Trip to Santa Cruz, Carmel and Big Sur

I planned for a family weekend trip to few coastal towns in California. My dad was visiting us and before he returned back to India, I thought it was a good idea to tour some nearby places. Plus, it was a welcome relief after all the work of moving to the new home.

As my wife would say, something that I should avoid doing, it was last minute plan. On wednesday, I went about planning for my leave at office and started booking hotels. Hotels near tourist spots often get booked during weekends and I had to pay my price of getting hold of something which was a bit away from tourist spots, but in a beautiful small town called Salinas.

Using wikipedia and google maps, I noted down the following places that will be worth visiting.

  • Pegion Point Light House Pigeon Point Light Station or Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1871 to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the tallest lighthouse (tied with Point Arena Light) on the West Coast of the United States. It is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. Pigeon Point Light Station is located on the coastal highway (State Route 1), 5 miles (8 km) south of Pescadero, California, between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. The 115-foot (35 m), white masonry tower, resembles the typical New England structure.

  • Mystery Spot The Mystery Spot is a tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, California, opened in 1939 by George Prather. Visitors experience demonstrations that appear to defy gravity, on the short but steep uphill walk and inside a wooden building on the site. It is a popular tourist attraction, and gained recognition as a roadside "gravity box" or "tilted house". The site is what is known as a gravity hill and was the first of its kind to be built in California.

  • Santa Cruz Broad Walk The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.

  • Piedras Blancas Light Station [cancelled]

  • Point Sur Light House Point Sur Lighthouse is a lightstation at Point Sur 24.6 miles (39.6 km) south of Monterey, California at the peak of the 361-foot (110 m) rock at the head of the point. It was established in 1889 and is part of Point Sur State Historic Park. The light house is 40 feet (12 m) tall and 270 feet (82 m) above sea level. As of 2016, and for the foreseeable future the light is still in operation as an essential aid to navigation.

  • Monterey Aquarium Monterey Bay Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in October 1984. Its biologists have pioneered the animal husbandry of jellyfish and it was the first to successfully care for and display a great white shark. The organization's research and conservation efforts also focus on sea otters, various birds, and tunas. Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list published by the aquarium beginning in 1999, has influenced the discussion surrounding sustainable seafood. The aquarium was home to Otter 841 prior to her release into the wild as well as Rosa, the oldest living sea otter at the time of her death.

  • Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo (English: The Mission of Saint Charles Borromeo of the Carmel River), first built in 1797, is one of the most authentically restored Catholic mission churches in California. Located at the mouth of Carmel Valley, California, it is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

  • Bixby Creek Bridge Bixby Bridge, also known as Bixby Creek Bridge, on the Big Sur coast of California, is one of the most photographed bridges in California due to its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting". It is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge. The bridge is 120 miles (190 km) south of San Francisco and 13 miles (21 km) south of Carmel in Monterey County on State Route 1.

  • Hearst Castle [cancelled]

  • Mt Madonna Hanuman Temple

We could make it most of them and I had to cancel a few because were very far from the place we stayed.

I have visited Monetery twice earlier, I was enthusiastic to travel to the peninsula again and take Siddhartha to Aquarium second time in row.

Santa Cruz beach has free concerts on Friday evenings and we got a chance to watch the live performance of of Y and T

At Bigsur, we could be on time for a 02:00 pm tour of Point Sur light house. It's trek lasting for 3 hours up to the light house led by a guide, who has a good narrative on light houses in california, living in early 1900s in the light house and current preservation efforts.

Next day, we visited Mission San Carlos at Carmel, which was one of the earliest missions established in California by Junipero Sierra. These monuments provide a window to peek at events back in time. I enjoy watching through it.

On Monday, on our way back to home, we made a trip to Hanuman Temple at Mount Madonna, Watsonville. This is actually a Yoga retreat setup by folks and is guided by an Indian guru by name Baba Ram Doss. The location of this Hindu temple was excellent and at atmosphere was serene.

That was our last spot in the journey. All throughout, we tried different local foods, and sometim food chains as it was easy choice. We planned a little, executed mostly on our plans.

Here are some of our Tour Photos.