named Ocean View Blvd
runs from Lover’s Point
west to Point Pinos,
where it becomes Sunset
Dr heading south to
Asilomar State Beach.
There are plenty of
tempting turnoffs along
this route where you
can walk past pounding
surf, rocky outcrops and
teeming tidepools.
Point Pinos
Lighthouse (www.ci.pg.
ca.us/lighthouse/default.htm;
enter off Asilomar Ave; adult/
child $2/1; h1-4pm Thu-Mon)
has been warning ships
off this peninsula’s
hazardous point since- Next to the
lighthouse, golfers crowd
the windy Pacific Grove
Golf Links (%831-648-
5775; http://www.pggolflinks.com;
77 Asilomar Blvd; greens fees
$42-65), a penny-pincher’s
version of Pebble Beach.
Follow Lighthouse
Ave east, turning right
onto Ridge Rd after half
a mile. Park to stroll
around the Monarch
Grove Sanctuary (www.
pgmuseum.org; Ridge Rd;
hdawn-dusk) between
October and February or
March, when over 25,000
migratory monarch
butterflies cluster in this
thicket of tall eucalyptus
trees – watch out for
falling branches!
54 p175
The Drive » Drive back north
on Ridge Rd to Lighthouse Ave,
which heads east toward leafy
downtown Pacific Grove, with
its shops, cafes and a natural-
history museum for kids. Tobypass downtown PG, take the
next right after Ridge Rd onto
17-Mile Drive. Drive another mile
southwest, crossing Sunset Dr/
Hwy 68, to the Pacific Grove
toll gate.3 17-Mile Drive
Once promoted as
‘Mother Nature’s Drive-
Thru,’ the 17-Mile Drive
(www.pebblebeach.com; entry
$10) is a spectacularly
scenic private toll
road (motorcyclists
prohibited) that loops
around the Monterey
Peninsula, connecting
Pacific Grove with Pebble
Beach and Carmel-by-
the-Sea. Using the self-
guided tour map handed
out at the toll gates,
motor past postcard
vistas of the ocean
and Monterey cypress
trees, world-famous
golf courses, a luxury
lodge and the bay where
Spanish explorer Gaspar
de Portolá dropped
anchor in 1769.The Drive » If you follow the
coastal road heading south, then
wrap around back east again, the
17-Mile Drive is only 9 miles long
between the Pacific Grove and
Carmel toll gates. After exiting
the toll road, continue south to
Ocean Ave, then turn right for
downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea.4 Carmel-by-the-Sea
Once an artists’ beach
colony, this quaint
village now has the
well-manicured feel of
a country club. Watchthe parade of behatted
ladies toting fancy-label
shopping bags, and
dapper gents driving top-
down convertibles along
Ocean Ave, the slow-mo
main drag.
On the south side
of town, Carmel River
State Beach (www.parks.
ca.gov; end of Carmelo St;
admission free; hsunrise-
sunset; #) is a gorgeous
white-sand crescent,
where pampered pups
excitedly run off-leash.
Just inland, 20th-century
poet Robinson Jeffers’
Tor House (%831-624-1813;
http://www.torhouse.org; 26304
Ocean View Ave; adult/child
$10/5; htours by reservationTRIP HIGHLIGHTTRIP HIGHLIGHTBLAINE HARRINGTON III / CORBIS ©CENTRAL.CALIFORNIA15
(^) AROUND MONTEREY & CARMEL