A quick trip to Pebble and the PCH (with photos)

I had a chance to make a quick run up to the Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach this week, a little 889-mile trip for those of you counting. And I learned a few things. It’s been a while since I made the trip and here are a few things I learned or re-learned.

–It’s kinda cold up there. It was gray and mid-50s when I drove in Tuesday. Told the woman behind the check-in desk that I had driven in from Palm Springs. “I wish I was in Palm Springs,” she said. “Another woman showed me to my room. It’s colder here than Palm Springs was this morning, I said. “I wish I was in Palm Springs,” the woman said. Hmmmmm.

–I need new windshield wipers. Rain shows you that. It doesn’t rain in the desert.

–Let’s be honest. The Pebble Beach tournament always had one thing over the old Bob Hope tournament — the magnificent scenery of the courses like Pebble Beach, Spyglass and now Monterey Peninsula Country Club. But during tournament week, the 17-Mile drive is a mess of cars and traffic that you never get in the desert.

–Going up I drove through the middle of the state to try to get there fast. On the way home, I took the PCH, or Highway 1. I’ve always though that no one’s life is complete unless you’ve taking the PCH for about 100 miles south out of Monterey. Here are a few photos.

The course at the Links at Spanish Bay, with some distraction just behind the tee box

A shot from a boardwalk just behind the Inn at Spanish Bay

Some rugged coast line near Big Sur

Does the East Coast have anything to offer like this?

Someone just mentioned how blue the Pacific looks here

It was a nice trip, but 900 miles in a car in two days will destroy your back. But I’ll drive that road again anytime.