California Travelin’, Part 1

I was born in the City and County of San Francisco and have lived and worked in many cities and towns in the State of California. If I include my 12 weeks in Navy Boot Camp, I have also lived in San Diego County in addition to these counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Fresno, Los Angeles, Stanislaus, and Ventura. I have driven almost everywhere in the state, many times over in some cases, except to the large counties in the northeast corner.

So what? you may be asking. Well, people in Sweden who plan to travel by car in California (including some born in the States) have occasionally asked me for ideas on what routes to take and what to see. For those who plan a trip along any part of the coast, I recommend state highway number 1. For one of my friends, originally from the USA’s east coast, I suggested an itinerary from San Diego to San Francisco which I now share with you, much expanded. First here are a couple of places to visit after you have arrived in San Diego:

Hotel Del Coronado, one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. The Del was completed in 1888 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

San Diego Zoo: world class & world famous.

After visiting San Diego, get back to →…

…and off to a great adventure northward. Of course you will stop anywhere that suits your fancy, but I wil recommend some places along the way:

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, at La Jolla—one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast. There is a rather long distance before you will reach the next places listed below, which included along the border of Camp Pendleton Marine Corp Base and then near the town of San Clemente where President Nixon had his “Western White House.”

San Juan Capistrano: The famous cliff swallows of San Juan Capistrano, that leave town every year in a swirling mass near the Day of San Juan (October 23), return from their winter vacation spot 6,000 miles south in Goya, Corrientes, Argentina. They land at the mission in San Juan Capistrano, California, on or around St. Joseph’s Day, March 19, to the ringing bells of the old church and a crowd of visitors from all over the world who are in town awaiting their arrival and celebrating with a huge fiesta as well as a parade.

From this point you have a choice to continue the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) or to take Interstate Highway 5 toward Anaheim/Disneyland and, eventually Los Angeles. If you take PCH here are some of the towns you will pass through until you reach LA: Continuing on the Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway 1):

Laguna Beach City and area, and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Make sure to visit the artists and artisans on and near the highway.

City of Newport Beach: My Aunt Bee’s husband, uncle Tommy Thomas, was the general manager and, eventually, part owner of the fish cannery that was the main employer in town for many years before the fish were depleted and the Hollywood crowd invaded. It’s a restaurant now, with many of the old cannery artifacts remaining. We celebrated Aunt Bee’s surprise 85th birthday there 10 years ago. She’s still around, but Uncle Tommy died long ago of a broken heart because the cannery could not succeed despite all his heroic efforts.

You’ll pass through other beach cities and at Long Beach the PCH will go inland for a while. After crossing the bridge over the Los Ageles River you will skirt the base of the hilly Palos Verdes Peninsula, through the City of Torrance and other beach cities between it and LA. I was Acting Administrator of Torrance Memorial Hospital for nine months in 1974-5.

Redondo Beach

Hermosa Beach

Manhattan Beach

Then it gets more industrial as you head toward Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). You will pass underneath one of the runways and under a flight path as you travel north toward Santa Monica and Venice. You can detour from the PCH here for a visit, eastward, to Hollywood. Take Santa Monica Boulevard.

Please click on the image. Note that highway 1 (the PCH) is at the lower left. Santa Monica Blvd begins here as highway number 2. It goes diagonally to the upper right toward Hollywood

Back to the Pacific Coast Highway, then along the coast to Malibu and beyond, toward Ventura County:

Please click on the image. Note that Santa Monica is at the lower right; Ventura is at the extreme top left

In Ventura County:

Oxnard and strawberry fields

Look for reference to the Channel Islands National Park. Take a side trip to visit the ranger station.

Mission San Buenaventura

As you leave the City of Ventura on the highway that is now both Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) and state highway 101, you will see a sign for state highway 33 toward the City of Ojai. I recommend you to have made arrangements to stay overnight in this magical town. You may wish to spend part of an evening or an early morning at Meditation Mount. Various intellectual and spiritual endeavors find their respective ways to Ojai:

The Krishnamurti Foundation of America

The Theosophical Society

Meher Mount

Ojai Valley Dharma Center

I was the CEO of the local community hospital in 1990 and 1991. I hiked all through the surrounding hills and mountains. I love this place.

Please clink on the image of a small portion of Ojai Valley

After you have had your fill of Ojai, take Highway 150 West, running through the center of town, back to the coast highway at Carpinteria, then north again for a short and lovely drive into Santa Barbara. You may wish to wander State Street and the municipal pier jutting into the Pacific Ocean at its western end. Continue on the Highway north to Gaviota Beach where the highway goes inland for a while, through Gaviota Pass.

You are not far from the Danish town of Solvang, so follow the signs. You have to leave the main highway to go through Solvang, but the signs (north) out of town will lead you easily back (turn left/west on State Highway 154). Highway 101/PCH continues inland, through Santa Maria as a freeway, then over the Santa Maria River into San Luis Obispo County, until you return to the coast at the “Five Cities” area, centered around Pismo Beach.

I recommend you spend a little time at Shell Beach, very slightly north of Pismo Beach. You are now a short highway distance, again traveling inland, from San Luis Obispo City, where “Cal Poly” is located. Here you have a choice to continue inland on Highway 101, or take Highway 1 (PCH) which here diverges from it; Highway 101 runs inland and. roughly, parallel to PCH.

We will continue to take Highway 1 on this journey. Part 2 will be presented in a future journal entry, taking us from Morro Bay to San Francisco.

Morro Rock at Morro Bay, California

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