After a week of mid-terms, Hubs was ready for a break from the books and Bunkey and I were excited for a family adventure! So, since Hubs was able to get a lot of studying done on Friday for his last midterm on Monday, Saturday we were able to go do something fun! We woke up bright and early and got Bunkey fed and packed up the car for a day-trip along the Pacific Coast Highway... Recently I'd come across a wonderful website and we decided to give one of their sample itineraries a whirl!
We traveled first to Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, about 2 1/2 hours South of Monterey. We stopped along the way at what is supposedly a hot spot for whale watching - we just thought it was a cute cafe - for hot chocolate, blueberry muffins, and to feed the baby. I would have liked to take our breakfast outside on the patio to watch for whales, but it was just too cool for the baby and too foggy to really see anything. Bunkey didn't really want to eat yet, so after we were done eating, we got back on the road for the final push to Hearst Ranch! Once we arrived, we sat in the car so Bunkey could finally eat and to change him, but then we found out it'd be almost two hours to tour the property and strollers weren't allowed. So we looked around in the visitors center, saw a neat vintage fire truck and some gorgeous views, and got back in the car to loop back to the north.
We stopped next at Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery. While it's not the pupping season, we saw tons of seals laying on the beach, and even a couple bulls playing in the surf! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that, but as you can see, there's a few good pictures of the seals sunning themselves!!
After watching the seals for a while, we drove on to Ragged Point, which is supposedly the place with the best views of the coast, but we weren't able to find parking close enough to get a view without having to carry the infant seat a long way, so we just looked form the car. We'd seen the views on the way to Hearst Castle, and they were really pretty (I can only imagine what they'd look like without fog!)...I wish we'd stopped then since there were plenty of places to park earlier in the day! Oh well! We continued down the highway and stopped a few other places with pretty views and parking right on the edge of the cliffs!
We drove past several state parks on the way to Big Sur, but we didn't stop since hiking the nature trails with the baby is just too difficult! We stopped in Big Sur along the riverbed for lunch at the River Inn and to stretch our legs. Hubs and I were starving since by then it was close to 2:00 and we hadn't eaten since we stopped for muffins in the morning! We got back home around 4 and relaxed after a long day in the car.... It was a really pretty drive, but we both agreed we'd at least like to drive through Big Sur again some time when it's not so foggy!
We had a great day and enjoyed the scenery and exploring the area! We're looking forward to more weekend adventures like today!!
Sounds like you need one of those Baby Bjorn carriers! I've done some of this drive (also didn't actually go past the visitor center at Hearst Castle); it was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe have one (not that brand though).... The problem is that for these scenic road trips, getting the baby out of the infant carrier and into the baby backpack at each stop would actually take more time than just grabbing the infant carrier....especially when we're just gonna snap a few pictures. If we'd planned to stop and hike, the backpack would have been great...but we didn't have time for that on this drive, unfortunately!
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