In our planning for this trip, this day was the last we finalized, shifting and considering plans until we hoped to create something that allowed us to squeeze as much out of the day as possible.
Technically, we could have planned a longer moving day and arrived at Yosemite on Tuesday evening. However, the only nights available for our stay in our Yosemite park didn’t begin until Wednesday night, so this allowed us the chance to take advantage of being semi-close to the coast, which I really wanted to visit. Taking into consideration our RV and the highways, we landed on the location of an RV park at Marina. We could then either go up to San Francisco in the car for the second half of the day, or go down Highway 1 to Big Sur. I made my appeal and Big Sur we chose!
So we had a semi-short drive of about 200 miles from Bakersfield to Marina, and enjoyed more mountains, including driving by Pinnacles National Park, as well as countless farmlands and all sorts of produce. We frequently passed trucks carrying open containers of tomatoes.
We arrived at Marina Dunes RV Resort right at our available checkin time at 1pm- a new record for us (we are seldom early, ha). After hooking up, we ate chicken salad on croissants outside at our picnic table in breezy 65-70 degree sunshine, followed by frozen cherry bread my mom baked and brought with us- so yummy!
Although our RV park was wonderful and had walking beach access through the sand dunes, we had our mind set on Big Sur, so loaded up and began the 1.5 hour drive (only about 30 miles) south on highway 1.
The views on this drive were unbelievable- you truly need to experience it – the cliffs, beaches, mountains and evident power of the crashing ocean mesmerized us. We listened to Andrew Peterson’s Edge of the Dark Sea or Darkness as we drove, crossing bridges constructed in 1932, including a segment that fell into the ocean back in March of 2024 and is still being repaired. The kids and I actually saw a clip from that segment on World Watch recently and a few of them were not a fan of the fact that we drove over it!
Once we turned off highway 1 to head down to Pfeiffer Beach, we weaved down quite an interesting one lane road, with turnouts for meeting traffic, only able to go 15mph or slower. We were able to pay $15 entry and barely squeeze into the parking lot as there was only one spot remaining when we arrived.
Only one of my kids has ever been to the beach, and that was the eldest at age 1. To describe their excitement would be difficult. I don’t know that I have ever seen that degree of unbridled joy at the atmosphere around them- the multi-colored lichen covered cliffs, crashing LOUD waves and wind, beaches flanked by more mountainous cliffs. We are not beach people, but when we decide to go- this is where we want to go.
I honestly don’t know how long we stayed there, but we could have spent all day exploring. My favorite product that we purchased and used for this excursion is BOGI towels (huge thanks for my friend Renee for telling me about them right before our trip!) – they worked great to help remove sand, and dry quickly. We plan to keep them in our hiking backpacks for the remainder of our trip in case Behr finds any swimming holes, which he always does.
After returning to the car, we made the foggy drive back to our RV where a few kids showered and we all changed clothes before loading up again to grab a late dinner. It was after 8pm by the time we sat down at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp in Monterey. Mom and I drained bowls of gumbo quickly while watching the ocean out of ceiling high windows, and the kids all devoured seafood platters and feasts like they had not eaten in days. I guess the ocean can do that to you.
After dinner we enjoyed walking around Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck’s 1945 novel, originally a place where sardines were canned. I’ve read several of Steinbeck’s novels but not that one, and now I plan to read it!
We ended the day by stopping at a little shoppe that sold hot and fresh cinnamon rolls. The kids chose strawberry ice cream but Nick and I shared peach cinnamon rolls and it was exactly as good as it sounds.
We squeezed as much out of the day as we could and it was one of those days that worked out even more perfectly than we planned. We are so grateful! I’ll cherish the memories from it for sure.
jami lee gainey 
I grew up in the Monterey Bay area including Marina!
Oh, wow! how neat!