were there during Pride month.