To Santa Cruz, Monterey, Pebble Beach & Back w/ Ford C-MAX Hybrid #CMaxDrive

California Coast Road Trip w/ Ford C-MAX Hybrid . . .

How often do you have a fleet of Ford C-Max Hybrids at your disposal for a weekend road trip down the California coast with gorgeous fall weather, luxury overnight accommodations, a behind-the-scenes tour, and dinner at a five-star restaurant? This weekend I had just that, together with a small group of local and visiting bloggers.

Deanna of Mommy Gaga and I teamed up to go from Millbrae to Carmel in a dark gray Ford C-MAX Hybrid SE. It fit our matching suitcases (totally unintentional and blocked in the photo by my big ‘ol bag) with oodles of room to spare. I got behind the wheel for the first half of the trip and experienced the smooth transition to and from electric power to gas during the trip.

Somehow, after a brief stroll at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, time had gotten away from us and we had to hurry to meet the rest of the group at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Since Deanna needed to eat the ice cream she just bought, I continued the drive on Highway 1. The C-Max’s steering could handle the windy road fine but the steering was a bit too light to feel confident going around the corners at the speed limit.

I wasn’t too hyped about visitng to the aquarium as I’ve been there many times before. However, a special tour had been arranged for us and we got to check out several areas restricted to the general public. It was such a treat to see the top of the Kelp Forest and to learn about how the huge plunger-type apparatus helped maintain the health of the natural salt water environment.

We were also taken to the top area of another main tank on exhibit. I had no idea that the Monterey Bay Habitats tank is shaped like an eight or hourglass to allow the sharks enough room to maneuver around freely or that all the sharks are hand-fed to prevent them from eating other tank mates!

Oh, and you know how the jellies always stay around the middle of the viewing area? That’s not by chance. A whole system of currents is in place to keep them drifting where visitors can see them. Interesting, right?

The tour went by quickly and it was already time for us to go back to the hotel. Casa Palmero in Pebble Beach is beautiful! As if the old world charm and stellar staff weren’t enough, I even had a private outdoor hot tub attached to my room. Grr, why didn’t I bring my swimsuit?!

Dinner was a short walk away and The Bench did not disappoint. The meal started off with a Balloon Bread (seasoned flat bread filled with steam) and ended with a scrumptious strawberry dessert. I would have taken pictures of the cauliflower soup and roasted chicken entree but they were so amazingly delicious that I was too focused on eating 😛

The next morning, Kathleen of Life with 4 Boys and I headed back to the Bay. Poor Kathleen was SUPER stressed about making her flight out but, in the end, it turned out just fine. The weekend trip was wonderful but I was exhausted afterwards!

For the whole trip, only a half tank of gas was used in the Ford C-MAX Hybrid. I did miss having a back-up camera in the model I was in but at least there was a good amount of window visibility to work with. There’s a ton of information within the gauge cluster to drive more efficiently. Unfortunately, it gets easily buried among the other millions of options contained there as well. The C-MAX is a fine car to use as long as you don’t pay attention to any of the digital screens.

Here’s a little bit about our mode of transportation for this trip:

• C-MAX is the first-ever hybrid-only vehicle line from Ford in North America. The C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi Plug-in Hybrid offer the sporty style and performance of a Ford vehicle with the added benefit of leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
• C-MAX delivers innovation at every turn with dynamic design, spacious five-passenger seating, technology that connects you, along with efficiency that’s beyond impressive. Smart, versatile and fun.
• The C-MAX Hybrid delivers class-leading 43 mpg combined and can travel up to 85 miles per hour in all all-electric mode.
• The C-MAX Energi is like a “hybrid-plus” with its plug-in capability. Using the external charge port, you can charge it in just 2.5 hours.
• Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 171,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln.

One thing is for sure – the next time you plan on taking any kind of extended road trip, to save on gas expenses, hybrid or plug-in/hybrid is the way to go!

I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, however all content and opinions expressed here are my own.