17-Mile Drive

Jill's Journal: Billed as “possibly the most beautiful drive in America,” 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach certainly lives up to its billing. This is the Pebble Beach of golfing fame, with the exquisite course set on dramatic ocean bluffs. It’s often recognized as the greatest course in America. Jack Nicklaus and several other golfing greats have said if they had only one more round to play, they would choose to play it at Pebble Beach.

But Pebble Beach is more than golf. The famous course - and several other also-beautiful courses - makes up just a small portion of 17-Mile Drive. The whole Pebble Beach peninsula juts out into the ocean and has breathtaking water views on three sides with the Del Monte Forest on land. The homes here of the extreme rich are both spectacular and garish. It is, indeed, a beautiful drive. It might be one of the finest examples of eye candy that combines both nature and manmade excessiveness.

The Lone Cypress is an icon and one of the few trademarked trees in the world. The enduring symbol of Pebble Beach has stood guard over the Pacific for nearly 300 years. These trees generally live about 300 years, so it has been fenced and reinforced in hope it outlives its lifespan.

We could have taken thousands of pictures, but a few will have to suffice. It’s all just so pretty!

The girls loved every time we stopped and let them play among the rocks and/or sand. They’re ready to move to the beach. It’s getting harder and harder to wrangle them back into the car after they get set free on the beach for a while!

They got to see seals and lizards, but the highlights were a dead bird (why, I’m not sure) and a bold little gopher who dug a hole right in front of them.