2023-01-13 36 -121

Location

A residential street in the Pebble Beach resort.

Participants

Expedition

After a three-day training course in San Francisco, we had a day and a half to kill. In the morning, we picked up a rental car at the airport, and headed out into what they are calling California's rainiest period since 1871.

We headed south on wet grey freeways to an IHOP in San Jose, where I had some belated morning coffee and we contemplated our approach to the hashpoint, which seemed to be on a residential street in Monterey. From there, heading south on California 17, the road narrowed and went up through forested hills with lots of fog and drama -- the day was looking up! On Route 1 around Monterey Bay, the rain actually stopped, and it turned into a rather pleasant drive.

Monterey itself seemed like a nice town, and we were on an easy final approach when we... reached a booth that wanted to charge us $11.25 to take the 17-mile scenic drive. This was a bit bizarre, so we retreated back up the road a bit to figure out what was going on. It turns out that the hashpoint was within the Pebble Beach Resort, home to the famous golf course complex. It's a "private community," as they say, but for a fee you can go in and drive around their loop and spend money at their shops and restaurants. I consulted the fine print. Although you are nominally paying to drive the loop, there's nothing that says you have to stay on the route, as long as you don't trespass on the golf courses or -- they spell this out -- turn around in anybody's driveway. We produced $11.25, and entered the resort!

We drove most of the loop, and it is indeed fairly spectacular beach scenery. Very picturesque. Eventually, of course, we slipped inland from the loop, zigged and zagged through some of the infrastructure, and eventually made it to the cul-de-sac between two golf fairways that was the hashpoint. One of the houses nearby was having some construction done, so the area was thick with contractors. Fortunately, the street ended with a little loop right atop the hashpoint, so we didn't have to turn around in anyone's driveway.

The drive from San Jose down to Monterey had taken us through Santa Cruz County, one of only two California counties I had never been in before this trip. After the expedition, we drove east to Salinas and then to Hollister, which got me to San Benito County, the other one. So, my collection of California counties is now complete!