Big Sur and Nepenthe Restaurant

I promise you will we stay in the city ONE day at least but we were talking to the doorman at the Omni one morning and asking him for recommendations for scenic restaurants for lunch. "where would you go?" He mentioned a restaurant called Nepenthe. Sounded good. Great view of the ocean.
Ok, where is it? It's about 150 miles south of the city near Big Sur....hey! Sounds good to me! Let's go!

So we did go. We had a rental car. The sun was shining. We were wearing sunglasses and had a full tank of gas. Why not? It would take us down the fabulous Route 1 which is a nice twisty hilly drive with the coast on your right side going down. I like long drives in a good car anyway.

Here is the good car-the Infiniti G37 relaxing

He scoffs at long distances!

The Pacific Ocean , near Half Moon Bay

Ahhh, 'tis a pretty drive

So after 150 miles with only a stop in the city of Santa Cruz to visit a Starbucks for some double espressos and a bathroom break in the fine supermarket they were part of -was it an Albertson's? Could have been a Safeway. Who knows? Anyway after that caffeine boost and countless miles of coastal driving we eventually climbed up to a height of 800 feet above sea level where we saw the sign for Nepenthe and parked the car.

The food is basic sandwiches and fries so not worth the drive in itself but the location is great on a nice sunny day. Some German tourists on motorcycles even found it and it was odd to hear German being spoken right next to us.

After 90 minutes or so on contented stomachs we decided it was time to head back to the city along the road we came.

Big Sur area

We stopped in Carmel on the way home to visit a Starbucks for espresso to help me with the drive.

We rounded off our day with dinner at a pub called the Irish Bank near our hotel. They had outdoor dining in a narrow street. It was very lively ( read noisy) and the food wasn't much to write home about although it was an easy walk back to the hotel.