California Road Trip of a Lifetime Day 5 - The Big Sur...Heaven on Earth

"Nothing quite prepares you for your first glimpse of the craggy, unspoiled coastline." - California Coastal

I don't even know what to say with this post. Today was one of the most incredible days I will ever experience in my entire life! Our day started out eating our delicious not so much "deluxe continental breakfast.". We then drove to Carmel from Monterey. In Carmel we walked around the neat shops again, ate a delicious lunch at Tommy Woks, which I highly recommend if you are ever in the area and want to eat some delicious authentic Chinese food, then we Andrew had to feed the squirrels sand rats one last time.

I love Carmel! It is the cutest little town unlike any other that I have ever been to. Hindsight 20/20 I wish we would have stayed there, but nonetheless we had a great time there. The shopping is awesome, there is even a coach outlet, go figure. The beautiful beach was at the end of the main street of the town, Ocean Avenue, and is a breathtaking view of the ocean and Pebble Beach golf course.

Once we left Carmel we headed south on HWY 1 for the most incredible scenic views I will ever see in all of my whole entire life. If you don't believe in God, I can promise you that you will, once you see the Big Sur with your own eyes. Only God could create something that breathtaking! I don't even know how to do it justice. It was incredible, breathtaking, amazing, mouth dropping, eye opening, spiritual, in-freakin-credible to say the least. I believe that it took us 10 hours to get 125 miles...we must have stopped 2 dozen times. Every turn that we took was another breathtaking view of one of God's most amazing creations.

It is here in Big Sur that I first learned how to say Amen
~ Henry Miller

Our first stop along the Big Sur was at Rocky Creek Bridge.  We then stopped at Bixby Bridge, a bridge famous for its car commercials, it is aaaamazing.

"Thirteen miles south of Carmel stands one of the world's highest single-span concrete arch bridges, Bixby Bridge. Its beauty is matched only by the ocean waves crashing on the rocky coastline below. Reaching over 260 feet high and over 700 feet long, it is a structural masterpiece, and probably the most photographed object along the coastal route." -BigSurCalifornia.org

 

Pfeiffer state park park was next on our list. There was a $10 fee to enter the state park, but you pay once and then you can enter all the rest for free. We hiked a 3 mile hike through the giant redwoods and beautiful scenery to Pfeiffer falls, which was sooooo worth it. It was a gorgeous waterfall,  with cute little bridges and ginormous trees along the way.

We were going to stop at Pfeiffer beach where there is this supposed purple sand, but the line was looong and we were losing our daylight, so we turned around and continued heading south.

Partington Cove was our next stop.  We pulled over along side the road and entered a dirt trail down the cliff.  We walked over a cute little bridge and went through an even neater tunnel that took us down to the cove.  We were given an up close and personal look of part of the Big Sur.  Tide pools were all within the cove and the lookout to the Pacific was amazing.

McWay Falls was next.  While all of the stops and views were nothing short of incredible, this viewpoint was one of my favorites.  McWay Falls is the only coastal waterfall along Big Sur.  It is technically a part of the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, but if you want a shortcut to the famous spot you can pull off the road on the west side right after the park entrance and get on the trail from there.  It'll save you a lot of time.  This dirt trail curves around and takes you straight to the trail that gives awesome views of this God-made beauty. The waterfall drops 80 feet straight onto the beach and into the aqua water.  We got there right around sunset.  It was memorizing!  A MUST SEE if you ever go.

After we left, we had about 30 minutes or so left of sunlight.  We decided to take another hike to see Salmon Creek Falls.  This waterall is a "double-drop one that is tucked up into a forested canyon."  It can be glimpsed from HWY 1, but this view doesn't do it justice.  We headed up the hill, for what was supposed to be a 10 minute hike.  We got to a fork in the trail where the sign pointed one way, but the waterfall could be heard if you went the other way on the unmarked trail.  Well...we followed directions and went the way the sign pointed...we hiked and hiked and hiked.  We hiked very close to the edge of the cliff and had an awesome view of Big Sur, however about this time my "slight fear of heights," got to me and I became a little very anxious.  I am usually pretty good about hiding this fear of mine and can suck it up and get over it pretty quickly...not so much this time...poor Andrew.  After what seemed like hours of hiking up towards who knows where, we finally decided to hike back down, thank goodness for my sanity.  Once we got to the fork again, we took the unmarked trail and within a matter of a couple of minutes we were to the double waterfall.  I am not sure where that trail would have gone to, maybe to an upclose and personal view of the waterfall, but this view that we got was nothing short of amazing.  This was the most incredible waterfall I have ever seen.  It was a double-drop, meaning it came together from two different waterfalls and ended up in one large waterfall draining into pools of crystal clear water.  These pictures do not do this one justice.  You could see a rainbow of colors as the falls came together and it just made for one BEAUTIFUL sight.  One of my favorites!  Don't miss it!  And take the unmarked trail ;)  Some day I'd like to go back and take the other trail and see where it goes...that is after I medicate myself a little a lot beforehand.

One of our last "named" spots was Ragged Point.  It was a pull-off spot with jaw-dropping views of Big Sur.  It offered an amazing view of the sun setting. 

After hours and hours of driving, pulling off the road to see the unspeakable beauty at every curve, hiking trail after trail, taking in something so beautiful that only God could create, we decided it was time to eat dinner.  We were starving by this point and not to mention filthy from hiking so much.  As we were headed to Cambria to grab a bite to eat, we saw a ton of people that were gathered along the beach on the side of the road.  Our curious minds got the best of us, so we stopped to see what it was all about.  The boardwalk was in Piedras Blancas.  It was an up-close view of the ginormous elephant seals.  These seals can weigh over 2 tons and are some of the ugliest creatures I have ever seen.  We saw them in their molting season.  So all they do is lay there.  There were tons and tons of them.  And seriously they just lay there and every now and then they make a strange sound and flop to the other side....such odd creatures.

We finally made it to Cambria and stopped at Main Street Grill, thanks to the urban spoon app.  It was delicious!  Either that or I was just starving, or maybe a little of both.  Food never tasted so good!  While we were eating we booked a hotel for the night in Solvang.  It was around 80 miles away, so we still had a little bit of driving to do.  We got to the Holiday Inn Express around 10:30.  Just in time to take a shower to wash more dirt than I care to elaborate on off of my body and crash.

Today was so unbelievably amazing.  One of the best days of my life.  There is nothing better than taking in God's amazing creation, something so beautiful and memorizing that there are not any words to even do it justice, with the one you love dear.  If seeing the Big Sur is not on your bucket list, it should be.  If you are ever in need of a vacation to restore your soul and faith, this is the one you need to go on.  The beauty that God created right here in the United States of America is probably the most astounding piece of scenery that I will ever see in my entire life.  I have already stated this, but I mean it when I say, only God could create something of this caliber of beauty!  Go see the Big Sur!

California Road Trip of a Lifetime Day 4 - 17 Mile Drive

After we enjoyed our not so much “delicious deluxe continental breakfast,” we hopped on the free trolley and headed towards Cannary Row to rent some road bikes for the day. 

 
We went to Bay Bikes and rented a couple of hybrids. From there we hopped on the bike trail and rode through Monterey along the coast. We passed some talkative harbor seals chilling along the rocks, the famous Lover's Point and then headed through Pacific Grove where we entered the gates for the 17 Mile Drive. This drive is famous for its natural beauty and notorious other landmarks along the drive. It is also home to Pebble Beach and a several other beautiful golf courses. As we biked along the street we stopped too many times to count and took more pictures than I can remember. The scenery was just breathtaking.  It was incredibly beautiful!

Seal rock is a giant rock out in the middle of the Pacific that was home to a ton of seals, sea lions, otters, and birds. It was crazy to see the vast amount of animals inhabiting on that single rock.   There had to be thousands of them! 

The Lone Cyprus is a cyprus tree, imagine that, that sits out on a cliff all by its lonesome. This was also the 10 mile mark along our almost 50 mile round-trip journey. It was also the point where the dude at Bay Bikes recommended that we stop and turn around....but we didn't...we kept on keeping on.

Once we got to Pebble Beach, we stopped at the market and ate a delicious turkey sandwich. At this point in our journey we were starving. The little community of Pebble Beach is like a tiny world within the gates. It had a bank, a market, lots of shops, and ginormous beautiful homes. The waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing along the cliffs backed up to the greenest, most beautiful golf course I have ever seen, it made for a breathtaking view. I just wonder what those people do that live in there....I know one thing for sure...they are not doctors.

Once we got to the other end of 17 Mile Drive we headed out the gates and rode into the little town of Carmel. We first stopped at the beach. Oh my...the beauty continues...the sand is white, Pebble Beach is in the background, the water is all different shades of blue, and there are little squirrels sand rats running around everywhere. This had to have been Andrew's favorite part of the whole trip. The greedly little things flocked to him. He even bought almonds at the Pebble Beach Market so he could feed the squirrels rats. Now you see why I call him a kid in a candy store all the time? I think he missed his calling..he shoulda been an animal something or another...

As soon as I could get Andrew pried away from the squirrels rats, and as soon as he could get me out from hiding in the ginormous tree trunks...

We headed up the hill to the town. Carmel is one of the cutest places I have ever been. Its so dainty and flowery. There were cuuuute little shops in victorian style homes and lots of restaurants lining Ocean Ave. People were out walking their dogs all around. The town is very pet friendly and if you look closely on the signs of hotels, you will see a pic of a dog on it showing that it welcomes ones furry friend to stay too. And the best part about the town...highheels are banned by a city ordinance! Now that's my kind of town for sure!!!

We locked our bikes up and started wandering Ocean Ave. We somehow managed to stumble upon a 3 story outdoor shopping mall. It was so cool! We ate lunch...again...at a little cafe there, we were starving people! 

Afterwards, we continued to enjoy the little town, one..because it was so cool, and two..because we were dreading the 25 miles or so we had to bike back to Monterey.  And Andrew refused to rent a tandem bike! 

After we finally mustered up enough courage to head that way, we were back on our way. And it wasn't bad at all...that was after I made it up the steepest and most curvy hill I have ever biked up.  I was so proud of myself for not getting off my bike and walking up, I was so tempted to do so.  

Even though we had just rode through 17 Mile Drive, I was still just as overcome with its beauty. We continued to stop some more along the way back. At one of our last stops within the gates, we met a very nice lady. She lived there and was showing her grandson the deer and seals along the shoreline. She offered to take pics of us and then next thing we knew she told us we should come back and watch the sunset at Spanish Bay later that evening. She was so kind as to take our names and give them to the gatekeeper so we wouldn't have to pay the $9.50 it costs to enter into the drive by car. Thank you nice lady, wherever you are! 

It seemed like the rest of the ride went by way too quickly.  Biking the 50 miles turned out to be a blast and the best way, I think, to see some of God's amazing beauty!  Once we returned our bikes we were going to hop back on the free trolley and head back to the hotel...that is until I saw Ghiradelli's. After all the riding, Andrew said I know I deserved one of those delicious sundaes...and boy was it delicious!  Heaven in a cup, that's what that was! 

We finally made it back to the hotel and man were we pooped! But you only live once, right?  And we can sleep when we are dead, or so they say? So we managed to get the energy to shower and change clothes and head back out to Spanish Bay just before sunset. We sat by a fire pit within the resort and looked out at the Pacific just in awe. As the sun was setting we snapped a pic at just the right time and enjoyed the moment together.  I am so glad we got to experience this together!  The sun setting was memorizing.  And all I could keep thinking was "How was I so lucky to be here in the most beautiful place I have ever seen with the one I love so much?!?!"  God is awesome, no doubt! 

Speaking of awesome, to show you how awesome my husband is and how much he loves me, after the sunset, for dinner we called in a pizza, picked it up, hurried back to our hotel, just in time to watch the bachelorette finale. Now that is true love right there, dontcha think?!? Especially since he hates that show with a passion. I heart him...and this day..best one yet!

Stay tuned for Day 5...We are driving the Big Sur!