Beautiful Big Sur

Last weekend Ash and Lys came home to celebrate Lys's birthday, so we headed down to Big Sur!  Spectacular vistas, gorgeous weather, and yummy food awaited us.

Serenaded by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Coldplay, we drove through Carmel and the Pacific came into view.  Soon we were passing Point Sur with it's turn-of-the-century lighthouse. For an interesting read about it, click here!

 

Our first stop in Big Sur was the Big Sur Bakery for pancakes and eggs.

Care to have a seat?

After being properly fortified, we drove down to the Henry Miller Memorial Library -- a bookstore, really -- set in redwoods.

 

 

We were greeted by these funky sculptures. Not in the picture was the ping-pong table where anyone is invited to play and the guy doing yoga on the front porch (we wanted to respect his privacy).

 The interior of the library was equally unique. Books hanging from the ceiling...

 and a sort of room divider...

... made of money -- all foreign currency.

From there we drove down the coast another 7-8 miles into Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park for a little hike. The billowy clouds against the mountains and deep blue sky were gorgeous!

 

Pelton is a family name so I was especially curious about the Pelton Wheel!

Our goal was a short hike to see McWay Waterfall. We started down a path which led us to a tunnel.

 

On the other side of the tunnel, the ocean came back into view!

 There's nothing like a walk on the edge of the world! 

This was our trail, skirting the cliffs over the Pacific.

 

 Nestled in the hills along the path were morning glories...

 

 ...and other friends!

  McWay Falls were skinney (can you see it?) but the view was magnificent!

 

Staying there forever, breathing in the peace of Big Sur, was very tempting, but soon it was time to turn the car around and head back on the long and winding road home. We decided we were feeling hungry again, so stopped at the famous Ventana Inn.

 

 The weather was so nice, we opted to eat outside, with this as our view from our table...

 

 We were under a huge table umbrella and soon heard large raindrops falling. It became quite cool, but we were finished eating and by the time we got back to the car, the sun was shining again.

The Bixby Bridge welcomed us back to the Carmel Highlands area and soon we were home, warm memories dancing in our heads.

 

This is a trip I highly recommend to anyone visiting the Monterey area!