Highway 1

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Maybe the most scenic highway in the US is Highway 1 along the west coast from the border to Mexico to the one in the north going to Canada. Although there are other and faster highways going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, we chose this one. The first stop was San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and especially its mission. It's a very beautiful small town and the little park in front of the mission is a great place for a picnic. The missions little museum is cute, but not so interesting.

By the way: A short time after our return we saw the movie "Murder by Numbers", staring Sandra Bullock. Some scenes of that movie were filmed in this town, you'll recognize the park in front of the mission.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

Further north of the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa the route starts getting more winding. There is also less traffic, but it's still quite dangerous driving here, especially for cyclists. All along the way you can see exciting beaches populated by surfers. And there are sea lions and some others of their kind.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is the area around Big Sur, a village that actually does not really exist. There are some very expensive lodges (where you may meet well-known actors some times, but we didn't) and a few campgrounds. It's a very beautiful coastal area you'll never forget - given there is no fog when you're there. When we arrived fog came up and it was quite cold, too. But it was the fact that this was Nicole's birthday that we finally stayed in a lodge, much more comfortable than our tent would have been under the Reedwood trees next to a romantic river...