Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA - Saturday 19 October

Pacific Coast Highway, Day 1 - SF to Carmel


Rusty the dog

Once again, I left SF early to beat the traffic. The only downside to this was that it takes a surprising amount of the morning for the fog to burn off and the sun to hit the Pacific. Once it does, though, you start to see why people rave about the scenery on the PCH.

I'm driving rental car 2.0, a Chevrolet Impala - this is a bit bigger than the Nissan and has a beefier engine, which makes it take off much better from a standing start, and cruise more smoothly.

Today's 123 mile drive ended in Carmel, which is a classy seaside town with lots of nice restaurants. I lingered sufficiently long in mine that I ended up driving in the USA in the dark for the first time, but I made it two miles back to my hotel without any problems. And Rusty the dog was waiting to say hello.