California trip

With baby #3 on its way, we decided the weekend we found out we were pregnant we wanted to plan a couples getaway.  We had pretty much decided on New York City, as we were about to book, changed our minds and settled on northern California. We went for the early, early flight, which always sounds good at the time. Arrive early, have a day to explore vs loosing a whole day traveling. But getting up for those early flights is never fun.

We landed in San Jose and picked up our rental car, and headed to Phil's fish market for lunch. I had the cioppino, as seen in the thrown down with Bobby Flay.

Then we headed to pacfic grove. We checked out the seal birthing area and saw lots of Mama and baby seals on the beach.

Then to Crema for my favorite latte, the fog breaker, and a delicious creamy lemon square. Then we headed to Emily's house to take a nap and hang out.

 

We had a date night with the Rollings that night. We went to Grasings in Carmel. It was delicious!  

The next morning Emily made breakfast for us and we hung out for a while. Then we said goodbye as they were leaving for Disneyland that day. We headed to whole foods and picked up some things for a picnic and went to Point Lobos to go hiking. It is so beautiful there!!

After we had done a few of the trails, we headed to downtown Monterey to the aquarium. Its one of the top 10 things to do in Monterey. I don't know that we would have gone since we didn't have our kids, but the Rollings had free passes we could use, so it was fun to go for just a little while and I got to show Michael some of the things the kids and I had enjoyed there when we went before.

We went back to the house to nap and change clothes afterward. Then headed out on 17 Mile drive.

The Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach

After we did the drive we went to Pebble Beach golf course to watch the bagpiper that crosses to golf course, playing bagpipes to close the course down at sunset. They have seating areas with fire pits and food and drinks to order.

The last song he plays is Amazing grace. It was great. We went to Carmel again for dinner that night and ate at Dametra. And it was so good!! :)

Friday morning we did the Big Sur drive, and hit up all the big sites along the way.

The famous Bixby bridge

We went to Pfeiffer beach with the purple sand. Which is really beautiful. But it was so incredibly windy that day the sand was pelting us like small bullets. So we didn't stay very long.

Smiling despite the flinging sand stinging our legs.

I love this huge rock there!
We ate at the beautiful Nepenthe for lunch and continued on the drive.

We did the short hike at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to the waterfall there.

On our way back in to town we went to fisherman's wharf and walked around a little and got some candy for the kids at a fun candy shop. We watched the seals at the bottom of this photo for a while.
Then we ate dinner at a restaurant there on the wharf.

Saturday morning went got up early and went to Pavel's to get pastries for breakfast. The reviews were amazing, and it was true that people had lined up at the door before it opened. And it did not disappoint! We got ready after that and drove to Big Basin state park to see the redwood forest there.

We did a short hike, checked out the incredible trees, and then headed back to Monterrey.

We stopped at In and Out for lunch.

Then on to Alisomar Beach to the tide pools there and walked along the beach there for a while. It is such a pretty beach!

We took naps again and then went back to Carmel for dinner. I've forgotten where we ate, but it was REALLY good. :)

Sunday morning we went to brunch at the Carmel Mission Ranch. They had live music and pretty much every food you could think of.

The scenery was beautiful there, with the rolling hills, beach in the distance and Point Lobos. And the food was great.

We went and checked out the nesting seals again. I could watch them for a long time! Then back to crema for one last latte before loading up to head to the airport.

The trip was such a gift and we are so grateful to my Mom for caring for the kids while we were away. It was so nice to finish our thoughts and conversations without interruption or just be quiet together, see some of God's incredible creation and eat at such wonderful places, and take naps every day.

I was ready to get home to my kids though. And we spent monday morning at home together before Isabella had school. They played picnic and searching for cloud shapes that morning and I soaked them in. Its good to go and its good to come home too.