Anniversary Trip to Big Sur

Last Friday was our 11th wedding anniversary!  11, as in closer to 20 than to zero.  Crazy!  We had wanted to do something fun, and knowing that we'd probably be taking all our kids with us, we decided to take a trip up to Big Sur.  It's about 3 1/2 hours north of us, up highway 1, right along the coastline.  We didn't realize how windy the road would be or how barren the mountains would be (the redwoods come later in the post), but it was still a beautiful drive and definitely worth the visit.  On our way, we stopped at the elephant seal beaches just past San Simeon.  Those are some cool creatures!

Our first stop once we reached our destination was McWay Falls.  This was also our favorite stop.  Definitely one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.  The pictures never do it justice.  I would have paid good money to be able to go down to the beach, but unfortunately it is not allowed.

After that stop, it still wasn't time to check in to our cabin, so we headed to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  We first headed to Colonial Tree, the largest Redwood in the park and then hiked up to Pfeiffer Falls.  It ended up to be a bit over the kid's level, with them whining or being held (Henry) most of the way.  There were some scenic vistas on the way that were more impressive than the wimpy falls, but I actually really enjoy hiking...without kids.  Still glad we did it.  The redwoods are truly amazing.  These trees are so huge and so tall.  They are gorgeous and it couldn't get over it the whole time we were there.

Then, we checked in to our adorable little cabin at Ripplewood Resort.  That night we were all so tired, I even fell asleep before 9:00.  The next day we spent the morning doing the kids favorite activity of the trip: exploring in and around the river, especially throwing rocks.  Right below our cabin the Big Sur River ran next to the resort.  It was quiet and serene and picturesque.  The kids spent a lot of time trying to master the art of rock skipping.  Neither kid succeeded, better luck next time!

Our next adventure was a bit of a flop.  We had heard about the beautiful rocky beach at Pfeiffer Beach and headed out to see it for ourselves.  Before we paid the 5 bucks to park, there was a sign that said no refunds for windy weather, or something to that effect.  And so we were warned, but for some reason that beach is super windy, like you are being painfully sandblasted while on the beach.  It was a miserable experience, especially for the kids, they were bawling their eyes out.  But the rocks were beautiful and you cannot tell how windy it was from the pictures.  It was an experience, but not one that I ever want to do again.  Oh and Henry left his crocs behind this rock that we were trying to use for protection from the wind.  We realized it half way to the car, but did not want to go back to get them.  It was that windy.  Hurricane gusts, I swear.

The rest of our trip was more of the same.  We spent more time hiking around in the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, threw rocks in the river by our cabin, roasted marshmellows for s'mores, and just enjoyed our time spent together.  The weather was perfect, not to hot, not too cold.  A nice break from the close to 100 degree temperatures we had endured the rest of the week in our non-air conditioned home.

After the two nights stay, we loaded up the car to begin the nauseating journey down Highway 1 back toward home.  No one barfed, but Lillie, Henry and I were both a bit queasy by the end.  We made a fun stop on the way home, but that needs to be its own blog post.

 Bixby Bridge

We saw a bunch of people taking photos and pointing off one of the lookout points.  So we stopped and saw that there was a momma whale and her calf swimming just off the coast.  They are not very easy to see in the pictures we got, but they are there.