Point Pinos, CA

I don't remember when we first went to Point Pinos, but it was a nice place to drive out, park, and walk along the shore.  It was more rocky, and there wasn't much sand there (it was covered by crushed shells), but there were tidepools everywhere, filled with hermit crabs.  There was a light house just up from the shore.  The beach there was rarely crowded, and you could sometimes see whales off the coast.

A view of the Pt. Pinos lighthouse (from a whale watching trip)