Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive

We stayed overnight in Monterey Bay, California, and in the morning we drove the 17-Mile Drive to Pebble Beach. It has a small fee to enter and do the full scenic tour, but honestly — it's totally worth it.

The drive follows a loop with different scenic points along the ocean, and one of the most famous stops is Pebble Beach, known for its golf course. Ironically, the beach wasn’t full of pebbles like we expected — the “pebbles” were actually big, round rocks. Naturally, we joined in on the craze and made a rock pile. The first rock I picked up was way heavier than it looked — I definitely needed two hands. But we had fun stacking them like everyone else.

One of the stops along the way was Spanish Bay Beach, where Spanish explorers camped in 1769. They were trying to locate Monterey Bay based on a description from 1602, but it took them almost a year to find it. The beach is named after that expedition.

Another stop was The Restless Sea, one of the most turbulent parts of the coastline. The waves crash from different directions all at once — it’s chaotic and beautiful at the same time.

China Rock used to be the site of a small Chinese fishing village in the late 1800s. Then there’s Bird Rock, named because (apparently) it looked like a bird. I didn’t really see the resemblance, but it was once covered in 4–5 feet of bird poop, mostly from pelicans and cormorants — until it was harvested as fertilizer in the 1930s. Now that it’s cleaned off, sea lions have taken over the rock and love to sunbathe there.

There’s also Seal Rock, where we saw animals jumping in the water and lounging on rocks. I couldn’t tell if they were seals or sea lions, but they were definitely out there.

One of the most iconic sights is The Lone Cypress, which has stood for more than 250 years on a rocky cliff over the Pacific Ocean. It’s weathered storms and salt spray and still holds strong. Nearby, some of the cypress trees have been sun-bleached, and in the winter, they apparently look like a ghostly graveyard. Kind of eerie — but beautiful.

Along the way, we also saw deer, squirrels, rabbits, and even a group of wild turkeys! They felt a little out of place — like maybe they took a wrong turn and were supposed to be back near Route 66.

The whole drive was absolutely worth it. So many views, so much wildlife, and just a peaceful, gorgeous day. We wrapped it up with another adventure… but that’s a story for another day.