Ellie's Great Adventure: Highway 1 and 101 to San Francisco.

Oct 14, 2021

Introduction

This trip continues with part 3 of Ellie’s Great Adventure.

Part 1: The North Road
Part 2: Northwest to Pacific
Part 3: Highway 1 and 101 to San Francisco
Part 4: Exploring the Southwest
Part 5: Homeward Bound

In this leg of the journey, we drive down the Pacific Coast Highway from Seaside Oregon to San Francisco California, all along Highway 1 and 101.

The Journey

At the end of Part 2, we left off riding out a bomb cyclone in Seaside, OR. After the first night, the storm tapered off to a drizzle and we were able to get out and see some of the sites, including nearby Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach.

Ecola State Park, OR

Ecola State Park stretches from Seaside to Cannon Beach, covering coastal forests and many rocky beaches. It’s served as a backdrop for many movies including Goonies, Point Break, Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop and the Twilight films.

Ellie’s favorite was Indian Beach where the sea foam was almost as tall as her. The wind would catch the foam and blow it 100 feet up onto a trail that ran around the bluff, like snow in reverse.

+ 6

Cannon Beach, OR

Cannon Beach, at the southern tip of Ecola, is both the name of the city and the beach. We walked around town and explored the coast. Ellie enjoyed the cool breeze but was not a fan of the strange seaweed. You may recognize Haystack Rock from Goonies.

Tillamook Creamery, OR

Ellie is a huge fan of cheese. So naturally, when it was time to leave Seaside, we drove inland to Highway 101 and made our way to the Tillamook Creamery.

If you are in the area this is definitely worth a visit. The visitor center sits inside the factory and visitors can walk up to an observation deck to see how all the cheese is made. They have a restaurant and a gift shop. I bought Ellie some cheddar samples which she very much enjoyed.

Highway 101 to Coos Bay, OR

After leaving the creamery, we continued down Highway 101, stopping at a few coastal landmarks.

The Devil’s Punch Bowl is a large hole carved in the coastline. Through it, you can see crashing waves churning in the bowl.

The Devil’s Churn is a narrow channel carved by waves and stretching ab out 75 yards. You can watch the waves roll in crashing their way until the end where they explode with a big splash.

The second picture below shows a very tiny Heceta Head Lighthouse just past the Sea Lion Caves. Sadly, we didn’t spot any sea lions.

We stopped for the evening at a Best Western in Coos Bay where there was a marina with a number of ships on display.

Highway 101 to California

After Coos Bay, we continued on Highway 101 until we passed out of Oregon, again stopping at coastal landmarks along the way.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse, State Park and Needle Rock
Arizona Beach Recreation Site
Crissy Field State Recreation Site

+ 8

Highway 101 in Northern California

As we continued the drive into Northern California, the weather began to clear. Over a couple of hours, it went from grey and dreary to breathtaking views and a perfect sunset.

We didn’t have a hotel or campsite planned so, with the help of my well travelled sister, we found the Trinidad Rest Area southbound on ioverlander.com. In California, you can stay at rest areas for up to 8 hours, and there were several people there to spend the night.

Arcata Community Forest

The next morning, we visited Arcata, a dog friendly park near Redwood National Park. Ellie enjoyed a straight-up hike in the woods.

Highway 1 to Gualala

Leaving Arcata we continued down Highway 101 until Highway 1 split off to hug the coast. This is another famous drive, the nicest coastal drive in the country, and probably one of the best in the world.

That night we stayed in the Gualala Country Inn in the town of Gualala. This independent Inn sits across the road on a bluff overlooking the sea. Below, there were thousands of nesting brown pelicans.

+ 6

Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach, south of Gualala, was a fun stop. We saw deer, wild turkeys, and lots of interesting sea life including urchins and a giant abalone.

+ 8

Sonoma Coast State Park

We only stopped at Sonoma Coast State Park briefly for the view. I recall that we had driven up to a taller grassy bluff. It was a sunny day with a layer of clouds beneath us, low over the ocean.

Highway 1 to San Francisco

We turned inland at Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock filmed “The Birds.” From there it was an hour drive across the San Francisco Bridge into downtown San Francisco where we met up with some friends and their dogs at The Bulb near Oakland (sadly no pictures).

Oliver

The next day we met up with a different set of old friends living east of San Francisco. We used to watch Oliver before his family moved away, and Ellie had known Oliver since she was a puppy. Ollie was older, mostly blind and deaf, but he seemed to recognize Ellie.