RN: California State Route (SR) 1 stretches 656 miles up the coastline of California from Dana Point in Orange County to Leggett in Mendocino County.  On our road trip, we traveled most of it.  We planned on driving it north from Paso Robles, but a landslide just south of Big Sur blocked our way so we drove south down it from Monterey to Big Sur and McWay Falls.  When we departed Monterey, we drove north on SR1 through Santa Cruz to San Francisco.  To get to Corey and Marcia’s we drove north on it from Point Reyes, and, today, when we left Barinaga Ranch, we drove further north on SR1, finally arriving in Eureka.

SR1 is a very scenic, windy road that hugs the coastline in most places and it took us nearly 8 hrs to travel 246 miles, but it was worth it!  If anything, its scenery is even more spectacular north of Point Reyes compared to the famous Big Sur, Central Coast route, and it isn’t mobbed by tourists!

FE: Right on….I love driving on wiggly roads, much satisfied today.

But first we say goodbye to Barinaga Ranch, Marcia, and her grey horse

and a initial view of the spectacular coast line right off SR1. No wonder CALTRANS has to constantly fix the road, there are either rock slides from above or the road simply falls into the pacific. Being stopped at frequent one-lane sections is the only drag of the drive

But the beauty of it all makes up for such annoyance. Here is the mouth of the Russian River

and great joyous wiggly road

We stop at a vista point and Rae finds a sign that points us to a short trail to the edge of the bluffs. Nobody else is around

except for Rae on this endless rocky coast

Well a few starfish also hang out here

and here are the real owners, plenty of seals

Towards the end, a bit more inland we drive through the Avenue of the Giants, large groves of old-growth Redwood trees along our way.