From San Fran to LA

A few stretches of good looking beaches and surf line the coast beneath San Francisco as we drive along the Pacific Coast Highway towards Los Angeles. It takes a few days to drive to LA as there are some decent towns to stop at on the way.
We don't get very far before stopping at Santa Cruz.
This place is fairly small and has really only one short main street but the Spanish colonial style buildings all look neat and tidy and the place has a good atmosphere about it. It's definitely a surf town due to the amount of surf shops but there's also a theme park on the beach front with old style wooden roller coasters and a bit of a family feel. For some reason I'm constantly getting lost in this town, one way systems and 'no right turns' plague me. We stop overnight across from a skatepark that has a full concrete tube in it. Looks pretty scary, no wonder no-one is attempting it.
Monterey is further down the road. I know of Monterey for two reason, the festival of speed and the music festival. It was at the Monterey Music festival in the 60's where Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire on stage. The town itself was not bad and again in a similar style to Santa Cruz except there are less people walking the main streets. We soon realise everybody's at the dock and the pier therein. It's an old style wooded pier with shacks on both sides selling various fish products for enormous American tourists to scoff. Clam chowder in a bread bowl is the most popular. It's like a think fish soup, I try a sample, no thanks.
A short drive down the coast lands you in Carmel. This is a small affluent town that is based around tourists but not over the top. It's a great looking place and has a long curving beach with lush blue water crashing in and an excellent narrow road that winds along the coast beside hobbit looking houses.
Next up is the 35 miles of coast which is known as Big Sur. A good bit of coast but not as impressive as the New Zealand coast for instance.
A large seal colony occupies a couple of beaches where tourists gather to watch over them. They just lie there in there droves, burping loudly, sleeping, fighting and attempting to hump. Sounds familiar.
We check out some wild surf at Morro Bay where the waves look evil but the shoreline doesn't. Further along the road we spot a load of dolphins swimming amongst the waves.
Santa Barbara was the last stop before LA. It's yet another good looking town and has an air of Mexico in it's buildings and main street. The waterfront also looks typical California with the long pier and rolling Californian hills in the background.
It's amazing how many places I've heard of in America, I thought Malibu was a town of some sort but it's just a long stretch of beach with houses on stilts half on the road half on the sand.
Los Angeles was ahead. Another place I'd heard lots about, not all good. In fact mainly pretty dire.