14 Things You Need to Know Before Driving California's Big Sur

The rugged stretch of California coastline between San Simeon and Carmel has always done its best to ward off interlopers. Even the otherwise-ambitious Spaniards gave it a miss at first. Centuries later, there was still no road through the land that explorers referred to as "el país grande del sur," which may or may not translate roughly as "that place where the parking was so bad, we left and went somewhere else." When the project to build what would become the most adored segment of California's Highway 1 was finally started, it took 18 years to complete. Residents, what few there were, remained largely off the grid until the 1950s.

More...