California 2026 - Part 2 - Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, San Simeon In late May we visited Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in California and then drove across the state to viste the Monterey area including Carmel and Big Sur: Part 1 - Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks General Sherman Tree Trail Moro Rock, Crescent Meadows, Tunnel Log, and Kings Canyon Yosemite Valley Taft Point and Glacier Point Closer Look at Bridal Veil Falls and El Capitan Tioga Road and Mist Trail to Vernal Falls The Ahwahnee Hotel   Part 2 - Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and San Simeon Cannery Row and the Monterey Aquarium Carmel including Point Lobos State Park Big Sur Drive Down Hearst Castle at San Simeon Big Sur Return Drive including Bixby Bridge Seventeen Mile Drive and Pebble Beach Golf Course Pacific Grove   After leaving Yosemite National Park, we drove across the state through Fesno to Monterey where we stayed in the heart of old Cannery Row as made famous by the John Steinbeck novel. The next morning we went to the famous Monterey Aquarium and then walked through other areas of Cannery Row including the old Fisherman's Wharf. Mackerel school... Puffins... Display of cases of Mackerel and Sardine cans which, of course, were canned in Cannery Row for many decades... The next day we drove down to Carmel by the Sea including Point Lobos State Natural Reserve...       Point Lobos State Natural Reserve...                             On Day three, we drove from Monterey down through the Big Sur, a sparsely populated and rugged coastal stretch along the Pacific Ocean and bordered by the Santa Lucia Mountains. We stopped and had lunch at the Ragged Point rest stop and enjoyed live music before continuing on to Hearst Castle in San Simeon.                   The famous Bixby Bridge, we would stop and get better pictures on the way back around sunset...         Overlook at Ragged Point rest stop...                         The most I ever paid for gas in the United States...     We continued driving south on Highway 1 until we reached San Simeon, the setting for the incredible Hearst Castle built by William Randolph Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan. The castle was built between 1919 and 1947. It features art from all over the world including European antiquities.                                         On the way back to Monterey we stopped at Elephant Seal Vista Point where there were hundreds of seals. Further on down the road, we stopped at the famous arched concrete Bixby Bridge. The famous Bixby Bridge built in 1932. It spans 714 feet and is 280 feet above Bixby Creek and was the highest single span bridge in the world at the time. The bridge has been featured in various movies such as Play Misty for Me, The Sandpiper, Escape to Witch Mountain, Top Gun Maverick and the televesion series Big Little Lies. The Crown & Anchor resturant in Monterey, a British nautically themed resturant and bar... On this day, we drove the "17 mile drive", a sencic road winding through the Monterey coastline near Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach. We also stopped for a bite to eat a The Lodge on the famed Pebble Beach golf course.                                             "The Lone Cypress" - the logo of Pebble Beach...                                                         On our last day Monterey we explored the Pacific Grove neighborthood and beaches...                                                       Click Here to return to Part 1 of California including Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks