Day 6 – Big Sur

The café at the Madonna Inn was swamped with guests this morning. It’s Saturday, so I shouldn’t be too surprised. Hard pass. It looked like a clustercuss, and we didn’t want to waste time waiting for a table. Instead, we drove to a funky coffee shop for to-go coffees and muffins.

Quick round of Joust while waiting for coffee

I’m sorry that we never got the full Madonna Inn experience, though. As I understand, the Madonna restaurants – and especially the old-school steak house – are dripping in kitsch, festooned floor to ceiling with flowers and froth. It would have been fun see, but we will have to wait for another time.

The 101 freeway and Highway 1 converge through San Luis Obispo. But 20 minutes outside of town, the PCH splits off again, and heads back out to the coast. If yesterday’s drive was uninspiring, with nothing but inland views, today’s drive along the famed Big Sur stretch more than made up for that, with gobsmacking coastal vistas – soaring cliffs shrugging off the morning mists and sparkling ocean frosted with foamy waves -- all day long. Every turn opened into a “pinch-me-now” panorama. This is the part of the road trip I have been dreaming about.

 

We made too many stops to count – at Moonstone Beach, in Cambria, where wet-suited dudes gathered for a morning surf sesh. At a San Simeon beach, where enormous elephant seals were piled on each other like puppies. At Bixby Creek Bridge, one of the most photographed spans in California. And at random overlooks, where we just felt compelled to pull over, get out of the car and soak it all in.

 

The 140-mile drive was supposed to take about three and a half hours. But with all the stops and starts, we were in the car most of the day. 

Moonstone Beach, Cambria

Elephant seal viewing

At some point on the drive, Keith suddenly remembered that he left his glasses and his iPad on the stone floor of the Madonna Inn’s Rock Bottom room. He had run out of clean underwear and ducked out early this morning to wash a load at a nearby laundromat. The chore took longer than he had planned, and the rest of us were packed up and waiting to check out when he rushed back to the hotel room, threw his clean clothes in his duffel and declared that he was ready to go. He was so flustered that he forgot to check for his things next to the bed. When he remembered this later today, he called the Madonna Inn and found out that, yes, they did find his iPad and his glasses – and also his vape pens? Which were also right there under the bed. So that’s great, right? He’ll have those things sent to Steve and Hélène in Berkeley, and they can hand them over to him before we head home next week.   

 

Outside of Carmel-by-the-Sea we turned onto the famous 17-Mile Drive and drove the entire loop, stopping for a photo-op at the famous Lone Cypress Tree and to check out the visitors center at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

 

Honestly, the 17-mile Drive was probably the least impressive part of the day. The nearby homes, built on prime real estate to make the most of awe-inspiring views, were weirdly dated – a contrived mix of faux French chateau, Spanish hacienda and cringy 1980s contemporary straight out of Miami Vice. It was hard to enjoy the natural beauty of the place when, no matter which way we looked, the landscape was pocked with fugly McMansions. The buses belching out loads of tourists added to the ambiance. 

Lone Cypress Tree. Is he alone? He has throngs of tourists gawking at him all day, and lots of local residents looking on from the tiny windows in their bloated homes.

In the late afternoon, we checked in at Asilomar Hotel and Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, on the northwest side of the Monterey Peninsula. Built on 107 acres abutting a mile-long strip of beach, the hotel, which actually comprises at least 30 small cabins, lodges and meeting halls, got its start in 1913 as a YWCA leadership retreat. Noted California architect Julia Morgan designed and constructed 16 buildings in low-slung, cedar-shingled, Arts and Crafts style; 11 of them are still standing. Set amidst the fog-wrapped dunes and stately Monterey pines, the rustic dwellings look as if they took root there hundreds of years ago.

The reception hall.

 

The property is now a state park lodge. So, I wasn’t expecting plush accommodations. In fact, I chose this hotel because, compared to nearby options, Asilomar’s rates were astoundingly low. Traveling with my entire family is lovely and fun, and it makes me feel whole; I wouldn’t have it any other way. But traveling with five people is also a budget-buster when you have to book two rooms, especially along the California coast. 

 

Not only did I find a low rate, but I also was able to book a single room -- with one double bed and three twin beds (and a fireplace!) -- and I congratulated myself on the savings while trying to convince myself that it would be nothing but quaint and cozy. I pictured a grand lodge room with a wide stone hearth and beds tucked in each corner, with acres of space between them. When I warned the kids about the rooming situation, I told them that if they wanted privacy, they could just walk out onto the beach.

 

But the room is in one of the newer buildings – and by newer, I mean, 1970s? – so it doesn’t have the historic charm of some of the original lodges. It does have a big stain on the carpet. And it’s pretty much the size of a standard hotel room, but with four beds and a miniscule, unremarkable fireplace. There are large sliding glass doors and a small patio, but no ocean view.

 

I took one look at it, and processed the reality of the situation. Then Keith and I turned around, went right back to the front desk and booked separate lodging for ourselves, on the other side of the hotel grounds. Our charming room, in one of the original buildings, has wood floors, wood-paneled ceiling and walls, and two twin beds. And from our second-floor windows, we can make out the Pacific churning behind the dunes. 

Our building

I asked Clare to take a picture of their accommodations, and she said, “Why would I? It’s a dorm room.” That is essentially the vibe here. It feels like a campus, and the no-frills buildings feel like dormitories. That’s okay, though. This place is so stunning in its simplicity, and in its connection to nature. We have all that we need.

We've spotted several deer wandering around the grounds. Natalie saw a raccoon. And we even saw a coyote!

We had dinner in Pacific Grove, at the Red House Café, which takes up an historic Victorian mansion on the main street. While the food was mostly fine (although Keith said he couldn’t stomach the clam chowder), the atmosphere was uncomfortable and the service was odd. We were wedged in a small back room with only one other table and three extraordinarily fussy old women, and we couldn’t help but overhear their clucks and complaints. And the server was somehow way too eager to please, and yet not able to connect with anyone at all.

 

My brother, Steve, and his wife, Hélène, who live two hours away in Berkeley, have checked in at Asilomar tonight, too! They had planned to arrive in time for dinner, but had issues with their Prius en route and were forced to make an unplanned stop at a Toyota dealership, where a mechanic advised them not to take it all the way to Monterey. So they returned home, picked up a Zip car, and started out all over again. What a hassle! They will be staying here with us for two nights, and we will all go hiking tomorrow at Pinnacles National Park. I am so glad and grateful that they are able to spend some time with us, and that they weren’t deterred by car trouble.

 

Steve and Hélène have a historic room, as well, one floor below ours. There are no indoor common spaces open in our building (maybe due to Covid restrictions), so Natalie, Keith and I went to Steve and Hélène’s room to sit on their beds and share a couple bottles of wine. (Which is what you do in a dorm, right?) Each room is stocked with only two plastic cups. Keith and I brought ours, and Steve and Hélène used theirs; Natalie was cupless, so we dared her to go outside, mingle with the large group gathering on the patio outside of our building, and ask to use one of their cups. 

 

And whaddya know? Our plucky daughter did just that. She reported back that it’s a group of graduate students on a department retreat, and that they invited her back if she’d like to hang out. (She said she doesn't want to crash their party, though.)

 

 Tomorrow we’ll head to Pinnacles, about an hour inland. It’s supposed to be extremely hot, so we’ll head out early and try to beat the heat.

 

Good night!