Big Sur: A Night in Carmel and The Drive of our Lives

Carmel:

After staying in the wilds of Yosemite NP , this was the perfect place to ease us back in to urban society. Carmel-by-the-sea is possibly the cutest town you will cruise into en-route to Big Sur. It’s one square mile of pure charm. Clint Eastwood himself was once Mayor of this colourful haven for dog lovers that has a uniquely pristine franchise free high street.

We stayed in the beautiful  Green Lantern Inn, where each room has a view of the garden and homemade waffles are on the menu for breakfast.

We chose to stay in the ‘Holly’ room which was one of the cheapest options they had to offer. A narrow staircase leads up to the bedroom where you can throw back the shutters and look out over the Pacific Ocean. The only downside is the bathroom in this room is at the bottom of the stairs so any midnight toilet dashes are a lil more effort! The Inn offers safe off-road parking and is a short stroll away from the beach and main drag. We can’t recommend this place enough!

We wandered up the main street and pottered around the designer doggy shops, grabbed some beers in a quaint rooftop bar and talked football vs baseball with some of the locals. Carmel is such a friendly town where there is a nice mix of holidaymakers and residents who love to mingle! You may be forced to explain that where you live is not right next to or in London and prepare your hand for really enthusiastic high fives!

When it came to food there is only one place we wanted to eat, the Hog’s Breath Inn. Usually we have a good 30min debate of what and where to eat but if ‘Dirty Harry’ himself used to own it and still recommends the ribs, we decided we were both feeling lucky! The courtyard restaurant has chilled out vibes and serves up solid American food. The prices are really reasonable and the baby back’s did not disappoint!

 

17 Mile Drive:

We decided to make the most of the Stang and take a short detour around 17 Mile drive. With the top down and ‘Beach Boys’ blaring we drove along the Pacific coast. This route takes you through the world-famous Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove. We stopped at numerous vantage points along the way to look out for dolphins and whales and took a quick 10mins to marvel at the Del Monte Forrest views. Along this road you can find the ‘The Lone Cypress’ which is renowned for being a symbol of California.

You could easily spend an entire day exploring the area surrounding this drive and stopping at every point of interest to read the information boards. Unfortunately we only had a couple of hours to spare to complete the route that to this day is exactly 17 miles.

Big Sur:

The wind was in my my weave and Gaz’s foot was on the gas as we covered 85 miles of rugged coastline with the tunes cranked. There are no traffic lights, no junctions and no roundabouts, just a cliff face to the left and the coastline to the right. There was no need for conversation, no place for stress and every reason to get dry mounth from smiling. There is no better feeling than driving along in the sunshine and taking in every square inch of a picture perfect view. Big Sur is deffo a state of mind.

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We completed our drive down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara in around 6 hours. We stopped along the way in a few of the lay-bys to stretch our legs, admire the stunning scenery and soak up the Cali coast vibes. We toyed with the idea of stopping over somewhere along the way but enjoyed the open road so just kept going!

You are limited along the coast road when it comes to food, we just did a double whammy and stopped at the gas station to fill up and grab an all american hotdog. Even the gas station had incredible views of the ocean and an outside area to enjoy it in the gorgeous weather. If you have ever thought that you quite fancy this roadtrip, don’t think just do! Get yourself a mustang convertible, a summertime soundtrack and hit the Pacific Coast Road.

Thanks for the memories Big Sur,

Burge & Gaz xx