An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 North

Janice Stevens

Description

A unique literary and artistic guidebook to one of the world’s most amazing drives—California State Highway 1, a narrow strip of roadway etched between cliffs and the ocean that leads travelers through the state’s beautiful natural attractions. Lavishly illustrated with original watercolors that depict the glories of the California coast, this book takes an appealingly idiosyncratic perspective as the authors record their explorations off the beaten path, their serendipitous discoveries, and their reactions to the places and people they encounter. A contemplative mixture of captivating artistry and personal essay, this travelogue offers an accessible introduction to many little-known details of scenic California.

Informations

• Publié par: Linden Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781610351836
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

AN ARTIST AND A WRITER TRAVEL HIGHWAY 1 NORTH

Pat Hunter Janice Stevens

Craven Street Books Fresno, CA
An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 North
© 2012 Pat Hunter and Janice Stevens. All rights reserved.
Published by Craven Street Books,
an imprint of Linden Publishing.
2006 S. Mary, Fresno, California, 93721
559-233-6633 / 800-345-4447
CravenStreetBooks.com

Craven Street Books is a trademark of Linden Publishing, Inc.

Craven Street Books titles may be purchased in quantity at special discounts for educational, fund-raising, business, or promotional use. Please contact Craven Street Books at the above address or phone numbers.
To order another copy of this book, please call 1-800-345-4447.

Craven Street Books project cadre:
James Goold, Carla Green, John David Marion, Holly Day, Kent Sorsky

ISBN: 978-1-61035-183-6
135798642

Printed in China.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hunter, Pat (Patricia Jean), 1937-
An artist and a writer travel Highway 1 north / by Pat Hunter and Janice Stevens.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61035-053-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. California Highway 1 (Calif.)--Guidebooks. 2. Hunter, Pat (Patricia Jean), 1937---Travel--California--California Highway 1. 3. Stevens, Janice (Janice Mae), 1944---Travel--California--California Highway 1. I. Stevens, Janice (Janice Mae), 1944- II. Title.

F859.3.H86 2012
917.94’0452–dc23
2012006501
contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
A Journey Begins: Bixby Creek Bridge
Point Lobos State Reserve (and Sea Lions!)
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Pebble Beach, the Lone Cypress, and 17-Mile Drive
Pacific Grove, Point Pinos Lighthouse, and the Monarch Grove Sanctuary
Monterey and Seaside
Elkhorn and Moss Landing
Castroville, Watsonville, and the Salinas Lettuce Fields
Aptos, Rio Del Mar, Capitola, and Soquel
Santa Cruz.
Wilder Ranch, Davenport, Big Basin, and Pigeon Point Lighthouse
San Gregorio Stage Stop, Half Moon Bay, and Moss Beach Distillery
Point Montara Lighthouse, Devil’s Slide, and De Portolà Statue
San Francisco
Sausalito
Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, and Bolinas
Point Reyes Lighthouse
Christo’s "Running Fence"
Bodega to the Armstrong Redwoods
Fort Ross to Gualala
Point Arena Lighthouse Station to Fort Bragg
Westport, Rockport, and on to Leggett
Shelter Cove in the King Range
Avenue of the Giants, Scotia, Ferndale, Loleta
Eureka, "I Have Found It!"
From Trinidad and Patrick’s Point State Park to Klamath.
Crescent City to Pelican State Beach
Epilogue
Index
acknowledgments

OUR APPRECIATION FOR offering savvy recommendations on destinations to visit, places to see, and, last but not least, good places to eat goes out to our friends and fellow road travel aficionados:

Norm and Bernie Cook
Ron and Florence Greilich
Diane Mowrey
Paul Pratt
Carolyn and Max Younkin

Thanks also to our publishing team, whose wonderful suggestion to explore Highway 1 launched us on an extraordinary journey:

Jaguar Bennett
Kent Sorsky
Richard Sorsky

And heartfelt thanks to the book design team Carla Green and Jim Goold who took Pat’s artwork and produced such a beautiful volume.

preface

I GREW UP IN SANTA CRUZ, where my teen summers were spent on the beaches, slathered in baby oil and perfecting my tan. Later in life, living in Fresno, I often took my own children to Santa Cruz, and we would spend dreamy hours building sand castles and darting in and out of gently breaking white-capped waves. Pat cherishes similar summers from long ago, roaming the warm beaches of Southern California.
Whether northern or southern California, the Pacific Ocean draws the two of us toward it like a magnet. When our publisher suggested we do a book on the experience of traveling Highway 1, the possibilities seemed endless but the task was daunting. How exactly should we go about it? It’s true that we were accustomed to doing extensive driving to research our previous books, and that between the two of us we had, at one time or another, already visited a great many of the coastal cities, parks, and beaches along Highway 1. But this book project would require traveling the mighty highway from beginning to end, at times braving narrow, winding roads and hugging rugged coastlines of crashing waves, at other times maneuvering through crowded metropolises.
I suppose it is possible to cover the entire length of Highway 1 in two or three days, but that’s not what we were interested in doing. We wanted to savor the experience. We wanted to capture the essence of coastal California, to give Pat time to consider her artwork and me time to write rough drafts of the text. In short, we wanted to enjoy ourselves.
So we did the trip in segments, deciding in this first book, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 North , to begin our journey near Big Sur’s Bixby Creek, right in the center of California’s coastline, and focus on the northern half of the state. Bixby Bridge (see Chapter 1 ) served as a symbolic gateway to the road north, which led us all the way to the end of Highway 1 at Leggett, where we embarked on Highway 101 for the final leg to the Oregon border. And Bixby Bridge will serve as the beginning of our next journey (and next book), southward to the Mexico border.
During our adventures we came to realize what a true jewel of creation the California coastline is. We discovered the histories of quaint communities and gleaned a deeper understanding of California’s rich cultural heritage. We visited historical landmarks and landscapes, where we learned about legendary figures who shaped our state. And, of course, we indulged our appetite for good restaurants, as well as our penchant for shopping at the diverse antique stores found up and down the highway. Sensory delights such as the smell of brisk salty ocean air, tantalizing seafood, and the fragrance of the redwood forest still linger with us long after we have returned home.
We invite you to join us in our exploration of California’s glorious Highway 1, perhaps to find yourself reacquainted with familiar favorites or, maybe, to discover for the first time a remarkable sight off the well-traveled road always taking the time to gaze in appreciation at the unparalleled views offered by this world-renowned coastal highway.
Janice Stevens
introduction

WHEN, IN 1542, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into San Diego and up the coastline of what would become Alta California, he would have seen shorelines chiseled from rocky promontories and white pristine beaches. Centuries later, that same striking scenery is now home to one of the world’s most spectacular drives. Highway 1 begins at Dana Point in southern California and ends in the northern reaches of the state at the town of Leggett, mostly hugging the shore along the way, but veering away from the sea in areas where the rugged coastline demands a safer inland route.
The first to dream of a Pacific Coast highway was John Roberts, MD, who founded the city of Seaside in 1887, and who longed for a more efficient means to make house calls in his area. The catalyst for change was a shipwreck at Point Sur; although just a few miles away, it took Roberts long hours to reach the injured. Dismayed at the waste of precious time, Roberts began photographing the rugged coastal area between Carmel and San Simeon, becoming the vicinity’s first surveyor, and setting in motion the project that would eventually culminate in Highway 1.
Construction on the highway began shortly before World War I, but the great war halted progress until 1919, when federal bond measures were passed to finance more work. The highway, begun in the Big Sur region, slowly began to emerge, built by the labor of inmates from infamous San Quentin prison who were paid 35 cents a day plus a reduced prison sentence as well as locals from the surrounding communities, including the famous novelist John Steinbeck.
The road was first designated by "Legislative Route Numbers," an early form of highway notation used by the state of California. The name "Highway 1" came into official use in 1939. In 1963, the state legislature renamed the southern portion of Highway 1 the "Pacific Coast Highway," while the section from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco became known as the "Cabrillo Highway." Other sections link to the state route where Highway 1 ends, and Highway 101 continues on to the Oregon border, the most significant being Highway 208, which connects to Ferndale in Humboldt County. California’s extreme northern coastal area, including the King Range, has never been served by a state highway, and is thus known as the "Lost Coast."
Progress on the highway was not without cost, as the 70 thousand pounds of dynamite needed to blast through the coastline’s rugged granite, marble, and sandstone left scars on the coastal terrain that linger to this day. In fact, the nearly 100-year-old road suffers from constant erosion, landslides, and pounding waves, all of which frequently necessitate maintenance and repairs, and often reduce sections of the road to perilous one-way lanes. At times, stretches of Highway 1 are closed altogether for months on end.
Of the highway’s many concrete arched bridges in the Big Sur region, which transport travelers across deep ravines, roaring rivers, and gentle creeks,