Note: all photos taken by Selena Templeton, unless otherwise noted.
Just because international travel has been restricted doesn’t mean that a person’s burning desire to travel has also been restricted. During this last year, my overseas trip had to be rescheduled postponed canceled. But if you feel the need to go on a geographical excursion, then it doesn’t really matter whether it’s across the globe or across the city.
So this year, with Spain on hold, I embarked on a road trip up the coast from Los Angeles — and discovered the perfect small-town getaway: Pacific Grove, California.
Road Trip Up the PCH
You know that saying “it’s about the journey, not the destination”? One hundred percent true, particularly when taking a road trip up the gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway, aka California State Route 1.
PCH is a 656-mile state highway that starts (or ends) in Dana Point in Orange County and ends (or starts) near Leggett in Mendocino County and runs almost entirely right on the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. It’s a two-lane (one in each direction – at least the portion that I drove) highway that has a lot of curves, so it forces you to take it slow. Well, that and the law.
After forty-five minutes of singing along to my playlist at the top of my lungs, I stop in Malibu for my beverage o’ choice: a Green Tea Latte with extra matcha from Captain Ahab’s first mate.*
The PCH merges with the 101 between Oxnard and Las Cruces (an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County that is known for being at the place where the PCH merges with the 101), and from Las Cruces to Morro Bay (near San Luis Obispo), the highway goes inland.
Now, here is where you really get your money’s worth on the PCH: From Morro Bay all the way to Pacific Grove is 125 miles of sweet scenic sensations (okay, that alliteration was a stretch).
The biggest town you pass through is Cambria (population 6,032) and the most well-known one is Big Sur. (Note: when looking up what Big Sur is known for, all I could find was: a film I’d never heard of, The Sandpiper, a novel by Jack Kerouac, and Apple’s operating system. So much for “most well-known”.)
Anyway, never mind all that, because what I really want to convey is how unbelievably gorgeous and peaceful this drive is. You get constant views of the vast and glistening Pacific Ocean, and every time you think you’ve finally become immune to its beauty, you go around another bend with a slightly different view and exhale loudly and try like hell to keep your eyes on the road.
Sometimes you pass strips of fields between the highway and the ocean where horses and cows are just munching grass like they’re not in danger of falling off the cliff.
That’s on one side of the PCH. On the other side you get mountains, rocky bluffs and forests.
You drive over bridges, like Big Creek Bridge, a 589-foot-long “open spandrel, concrete deck arch bridge” (just a fancy way of saying arches under the bridge) near Lucia…
And through tunnels, like…well, the closest I can get to identifying the place in these next pictures via a Google Image search is that this is in Limekiln State Park, two miles south of Lucia. If you type Lucia, CA into Google Maps it’ll show a similar image, but I can’t actually find the name of this specific tunnel-type protrusion.
This stretch of the PCH goes through the Santa Lucia Mountains, which “forms the steepest coastal slope in the contiguous United States.” Jeez, no pressure or anything.
As I was driving it, there were several places where I thought “phew, one wrong move and I wind up in the drink!”
And as it turns out, not twelve hours after I drove past Rat Creek, a chunk of the PCH fell into the ocean. Where I had just driven!
Because of heavy rainfall, by the way, not a Marvel movie fight scene.
Pacific Grove, CA – The Epitome of Small Seaside Town
Seven hours after hitting the road, I finally drive into Pacific Grove. It’s a small seaside town about two hours south of San Francisco on the peninsula of Monterey Bay. (Can I add any more descriptors to that sentence??)
My first night I stay at the Pacific Grove Inn, a large Victorian house divvied up into a lot of guest rooms in a quiet neighborhood. More specifically, it’s a “Historic Boutique Inn that provides attractive accommodations. Our Sea Captain Frank Laverne Buck and Apothecary Joseph Tuttle establishments were built in 1904 and 1908, respectively. They were remarkably sophisticated for their time and place in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”
Although nobody is hanging out in the common rooms in the lobby (thanks a lot covid), there is a lovely front porch where you can sit and yell at the kids to get off your lawn.
From the inn, it’s a straight, eight-block walk to the water’s edge which takes you past a bunch of local shops and restaurants, such as Motorcycle Museum, Mum’s Place (literally a mom-and-pop shop!), a hardware store and several vintage clothing stores. Also, Pavel's Backerei (which, upon further inspection, is a bakery, not a Burt Bacharach fan club).
I stroll along the path for a bit, but by this time it’s gotten dark and there are very few street lights (sidewalk lights?), so after tripping a few times, I turn back. Before returning to the inn, I sit on a bench at the water’s edge and stare out at the dark ocean, listening to the lap of the waves just below me. I already feel relaxed and at peace.
Exploring Pacific Grove: Things to Do and See
The next morning I take a walk pretty much around the entire peninsula, from the inn in downtown Pacific Grove to Asilomar State Beach, past the Point Pinos Lighthouse to Lover’s Point Park and finally down to Cannery Row (technically in Monterey).
Somewhere on Asilomar State Beach, between the point where I hit the coast and the lighthouse, there is a little wooden gazebo that inspires much ocean-gazing.
The Point Pinos Lighthouse is the oldest continually operating lighthouse on the Pacific, which I don’t actually see because it’s so short and maybe a quarter mile inland. Normally it’s open for tours, but not now because, you know, covid.
Part of my walk is on a wooden boardwalk (as seen above), part of it is on a dirt path (seen below), and all of it is on heaven on earth!! It is getting ridiculous how many times I stop to ogle the gorgeous view and take a picture.
There are benches aplenty along the coastal path. The only problem is that the path runs riiiight in front of these benches, so no quiet meditative sojourns for me. Every time I sit down and stare wistfully at the view before me, some well-meaning person walks past and shouts “Great view, huh?!” I don’t mind though. PGers are friendly folks! (In fact, at one point I wind up having an interesting 20-minute conversation with a local man who stops to ask if I’m lost when I’m doing some of the aforementioned wistful ocean-gazing.)
Lovers Point Park (that missing apostrophe makes me itchy inside every time I see it), originally called "Lovers of Jesus Point" back when Pacific Grove was a Methodist retreat camp, is a tiny, recreational park/beach. No one’s in the water, but the grassy area is full of picnickers, loungers, walkers and a very well-coordinated gang of squirrels. They’re like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.
Cannery Row (Technically in Monterey, CA)
After that long walk, I get off me aching feet and enjoy a hot beverage and some people watching at a café in Cannery Row, a waterfront area that used to have a lot of sardine canning factories, and was later named after John Steinbeck’s novel.
In 2014, the city installed a huge statue of a bunch of bronzed people sitting on a rock. That’s my first impression. (Hey, it’s hard identifying bronzed versions of people.)
But thanks to my snazzy Googling skills, I soon learn that the Cannery Row Monument is an homage to all the colorful characters in Steinbeck’s book, like a fisherman, a good-hearted madam and plenty of Cannery working folk. The guy on top is John Steinbeck, and the guy on the bottom is his pal Ed Ricketts.
I stroll around the plaza that’s right on the wharf, wandering in and out of the local shops, like Candy Land, Candy World, and It’s Sugar (all that’s missing is a prosperous dentist’s office).
Also, the Five and Dime General Store, Lola Soap, Mad Dogs & Englishmen (which turns out to be a bike store, much to my disappointment), and a whole lotta arts ‘n’ crafts boutiques. There’s also Doc Wenzel’s Old Time Portraits, Paper Wing Theatre & Supper Club, and Zucchini’s Tricks ‘n’ Things.
The smell of the salt water mixed in with seafood and baked good aromas reminds me a bit of a smaller version of Vancouver’s Granville Island. As the sun drops low on the horizon, I wind down my day with a wine tasting at Bargetto Winery of Cannery Row, seated outside with a sealed barrel as a table.
My second night in Pacific Grove, I treat myself to a stay at the Seven Gables Inn, another Victorian-style house plus surrounding annexes and bungalows, this one right on the water (okay, not right on the water – it’s not a houseboat – but close enough).
They offer 25 guest rooms spread out over seven buildings (not that you would know if from the above picture — which is the original 1886 house, by the way).
I open the door to my room and discover a tray of sweet and savory snacks, including a full bottle of wine (and some actual wine glasses, not a styrofoam cup wrapped in plastic)!
And the view is so nice, who needs to leave the room?!
Although they’ve suspended their wine and cheese happy hour in their common areas on the first floor (thanks a lot covid), you’re still allowed to bring your wine or coffee down here and enjoy the view.
So I do. Seated in a comfy chair with a book (collection of short stories by Dorothy Parker) and a complimentary glass of wine with this view…is heaven.
Day 2 of Attractions in Pacific Grove
The following morning I am up at sunrise. Not voluntarily, by the way, but what the hell, I take advantage of it and go for a walk.
Then I wander along Lighthouse Avenue, the heart of downtown. After debating between a couple of places, including Toasties Café and Aliotti’s Victorian Corner Restaurant, I stop at Red House Café for a delicious omelet and fresh fruit breakfast.
There are two couples in this section: one that does not say a single word to each other or look at each other and they both order toast and plain yogurt, and another that talks non-stop at top-volume and orders lavish egg and sausage dishes with extra pancakes and tons of syrup. It’s like seeing a literal representation of the phrase “two sides of the same coin.”
When I’m done, I pop across the street to Book Works, a cozy bookstore and coffee shop combo. After fondling every single book in the shop, I buy Kate Quinn’s latest novel, The Rose Code, and then grab an Earl Grey tea in the café to plan out the rest of my day before hitting the road again.
There’s the Monterey Bay Aquarium (closed), Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary (closed), and Museum of Natural History (closed). Pacific Grove Farmer’s Market (wrong day). Whale watching (wrong season). Hayward Lumber (open, right day, in season, but I don’t need wood).
Not to be deterred, I walk around the ultra-picturesque neighborhoods, taking photos of cute houses and trying not to look like I’m casing out these joints…
I find a great used bookstore called BookBuyers (no website, of course), with the classic used book shop atmosphere: crowded shelves, narrow aisles, smell of history, and a grouchy but knowledgeable shop owner. I buy a couple books, stop at a coffee shop to rest up again, have a lovely chat with the barista, and finally head back to the inn to check out.
On my way out of town, I pass a deer just nonchalantly strolling down the sidewalk…
My 6 or 7-hour drive back down the coast (except for the part where the PCH crumbled into the sea and I had to detour) was a great bookend to my relaxing getaway up to a delightful seaside town.
Let me just finish this off by answering a few questions people have asked me:
Is Pacific Grove expensive?
Well, I don’t live there so I can’t speak to living expenses like rent or electricity bills, etc., but as for spending two days there, it was very affordable (not including the Seven Gables Inn which was pricey but worth it). Meals, wine, books, parking meters – none broke the bank.
Is Pacific Grove a safe place to live?
Again, I can only talk about my two-day stay, but it really seems like a safe and friendly place to live. I didn’t come across any shady ‘hoods (except those lined by luscious elm trees!), and the people I encountered all seemed to love living here.
Is Pacific Grove worth visiting?
One word: HELL YES! Pacific Grove is definitely worth visiting. My experience was a relaxing, wandering-around trip, but if you’re into lots of physical activities, there are plenty of those as well. Just join the squirrel gang.
* Aka Starbucks, for all of you non-readers.
