So I, like many others, was fogged in as I tried to leave Monterey on Wednesday night. For me, the only thing United could offer was another attempt out 24 hours later. Not a single meal voucher, no help with a hotel, wouldn't pay for me to get up to SFO where I could grab a flight home the next AM. Thanks for nothing United, you've lost a customer for life.
So I ended up renting one of the last cars available at the Monterey airport and driving up to SFO in order to catch a flight out the next AM. The woman at the counter was nice, but didn't really seem to know much about the area and couldn't tell me the best way to get to San Fran, and oddly they only had maps for the Monterey Bay area. It was now 9:30, 3.5 hours after my flight was supposed to leave, and I just wanted to get going, so I pointed the car north and followed the only sign I saw that said San Francisco, and that was up Highway 1.
The impression that I got was that it would probably be an incredibly scenic drive on a sunny day. On a foggy night, however, it wasn't much fun. I'll have to try it again someday. Here's a Google Maps comparison of the route I should've taken vs the route I did take: