California Coast
- dolliemcdonald
- Apr 26, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 19, 2023
Road tripping to the Pacific Coast HWY has always been a dream of mine. Romanticizing of that beautiful coastline from San Francisco to San Diego with a splash of Big Sur along the way is a perfect cocktail of a scenic road trip. I find myself dreaming to relive this trip five years later and dare myself that I will return someday.
Perhaps I will go the next round in a stylish convertible or a fun campervan so I can bring my kids and dogs. Honestly, it will not matter just as long as I get to make this drive again! It is that magical! In spring of 2018, we went in our family automobile for a 10-day road trip to California and drive that beautiful Pacific Highway 1 on the California coast. My family had so much fun on this trip, that the hours in the car
quickly fade away and are overridden with beautiful beaches, scenic coastline cliffs, and uhmmm hello, Legoland! Our road trip started like any other: busy and antsy to hit the road. First stop was watching our older daughter play at her PeeWee Basketball tournament til the end in Roy, NM. Once the tournament was done, we hop in the car and drove to Flagstaff, AZ for our first stop. During the night, we got a good little
March snow, which made for a chilly, but beautiful backdrop of scenery at the Grand Canyon National Park. We spent the day exploring the south rim of the Grand Canyon, taking mini hikes and helping our girls complete their Ranger Badges. Seeing the Grand Canyon with fresh snow dusting all over just added to the stunning views. I highly recommend adding the Grand Canyon to your road trip if ever venturing out west. You won't be disappointed with this pit stop and checking this off your list of National Parks to visit. After a fun filled day at the Grand Canyon, we drove to Kingman, AZ to stop for a good night's rest and get back on track to our road trip to California. Kingman is a great stop along the historic route 66 with plenty of hotel and restaurant options. The next morning was the long drive from Kingman to San Francisco, about 9.5 hours driving, our longest drive day so far on this trip. My girls did great with this longest part of drive and we made sure to make several good pit stops along the way.
Driving across California during this day in March was filled with some good rainstorms and my California music playlist ranging from Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and The Eagles. California is a big state and it seemed like we would never get to San Francisco. Then we get to Oakland, and hit the bay bridge, turn a big curve, and there she is, the beautiful views of San Francisco! Seeing that view for the first time and
crossing that Bay bridge gives you those road trip chills! The best feeling of driving into a whole new place you have never seen before and taking it all in. The power of a good road trip to a new destination. We drive across the city and get to our Air BnB in the Outer Sunset area near Ocean Beach, which I highly recommend.
We loved being in the Outer Sunset neighborhood, which is great for families! We could walk to the beach, restaurants and markets. Our Air BnB hosts gave us great recommendations for the best sights for families, having a family of small children themselves. We had 2 days and 3 nights in San Francisco and I am here to
tell you that is not near enough time to take in the sites of San Francisco for the first time. I am just now observing that I have become the Queen of "scratch the surface" of all the whirlwind trips we make. I am thankful for all of the wonderful places we have visited. But I must adhere this warning for you new travelers, "scratch the surface" of your traveling will cause the next wave of longing to go back again and many daydreams of wanting to relive your trip all over again and spend more time.
In our short amount of time in San Fran, we were able to take in these sites: California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, Trolley Rides, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean Beach, and Alcatraz! Alcatraz is worth a pilgrimage in itself and this whole experience is incredible for kids and adults. With Alcatraz being part of the National Park Service, you can plan your trip by visiting the NPS website, which I reference in my California Trip Itinerary, at the end of this blog. You will need to carve out at least 4-5 hours to visit Alcatraz for these reasons: Ferry rides to and from the pier to the island and to soak up the tour of Alcatraz. This tour and visit is still by far one of my favorite tours/excursions I have been on, to date. It is stocked full of amazing history and the views from the ferry ride present stunning views of the bay and city. My kids still talk about visiting Alcatraz and what an incredible experience it was. I could go on and on about San Fran, and how beautiful this city is. With great food,
parks, history, culture, endless things to do, views, and unique everything. But, like our whirlwind trip in this city, we had to move on to the rest of the trip. Next up was Big Sur. On our drive to Big Sur we were on like day 4 of rain in the forecast. We really didn't mind having rain on our trip, but I was a little bummed that it was raining while driving to Big Sur. However, knowing all of the recent years of scary wildfires, we were
glad to see California get rain. Let me tell you that once you are on the Pacific Coast HWY 1 and driving into the Big Sur area, it really doesn't matter if you are getting some rain, sunshine, clouds, fog, etc. This drive is picturesque and is one of the most scenic drives you will ever make in the U.S.!
Due to recent fires and then a lot of rain, it caused some flooding in this area, which has washed out parts of HWY 1 and we had to take a detour and back track our driving, instead of heading straight south on HWY 1 towards Santa Barbara. This ate some of our precious road time, which put us getting into Santa Barbara late.
The next morning, we woke up to this bright light peering through our windows and we weren't sure what to do with all of this sunlight, LOL! After 4 days of rain, clouds, and fog, we had this new thankful feeling of enjoying a day of sun, to take in the beautiful views of Santa Barbara. I went for a morning run and then the family and I
took in the waterfront and Stearns Wharf. After a fun morning of checking out the sites, we hopped in the car with the sunroof down, and kept going down the Pacific Coast HWY to Malibu. We had lunch in Malibu and played at Zuma Beach. One of my favorite beach days I have ever had with my family to date. The girls could not
wait to get their bathing suits on. Or maybe I said, "oh you won't need your bathing suits" thinking that the water was too cold for them to get completely drenched head to toe. Well, it turned out to be like 75-80 degrees perfect day in Malibu and pretty perfect to run in the water, fully clothed. LOL! We had so much fun on Zuma beach, and I absolutely loved Malibu. And if I had 55 million dollars, I would buy a house here too. I see what all the fuss is about. That drive from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and stopping in Malibu is 'the drive' dreams are made of and enough to put you in a trance and want to immediately sell all your belongings and move here! I guess I will keep dreaming, because I do not fit any of those profiles and I will just plan on reliving this road trip again in the near future. By 5pm we get back in the car, all smiles having a fantastic day and make our way to Los Angeles. I know just the spot to catch a good sunset: Griffith Observatory. This art deco landmark built
around 1935 is one of the coolest places you can visit in LA, if you ask me. Visiting this spot during sunset made for some pretty stunning views of the city. This was one of my favorite road trip days: Starting our morning in Santa Barbara, afternoon in Malibu and Sunset in LA. If it isn't already, this should be an excursion in itself as a
"Soak up California Coast" day excursion and put in a package and sell it. We ended the day by a nice late dinner in LA. I need to give a shout out to this awesome radio station in LA we listened to driving around, 93.5 KDay, 'Hip Hop Back in the Day'. If you find yourself driving around in LA, tune it and turn it up. You're Welcome!
The next morning we stopped at a donut shop for breakfast and then made our way south to Carlsbad to Legoland! The girls were so excited about going to Legoland and this place was awesome! Our passes were good for 2 days, so we got to the park in the afternoon and took the girls the next day also. First of all, the lego displays all over the park are amazing and literally works of art. All throughout the park we just "oooo" and "ahhh" at each turn of the lego cities, Star Wars displays, character displays and so on. Then there were all of the fun rides! Legoland is great for smaller kids and I highly recommend this size of an amusement park as a good introduction leading up to bigger parks. They have many ride choices for younger kiddos. On the second day while we were in Carlsbad, there just so happens to be an "All Day 20K" race with Rock n Roll Marathons, along their beachfronts. Knowing I was taking the trip during this time, I registered for the race and I was able to enter this race and run it
while my husband and girls went to Legoland for day two. Running a race through Carlsbad and along their waterfront was so much fun and added bonus for this road trip! To be able to do this race and while on vacation was a win/win! I love a good "race-cation" as any person, but it was good to combine the two with my family in tow. After running about 13 miles I met up with my family and, we treated ourselves to a nice late lunch at a local brewery in Carlsbad and met up with some friends that live in the area we know from my husband's work. With being about 8 or 9 days on the road, we were just realizing that our trip was coming close to an end. We spent our last night in Carlsbad soaking up an evening swim at our hotel pool and packing up for our 2 day drive home.
The next day we finish our California Coast route by going through San Diego and then heading east through Southern Arizona and stopping in Flagstaff for an overnight rest on our way home. On our final day driving home and as we got about 30 miles from home, I started crying reflecting on our awesome trip. I was so happy to have had such a great road trip with my family, seeing new places and sharing the road warrior experience with my girls. I feel so lucky to have completed such an amazing trip and make it home. There is no place like home, but I daydream on when I can hit the road again and drag my kids to a new place with me!
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