Day 13 - Monterey, CA

On the morning of Day 13, we packed up our camping gear and got ready to head out of Big Sur.  We were sad to leave, but knew there were more adventures ahead...and we put Big Sur on our list of "Places We Must Visit Again"!

Soon after hitting Highway 1, we found our way to the Bixby Bridge.

The Bixby Bridge is one of the most famous along the Pacific coast.  Construction began on it in 1931 and lasted just over one year.  The total cost of its construction came in at just under $200,000!  Prior to its construction, the residents of Big Sur were virtually cut off from nearby Monterey and towns north during winter due to impassible inland roads.  It is beautiful!

About a half an hour up the road, we came to Carmel River State Beach.  It was a great spot to get out and stretch our legs and check out the scenery.  This beautiful 1-mile stretch of coast does not allow swimming or wading due to the strong currents which can be extremely dangerous.  The water off the beach looks especially calm due to the steep drop-off near the shore, but is especially dangerous because of the undertow that could easily trap a person underwater.

Look at that calm surf - deceptive...  

Dan's a rule breaker - livin' on the edge.

The beach is wonderful for walking and digging!  The sand is big and coarse, like tiny little pebbles.  We all had fun just sitting on the beach and digging our hands into the endless sand.  

If you can, zoom in on the sand stuck to this shovel.  It's amazing!

After a little playtime at the beach, we hopped back in the car and headed for the 17-Mile Drive around Pebble Beach.  Everything we read before the trip said that the drive around Pebble Beach on this toll road was totally worth the $10.  We agree!  Although we are not golfers, we could definitely appreciate the unique beauty of this peninsula.  

The Lone Cypress - 250 years old!

Day 12 - Big Sur, CA

For our second day in Big Sur, we decided to explore Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park a bit.  It is a place of amazing beauty.

Even the drive from the Big Sur Campground to the State Park was gorgeous!

The Scullys at Big Sur, CA!

Ever since we began doing research for our California road trip, I saw pictures of the famous McWay Falls and could not wait to see them in person!  They are a thing of beauty.

The McWay Falls is probably the most well-known feature of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  It is an 80-foot waterfall that flows year-round and one of the few waterfalls that empties directly into the Pacific Ocean.  The beach you see in the picture below is inaccessible to visitors, but we dreamed of how wonderful it would be to play and camp there!  

The yucca blooms below the lookout area were the biggest we've ever seen!

One of the neatest things we learned while here, was how the park came to be named after Julia Pfeiffer Burns.  Julia Pfeiffer Burns was a true pioneer woman who grew up in Big Sur from the time she was 11 months old.  She married fellow homesteader John Burns in 1915.  She and her husband worked their leased ranch together.

Helen Hooper Brown, an east coast heiress who was orphaned at 15 year old, had inherited $10 million  and married Lathrop Brown in 1911.  The Browns purchased a ranch in Big Sur in 1924.  Over the course of the next four years, Julia and Helen developed a close friendship, despite being from two very different worlds.

In her will, Helen donated her land at Big Sur to the state to be preserved, but only under one condition - It must be named after her dear friend, Julia.

It is truly beautiful land and we are so thankful we were able to explore it on our trip to Big Sur!

After going to the lookout area for McWay Falls, we headed down another trail toward the condor nests.

There, we were able to see several nesting California condors UP CLOSE!

We also found two of the coolest campsites in California - and the ONLY two in JFB State Park!

This is the view from the two campsites above!  

After enjoying the views of the ocean, we were ready for lunch.  We headed inland just a bit and had a beautiful picnic lunch by the creek at the park.  

The short hike to our picnic spot.

What a view!

We had a visitor during lunch!

On the way back to our campsite the Big Sur Campground, we decided to stop at the Big Sur Taphouse to have a look around.  Both boys were sleeping in the car, so Dan and I each took turns checking the place out - it included a little general store and post office, as well.  It was so cool inside, we decided we had to wake the boys up and stay to enjoy it!

Once inside, we ordered an appetizer of chips and salsa and a couple of brews and headed up to the rooftop patio!  They even had wifi, so it was our chance to catch up with the outside world via email and Facebook!

An hour or so later, we finally headed back to the campground to relax and make some dinner.  The boys headed to bed around dark.  Dan and I were beat, too.  As Dan headed to the camp bathrooms to get ready to bed, I cleaned up the campsite and waited for my turn.  I grabbed for a picnic blanket we'd hung across a fallen redwood log and caught a glimpse of something yellow in my headlamp.  As I leaned in closer for a better look, here's what I saw....

Ahhhhhh!  I jumped out of my skin and nearly screamed as I saw this banana slug sliming his way across our blanket.  Ewwww.....  Afraid that Dan would miss seeing it, I took several pictures.  Of course, a slug moves very, veeerrrry slowly and was in nearly the same spot by the time Dan returned from the bathroom.  

Day 11 - Big Sur, CA

Our night at the Red Roof Inn in Lompoc was our first disappointing motel stay of the trip.  What a bummer!  I won't relive all of the details here, except to say that at approximately 11:30 p.m., we woke to a large group of foreign tourists trying to enter our locked room.  They even yelled and banged on the door when their key wouldn't work!  When I called the main desk, they gave a short, annoyed apology - they had made a wrong room assignment.  Ugh!

Suffice it to say, we were anxious to get out of there and head up the Central Coast!  We were headed to Big Sur and we couldn't wait!

One of our first stops was Montana de Oro State Park.  We hiked down to Sandspit Beach.  It was awesome!

The view from the top.

The beach path heading down.

We couldn't believe how empty this area was.  It was amazing!

We walked the beach and enjoyed the views.  We found sand crabs and kelp.  We EVEN found a sting ray carcass!

Look what we found!!!

This was a little boys' dream beach hike!  

Next, we hopped back in the Suburban and headed to the Elephant Seal Rookery! On the way, we stopped at a beach on the roadside to search for beautiful rocks with some other rockhounds.  

It was very cool to see the elephant seals at the Rookery!  They are in a protected place, so we couldn't get on the beach, but we were close enough to see their cute faces and hear them "talking!"  They didn't seem fazed by the people checking them out and taking photographs.  They just relaxed on the beach, sleeping, talking, and periodically throwing sand onto their own back and bellies to cool down.  

After the brief stop to check out the wildlife, we headed north, again, on Highway 1.  Next stop: Big Sur Campground! 

We couldn't believe our eyes when we pulled into the Big Sur Campground (www.bigsurcamp.com/).   This is a privately-owned campground between Highway 1 and the Pacific Ocean...and right on the Big Sur River!  It was gorgeous!  

This family-friendly campground has great campsites, the coolest forest campground EVER, free coffee and tea every day, and nightly quiet time that is actually observed!  It was BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, LOVELY!  We can't wait to go back!  

Big Sur was our first real introduction to the redwoods....and they were AWESOME!

And, how's this for a playground in the forest?!

The playground had a REAL treehouse too!  All natural!

We ended our first evening here by dipping our toes in the Big Sur River which meandered its way through the campground.  It was shallow and cold and felt refreshing after a long day of adventures!

Day 10 - Santa Barbara, CA

We spent my birthday exploring Santa Barbara!  What a beautiful place to spend the day!  We got there around lunch time and headed to the Bay Roadhouse for a delicious lunch and a birthday margarita! 

Afterwards, we rented a surrey and rode up and down the beach path with the boys! 

We saw a marina full of sailboats, kite surfers, oil rigs off in the distance, house boats, beach bums, sand sculptor, a busy skate park, a very unique bus, a drum circle in the park, beautiful flowers, lifeguard towers!  And, that was just on the beach path surrey ride!

sailboats at the marina

kite surfer

oil rig

cool, old houseboat

sand sculpture

crazy bus - thousands of toys & figurines were glued to the outside

drum circle in the park

Birds of Paradise

lifeguard tower

The surrey ride was great exercise for Dan and I.  It’s not easy work hauling this family around – plus you have to add the weight of the surrey too!  We decided to wind down with a walk to Chase Palm Park.  We found a carousel to ride and the shipwreck playground!

After a wonderful and busy day of play, we headed north to Lompoc to sleep for the night.

Day 9 - Carpinteria, CA

 Although we enjoyed seeing Davy and Curran in L.A., we were looking forward to moving away from the city and toward the ocean today!  The drive to Carpinteria was not long, but traffic was thick for a while.  Soon after things started to thin out a bit, there we were!  We saw the Pacific Ocean on the California coast for the first time!  Horray!

We found our campsite at Carpinteria State Beach quickly.  We were close to the entrance and right on the beach!  The campground had close quarters for what we normally enjoy, but being on the beach and within walking distance to the small town of Carpinteria was very cool.  We set up camp and headed to the beach!

The boys LOVED playing in the ocean waves and digging in the soft beach sand!

After a camp dinner, we walked into town to the Island Brewing Company.  They have a “Buy a Friend a Beer” wall and our friend, Steve, had called from Colorado earlier in the week and bought two beers for us for when we arrived!  What an awesome surprise!  We sat enjoying the views of the Pacific while drinking delicious brews.  The boys liked watching the people there while they ate pretzels.  Then, we found a pretty cool playground on our way back to the campsite!  Fun!

We ended our stay at Carpinteria the next morning (and my 35^th birthday!) with a walk on the beach at low tide, searching for pretty stones and shells to keep as souvenirs.  Oh happy day!