Travel Blog: Monterey Day 2 - The 17 Mile Drive

The Monterey Peninsula is known for many things, but most notably, to golf fans anyway, it is the home of Pebble Beach, one of the 'holy grails of golf'. Look back into our postings from the last trip and you'll find the other - St. Andrew's, Scotland.

Anyone who has watched the Pebble Beach ProAm Tournament has also had glimpses of the coastline in Monterey Bay and rest of the general area. As have we, so we knew that the 17 Mile drive was going to take much longer than the half-hour one might usually allot to that distance.

In order to discourage people from just driving around - it is, after all, also a fairly exclusive residential area - the State Park Authority charges $9.75 per car at the entrance gate drive along the marked route. Of course, if you stop at any of the Pebble Beach properties and spend at least $30.00, they will deduct the fee from your total bill.

Here are some of the highlights of our drive:

Shepherd's Knoll overlooking the bay

One of the houses along the route. This was about average size;
there were some much smaller and some a lot bigger!

Homes along the fairway at one of the Monterey Country Club's
courses.

Waves rolling on the beach off the Spanish Bay course

One of Spanish Bay's holes, with the clubhouse and inn
in the background

Point Joe

Looking out from the Fanshell Overlook, through the chain
link fence. They actually close off access to the area
in the spring when the seals have their pups in the cove.

The Lone Cypress. In silhouette it is the
logo for Pebble Beach

Oh, gosh! And we were there, too!

And finally, we arrived at the gates of golfer heaven, the Pebble Beach course itself!

Larry and Norm at the Pebble Beach clock

The 18th fairway stretches out behind Larry

The tree guarding the18th green

The 18th hole sure looks intimidating from the tee box!

Sorry we spent so much time on the 18th hole, but it was the only one we could get near, and there were people playing on the 17th. By the way, the cost of a round of golf here is $495 per person; we assume that includes the caddy since all the golfers we saw had one caddy for every two players. The catch is that you can only book ahead if you are staying at the resort - at a mere $600 plus per night. If you're not staying, you can book a day ahead, but only if they might conceivably have space on the next day; a real stroke (pun intended) of luck. Mind you, if you can afford it, the lodge and environs sure are pretty...

And we can't forget lunch - Monica's Tuna Salad Nicoise. Yes, they do light propane fires in the middle of the table when it is cooler.

A last little touch of whimsy for the
junior golfers

The view back from Carmel-by-the-Sea

And, having filled our day to the brim with that, we headed back to the hotel for a little R&R, then went back down to Fisherman's Wharf for another good dinner.