Carmel & Big Sur

Have spent the morning here sipping on a laaaarge cup of coffee and re-tackling the pile of photos I have from our CA trip a few weeks back - already seems like months ago at this point!  Between the moving madness / chaos, it's definitely been relaxing to sneak away to edit and post some photos instead of looking at the bomb of stuff that is all around me 24/7 :)

Speaking of moving.. we are 'officially' on the road late next week and will both be in our new home a week from Saturday!  The whole process has gone so quickly after what seemed like months and months of waiting for things to happen with jobs / transfers and now we are like two cartoon characters who just got run over being all like 'Whaaaaat just happened?!?!'  Luckily, being organized / control freaks comes in handy in these situations and we've gotten through about half of our stuff at this point.  A little final push of packing + purging should do the trick this weekend and we'll be on the road in no time...


Booking the one-way ticket... woop!

Now back to the fun stuff!  Carmel, Big Sur and road-tripping down the Pacific Coast Highway were definitely a highlight of our trip - seeing everything change from Northern CA beach coastline (think rocky, pine trees) to Southern California sunshine and crystal blue water was amazing and even though it takes a bit longer in terms of the drive, it is very well worth it!

Carmel (by the Sea) is home to B's twin sister Tessa, Pebble Beach Golf Course and a million beautiful tiny shops, restaurants and cafes.  The beach in Carmel rivals (and probably beats) our new beach (Santa Monica) with its awesome horseshoe bay, direct view of Pebble Beach and the group of dolphins that regularly make appearances only a few feet from shore.  We spent a morning wandering the beach and the town and couldn't get enough of its charm... excited to go back for another visit once we are finally settled on the West (cough, cough.. Best) Coast soon!



Carmel Fire Station...

Beautiful Buildings & Cottages...

Can't wait to have succulents on our front doorstep!

Made in CA...

Ocean Street, heading down to the beach...

Amazing beach...

Toes in the sand...

Happy twins!

Pebble Beach Golf Course...

Beautiful day...

Dolphins in the bay!

Couldn't get enough of this Big Sis & Little Bro...

Terrorizing me with the seaweed...

Serene.

Taking a break to take in the views...

Beach Cottages...

No addresses allowed in Carmel, every house has a unique name...

California Poppies in full bloom...

Charming Inns everywhere...

Neighborhood map.

Visiting the Carmel Mission...

Spanish architecture...

Loved all of the 'peek-through' courtyards..

After our time in Carmel, we hit the road for the big roadtrip down the PCH - a stop I've been dying to make ever since setting foot in California has been Big Sur.  The pictures of the jagged coast, sea mist and huge cliffs have always stunned me and I was so psyched that we were able to build a stop there into our roadtrip.



Finally a Big Sur postcard of my own!

Tessa had a great plan to stop for lunch at this cafe that hangs over the cliffs and has some of the best views in the area - we had a delicious brunch and took in the 360 views all around us.

Even got a nice little visit from a Hummingbird.. my Grandma Marilyn's favorite bird :)

After lunch, I clearly had to force B into a few photos with a view (can't you see how happy he was about it??)

Then it was back to the road and onto B's hometown in the San Ynez Valley - more pics to come soon!