down the coast

after nate's summer internship, we rented a mini van to fit our heaps of stuff and drove down california on the pacific coast highway. wow! if you really want to fall in love with california, this is how. i couldn't even contain myself with all that beauty. i think nate heard me exclaim, "wow! wait! i have to capture this!" ninety-seven times.

on the agenda...
monterey
carmel
pebble beach & 17 mile drive
point lobos
bixby bridge
mcway falls
big sur
piedras blancas beach
hearst castle
san luis obispo
santa barbara
agoura hills
and ending in...aliso viejo at my brother's house.

our timing couldn't have been better. as we drove down the coast, our friends were driving up the coast, and we met in monterey/carmel for two days. thanks to a killer upgrade (nate is convinced nora's smiling at the front desk did the trick), we landed in the biggest suite at our hotel, complete with a huge deck overlooking the bay. gorgeous!

we ate seafood right on the pier and walked through downtown monterey.

the boys golfed the next morning while the girls hit the aquarium.

 ahhh, this view. sign me up for the bay area.

 sage loved the giant kelp forest (sharks!). we spent a good hour here, so i had to throw this photo in.


as usual, nora was happily along for the ride. this baby! i can't get enough.

we explored the carmel mission while our babies snoozed in the stroller. i regret not busting out my real camera. i love a good spanish mission.


 we stumbled upon the huge car show going on in carmel the day we were there. i'm no car lover, but these restored cars were impressive. mostly, i was dying over the quaint neighborhoods where every house has a name and style. we had to park 10 blocks away from main street because of the crowds, so we got a nice little tour of the surrounding neighborhoods.
we walked main street and stopped for fudge at the cutest candy shop. every walkway, shop, house, and restaurant was cute.

 
 
 
 our mini vacation with this fun crew ended in lunch on the patio of casanova. our six little GIRLS were quite the scene, but the homemade spinach gnocci was worth the chaos.

we drove the 17 mile drive at dusk.

we had a mix of fog and soft purple skies as our backdrop on the road that winds through golf courses and along the ocean. we stopped at pebble beach for a check on nate's bucket list: walking the 18th hole. obviously, playing the 18th hole is probably higher on the list, but hey, we'll get there.

sage cracked us up with her fake phone. "hang on mom, let me just take a picture of the sunset!" as she held her phone in the air. i always marvel at what a different world our girls will grow up in.

the next day, we stopped briefly at a few lookout points in point lobos, then came to the bixby bridge, built in 1932.

next up was a hike (walk?) to mcway falls, a beautiful blue lagoon with a waterfall trickling into it.

 i feel incredibly lucky hanging out with my people. i love them so!

we really started getting into the forested mountains as we drove deeper into big sur. with no cell service, we were determined to find big sur bakery since it came so highly recommended. and we did! and it was perfection! i always wish my dad were with me when i find a good bakery. there is no one who appreciates the fine art of the chocolate chip cookie more than my father.

we quickly ran to the railing at piedras blancas beach to peek at the massive elephant seals covering the beach, then drove on to hearst castle. we ultimately decided to skip the actual castle tour since we didn't have time and we were guessing sage and nora weren't dying to walk quietly through an old mansion. we'll save that for another day.
as we drove past the grounds, i did a double take. a herd of zebras roamed by the side of the road. we spent the next half hour reading everything on wikipedia about william randolph hearst's life (zebras have roamed the grounds for years). i also read french parents don't give in to nate while we drove, so in addition to appreciation for beautiful ocean views, we came away from this trip armed with french parenting tactics and random facts about hearst himself.

santa barbara holds memories for nate.
his mom used to bring her kids to the art museum and library often. nate appreciates it now, but his eight year-old self would have rather been playing soccer.

we ordered gigantic burritos at freebird, then spent the night with nate's grandparents just north of los angeles. after a brief visit, we made it to my brother's house in southern california at last.

in case i didn't take enough ocean photos, one last view of this stunning coastline.