California: 17 Mile Drive

We had a free morning the day after the Big Sur races. The area of Carmel and Monterey has lots to offer so we decided to start the day with one of their breakfast offerings. Yelp! and Urbanspoon guided us to From Scratch Restauarant. This place is in a cute strip mall made to look like a collection of barns complete with fountains, flowers, and lots of stairs. We dined on a great breakfast that included banana walnut pancakes and crab eggs Benedict.

We debated what our next activity should be: walk around downtown Carmel, see the Monterey Aquarium, or do the 17-Mile Drive. We opted for the drive.

Green circle was our start point and we moved northwest

According to Wikipedia: 17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions and scenic attractions, including the Lone Cypress, Bird Rock and the 5,300-acre Del Monte Forest of Monterey Cypress trees. So it's pretty. The price for entry was a reasonable $10 per car.

Things to be prepared for: People driving slow and tour buses. Thankfully we made the trek on a Monday so crowds were light. We enjoyed an extended period of time at the Links of Spanish Bay to take in their boardwalk walking path along the rocky shore and their fine restrooms.

Just a bit further down the road was Point Joe and Bird Rock. Unfortunately Seal Point was blocked off to us because of birthing season.

Following that were points like the Cypress Forest, the Ghost Trees, and the Lone Cypress.

The finale of the route was Pebble Beach Golf Course. We skipped stopping in for a look. We ended the route and decided to try and visit Point Lobos State Reserve. We were interested in seeing the seals that people saw during the 9 Miler race giving birth. In talking with the ranger it seemed like we were too short on time to make this a worthwhile visit. With that, we drove back to Monterey and had a beer at Cannery Row Brewing and some froyo. A good day!