Sea Ranch Must Be the Place
A road trip itinerary
A road trip itinerary
I’m head over heels in love with Sea Ranch— I’ve thought about it every day for the last six weeks since leaving. It feels like the dreamiest mix between the Oregon Coast and Big Sur, and I cannot recommend a visit enough!
This place is unfathomably peaceful and serene in every way: the beaches are foggy and slightly chilly like Oregon, and the weather stays in the high 60s and low 70s throughout June: this made for beautiful post-dinner sunset walks, ideal temps for sitting outside at the lodge, and cozy beach walk weather as well.
The drive up from LA was estimated to take about 9 hours, and after traffic and coffee breaks, we knew it would be closer to 10.5 or 11 hours— that lead us to break it up into a couple of easier stops. Here’s what we did:
Stop 1: The East Bay
We drove from LA to the East Bay in about 5 hours, stayed the night and took off early the next morning.
Stop 2: Marin County
We left for one of our favorite breakfast spots, M.H. Bread, in San Anselmo and made it there in about 40 minutes. If you’re more ambitious and want to stop in SF as a part of your journey, here are a bunch of my favorites.
Stop 3: SEBASTOPOL
Our next stop was Sebastopol, about an hour's drive. This was the final Whole Foods on our route, so we swung through and picked up groceries for the trip. If you’ve got some free time, this town is adorable and has quaint shops and antique stores along the side of the road, and you should definitely stop in wherever you can before you get groceries.
Stop 4: Sea Ranch
Here’s everything I made on the trip! I pulled out all of my tried-and-true favorites for this and go into detail in the post above.
Stop 5: Cambria
On our way home, we drove 6 hours to Cambria to stay the night. We stumbled upon this restaurant called the Sea Chest that had a line wrapped around the parking lot, and we ended up getting the last table.
We got oysters, clam strips, scallops and salmon, chowder and an ice-cold Grüner, and I’d highly recommend the appetizers over any of the mains.
Stop 6: San Luis ObispO
Next, we took off for SLO to get some coffee at Field Day and to check emails and such. There’s also a lovely vintage shop next door that opens around noon!
Stop 7: Los Olivos
We were planning on heading straight home from SLO, but were driving through Los Olivos and thought this place looked amazing, so we pulled off. Sure enough, it was stunning and they had some incredible food and drinks. Definitely make a pit stop if you’re looking for a break a few hours outside of LA.
Stop 8: Home in LA
That was that! It took 6 days from start to finish including the three days spent in Sea Ranch. I’d say that the longer you’re able to stay in Sea Ranch, the better because it’s obviously quite the trek. If you flew into SF / drove from there, the trip would take only a few hours, so that’s another great option to explore.