Hollywood, Venice Beach, Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur and The Golden Gate Bridge - Day 4 of TX-CA-TX Road Trip

We stayed in a small motel in Hollywood.


Everything smelled pot in the room... This is what we came across in the parking lot of the motel. Yes, it is a black widow...


Hollywood, CA

After we woke up we took a stroll around. Side note. Homeless people were everywhere, it was disheartening to see so many hopeless souls...


The iconic sign on the mountain side:


The walk of fame:


Trump is not very popular here:


Venice Beach

Then we got into our vehicle and headed out to Venice Beach. What a wonderful place. The weather was perfect, the morning brought everyone out.


It is true that California young do like to surf a lot. Surfers and their equipment were everywhere.


The beach is vast, beautiful and very well maintained. The water is ice cold, there were not many people enjoying the ocean.




Pacific Coast Highway - Big Sur

After an hour or two at Venice Beach we began our exploration of CA-1 (Pacific Coast Highway) going north towards Monterey. At Malibu we caught a glimpse of this armored vehicle.


Sand wall right after the Sycamore Canyon Campground

We fell in love with this sand wall right after the Sycamore Canyon Campground. The coastal winds must continuously push the send up this very steep slope. It is an incredible workout to climb it, two step forward one and a half step back...


Maybe this angle gives better justice to show the steepness:


At the bottom of the sand wall this was the coastal view.


Ventura, CA

This tree was one of a kind in Ventura:


Elephant Seals Vista Point

Our next stop was Elephant Seals Vista Point:


By now, the usual clouds started to set in and blocking the view. We were hopeful that it may clear up. Unfortunately, the coastal clouds kept the beautiful view away from us for most of the way to Monterey. Arguably, the most beautiful part of the Pacific Coast Highway is between Morro Bay and Monterey, that is what we drove.

Big Sur









My wife and I were lucky 28 years ago when we traveled CA 1 and we were able to see as far as the eye can see. My son and I promised we will return to see it again in a clear weather.

San Francisco

By late afternoon we have arrived to San Francisco. We were planning on checking out the famous crooked street, cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge.


Unfortunately, the weather only got worse, we were able to drive through Lombard Street but the Golden Gate Bridge was under deep cloud cover. We decided that we will return to see the bridge too and drove to west of SF to our motel to get a good night sleep for a big hiking day in Yosemite NP the next day.
Location: Big Sur, CA, USA

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