Driving California’s coast in 10 days

Immortalized in the Cabrillo National Monument, Juan Cabrillo strikes a fierce-explorer pose in a sculpted reenactment of his 1542 landing in San Diego, making him the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A circuitous route awaits visitors to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, part of the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, which first lighted sailors’ treks in 1855.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

At the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego, look for the occasional game of duck, duck, seagull.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Surf’s up and the Hermosa Beach pier is the perfect vantage point for the water action and world-class beach volleyball.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A few miles north in Manhattan Beach, the 928-foot-long pier hosts a modest aquarium and a cafe where visitors can warm up with a cappuccino or sample the cotton candy.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

In Malibu, tourists, celebrities and pelicans coexist.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Hotel & Resort in Oxnard stretches out seaside.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

In Ventura Harbor, shops, sea air and day cruises to destinations including Channel Islands National Park beckon.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Rising nearly 600 feet above the bay, Morro Rock is an imposing landmark along the San Luis Obispo County coastline.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A fiery aloe bloom rises above the rugged cliffs at Ragged Point, between San Simeon and Big Sur.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Land, sea and gusty winds meet along the Pacific coastline, as seen from Rocky Point between Big Sur and Carmel.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Abalone shells mark graves in the cemetery at Carmel’s Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, which was dedicated in 1797. Father Junipero Serra is buried under the church’s altar.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Sea spray casts a mystical glow at dawn in Half Moon Bay along the Waterfront Coastside Trail fronting Miramar Beach.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

From San Francisco, bicyclists get a prime view of the Golden Gate Bridge against a backdrop of fog.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

At the isolated Timber Cove Inn, about 15 miles north of Jenner in Sonoma County, artist Beniamino Bufano erected a 72-foot obelisk 40 years ago as an ode to “The Expanding Universe.”  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Rental cottages adjoining the Point Arena Lighthouse let guests imagine a rugged life at sea.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Sunny Grigg, co-owner of the Howard Creek Ranch Inn, holds forth on the front porch of his 1871 farmhouse, a stone’s throw from the Pacific about 18 miles north of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a drive-through of a different sort in Leggett, near Mendocino County’s Avenue of the Giants. The Chandelier Drive-Through Tree is 315 feet high and 21 feet in diameter.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

In Arcata in Humboldt County, a statue of President William McKinley presides under the palms over the close of another day.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A statue of Paul Bunyon towers at almost 50 feet in front of the Trees of Mystery in Klamath, just south of the Oregon border.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)