The very dicey drive in our hire car along the coastal road through Santa Lucia mountains ending up at the Sands Motel in San Simon
The very dicey drive in our hire car along the coastal road through Santa Lucia mountains ending up at the Sands Motel in San Simon

After leaving our favourite Travelodge in San Francisco, and breakfasting withing sight of Fisherman’s Wharf, we packed up and took the scenic route out on Highway 1, stopping at Monterey for lunch at Carl Jnr's and having a great afternoon at the aquarium.

Then the very dicey and twisty drive along the coastal road through Santa Lucia mountains with the sharp bends and turns before ending up at the Sands Motel in San Simon where the children went swimming in the inside heated pool before dinner and a well-earned rest.

We slept well again for our last night in the Travelodge Hotel, Fisherman's Wharf. Up a little later and then, once ready, I went to see the Budget Car Rentals reservation centre to query the discount whilst the family also got ready to join me. The reservation clerk had not plainly marked the details of our discount of 20% on to the paperwork and I envisaged problems eventually at Los Angeles. Once all this was sorted out, we had breakfast in our usual place within sight of the Fisherman's Wharf sign and then we checked out of the hotel and loaded up the car.

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We chose to take the scenic route out on Highway 1 and eventually stopped at Monterey for lunch at Carl Jnr's and had an afternoon at the aquarium which was some experience. Then the very dicey and twisty drive along the coastal road through Santa Lucia mountains with the sharp bends and turns worrying the passengers as they thought we should all fall over the cliffs and into the sea at any minute! The elevation was switching from sea level up to 10,000 feet several times and we were always climbing or falling as well as turning. We ended up at San Simon and chose Sands Motel from a cluster of hotels, all of which had vacancies. The children went swimming in the inside heated pool and then we all went together over to the San Simeon Restaurant for a good but rather slow meal. To bed in our nice Motel bedrooms at 9.45pm eventually, tired after all of our driving.