Big Sur

6 December 2017

We have hired a Jeep and are taking two days to drive to San Francisco. Today we covered the Big Sur and the Monterey region that looked so picturesque in Big Little Lies. Tomorrow we will be going through the areas of fires near Los Angeles. A little nervous about that.

But back to today.

We chugged the Jeep down Highway 101 with not much to see (I slept) until we hung a right and headed west to Monterey and Highway 1. The coastal beauty of the area reminded me of coastal drives around Ballina, creating pangs of nostalgia for my childhood holidays where the beaches consist of sand that is so soft and smooth, it squeaks as you walk through it. We kept driving south to a restaurant, The Sur House, recommended by our mate Eric from the Yosemite tour yesterday. The food was divine but the view better:

However, it wasn’t the view along Highway 1 that I was most fascinated by, but the bridges. Yes Daddy, making you proud, the bridges. The Sur House was only recently reopened after 6 months of closure due to torrential rain causing mudslides taking out the road to the south of it and a bridge, the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, to the north of it. The road south of it is still closed but we drove over the new bridge today. At the bottom of this post I sourced a handful of YouTube videos to show the problem with the original bridge, its demolition and the build of the new bridge.

The other bridge that had my attention was the one featured several times in Big Little Lies, called Bixby Bridge (or Bixby Creek Bridge).

Our final tourist stop for the day was the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to Griffin’s surprise and delight. There was nothing happening but a bit of maintenance work and an open souvenir shop. I’m sure there will be photos later of Griffin wearing purchases he made there. Using his own money!

Back on Highway 101 we drove through fields of lettuce, broccoli and other green stuff which all appeared to be owned by one massive corporation, given the scale, the organisation and the infrastructure being employed. Not sure how I feel about that.

Tonight we rest in San Luis Obispo. We visit the highlight of the town tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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The failure of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge:



The demolition of the bridge (click on link, it won't embed):https://youtu.be/7uKrimYMwHA

The construction of the new bridge:



And last, for those who are the really big bridge nerds wanting even more detail, an animation of the planned installation of the bridge.