There are road trips… and then there are California Highway 1 road trips.
Today was the kind of day that reminds me why I love traveling solo. No schedule. No pressure. Some road trips begin with careful planning. Others begin with destiny handing you two Snickers bars at the front desk of a motel.
As I checked out of the Quality Inn in San Simeon, the man behind the desk handed me not one, but TWO Snickers bars for the drive.
Two.
Honestly, it felt less like complimentary candy and more like a prophetic warning.
“You’re gonna need these.”
And he was absolutely right.
First Stop: Limekiln State Park
My first stop of the day was Limekiln State Park, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in California. And considering California has approximately fourteen million beautiful places, that’s saying something.
I’ll admit, I was heartbroken when I saw my empty campsite.
For weeks I had imagined waking up among the redwoods, drinking coffee beside the creek, and falling asleep to the sounds of the Pacific Ocean. But the universe had other plans. The weather forecast had scared me off from camping, and standing there in the sunshine, I started questioning my decision.
Then the park host casually told me he had just come from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park farther north where it had been cold, rainy, and windy.
Meanwhile at Limekiln?
Blue skies. Sunshine. Birds singing. Nature showing off.
Central California weather is basically emotional roulette.
Suddenly, I realized my decision wasn’t wrong. It was just one of those impossible “you can’t predict Big Sur” situations.
And honestly? That somehow made me feel better.
The Limekilns and Waterfalls
The hike back to the limekilns was incredible. Massive redwoods towered overhead while waterfalls cascaded nearby like nature was trying way too hard to impress me.
Spoiler alert: it worked.
The kilns themselves are fascinating pieces of California history.
Back in the late 1800s, limestone was harvested from the surrounding cliffs and heated inside these giant stone furnaces to produce lime. That lime was then shipped north to San Francisco and used in mortar, plaster, and cement during California’s building boom.
Basically, these massive structures helped build California.
Not bad for a hidden forest stop along Highway 1.
Fun fact: the kilns were built in the 1880s and some still stand more than 100 years later despite fires, storms, and coastal weather.
After admiring the kilns and waterfalls, I took the trail down to the ocean where the Pacific stretched endlessly into the horizon. There’s something about standing at the edge of the ocean in Big Sur that makes you feel simultaneously tiny and completely alive.
I already know one thing for certain:
I will absolutely be back to camp here someday.
This campground is far too beautiful not to.
Henry Miller Memorial Library
Next stop: the wonderfully weird Henry Miller Memorial Library.
If Big Sur had a living room, this would be it.
The space is part bookstore, part art sanctuary, part music venue, part peaceful hideaway tucked beneath towering redwoods. Originally built in the 1960s as a tribute to writer Henry Miller, the library has become one of the most iconic creative spaces along Highway 1.
Henry Miller himself moved to Big Sur in the 1940s and wrote extensively about the rugged beauty and freedom of the area. Artists, musicians, writers, and wanderers have been gathering here ever since.
I wandered through the art, bought a book, found a sunny spot outside, and spent some time reading beneath the trees.
One of my favorite discoveries was the “Forbidden Fruit Tree.”
I looked up at it and realized every fruit hanging there happened to be one of my favorites.
Honestly, if a tree could personally attack me with temptation, this was the one.
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
Back in the car and onward to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
WOW.
This campground is HUGE-like the Disneyland of campgrounds.
After the intimate, tucked-away feeling of Limekiln, Pfeiffer felt like an entire wilderness city. Cabins scattered through the forest. Massive camp loops. Families everywhere. Rivers winding through towering redwoods.
The hike to the homestead cabin was beautiful and peaceful, and the river running through the park looked like something straight out of a movie.
But let’s be honest about the real stars of the park:
THE CABINS.
They looked so cozy and inviting I immediately started mentally redecorating one like I was shopping for a vacation home on HGTV.
And then there was the pool.
The pool was calling to me.
Not gently.
Aggressively.
It practically screamed, “Come splash around and forget all your responsibilities.”
I considered it for far longer than I’d like to admit.
Lunch at Andrew Molera State Park
I stopped for lunch at Andrew Molera State Park where I made a couple of new friends of the feathered variety.
The birds clearly believed my lunch belonged to them.
And honestly? Their confidence was impressive.
Andrew Molera is the largest state park in Big Sur and offers some of the most untouched coastal scenery in the region. Open meadows, ocean bluffs, wildflowers, and trails that seem to disappear into infinity.
It’s the kind of place that makes you want to quit checking your phone forever.
The Moment I Had Been Waiting For: Bixby Bridge
And then…
THE moment.
Bixby Bridge.
I have seen pictures of this bridge my entire life.
Every California travel ad.
Every Big Sur postcard.
Every dramatic car commercial ever filmed.
And finally, today, I saw it in person.
And somehow?
It was even more stunning than I imagined.
Built in 1932, Bixby Bridge is one of the tallest single-span concrete arch bridges in the world, standing 260 feet above the canyon below. Before the bridge was built, traveling this stretch of coastline during winter could take days.
Now it’s one of the most photographed bridges on Earth.
And today it looked like the entire Earth had shown up to photograph it.
Absolute chaos.
Traffic everywhere.
Cars stopping in the road.
People sprinting across Highway 1.
Photographers hanging out of car windows.
Highway patrol threatening to tow everyone if they didn’t move.
It was madness.
It was complete disorder.
And I loved every single second of it.
People from all over the world stood together overlooking the Pacific Ocean, speaking every language imaginable while collectively losing their minds over how beautiful this bridge is.
There was something strangely wonderful about all of us gathering in one place just to admire beauty.
Garrapata State Park
My next stop was Garrapata State Park, where I accidentally stumbled upon a wedding overlooking the ocean.
Honestly, if you’re going to get married somewhere, this is the place.
The coastline here was breathtaking. Dramatic cliffs. Coastal pines twisted by the wind. Wildflowers everywhere. Waves crashing against the rocks below.
It felt cinematic in the best possible way.
Big Sur has this incredible ability to make every single viewpoint feel like the best viewpoint.
Final Stop: Carmel Beach
The final stop of the day was Carmel Beach.
Technically I went there for sunset.
Instead, I watched the sun disappear behind thick storm clouds.
You know.
The exact storm clouds that convinced me not to camp at Limekiln.
So in the end, maybe the universe knew what it was doing after all.
Still, even beneath gray skies, Carmel was beautiful. Dogs raced along the beach. Waves rolled in softly. The air smelled like salt and rain.
Tomorrow I’ll explore Carmel-by-the-Sea in the rain, which honestly feels perfectly on brand for this trip.
And luckily, I still have one Snickers bar left.
Felicity Arvizu takes on... 