Prior to our trip I did a little research about "must sees" along the California Coast. The two things that came up on every single website was the Monterey Bay Aquarium and driving the Pacific Coast Highway between Carmel and Morro Bay. Stopping for the night in Monterey was not ideal as it was only two hours away from San Fran and therefore 10 hours away from home....but we could not miss a "must see". It was a good thing we did stop because Monterey ended up being one of my favorite towns! It is so cute with darling houses and a small town feel. We spent the first night exploring their fisherman's wharf and finding hermit crabs on the beach. We also stopped at the Dennis the Menace Park...because, well...why not? The next morning we visited the aquarium. This was a little foolish planning on my part because it was Saturday and it was VERY crowded....you know how feel about a crowd! But crowds aside it is a neat aquarium. We have been to a lot of aquariums and while my fave is still the one in Chicago this one was definitely the next best. The highlight was watching the open sea feeding. As silly as that sounds it was very cool as it is in a massive aquarium with a variety of sea life and they all eat in turn...Watching the little sardines stick together in a massive group in order to not be eaten by the larger fish is fascinating! After our aquarium visit we headed over to Pebble Beach. WOW! Seriously???? Who are those people? As you drive along the scenic route pass all the beautiful houses you can't help but think "who lives like this?"! Amazing. The golf course itself is gorgeous and it was pretty cool to see deer out on the greens!
The next destination was Carmel! We decided to just do a quick drive through as we had a long way to drive that day. From what I could see through the window it will definitely be a stop on my shopaholic road trip! My sister in law Ashley grew up here....Really, Ash! Wow! What a great place to grow up!
The drive along the PCH was as amazing as promised. Beautiful cliffs, bridges and beaches all along the route. I loved stopping in Big Sur. Super cute! Trent and I decided we would love to go back and camp there! The drive was very curvy and there were a few times when I thought I would lose my lunch, but all in all it was worth it. One of our favorite stops was the Ano Nuevo State Park to see the giant elephant seals passed out along the beach. They are pretty darn ugly but fun to watch as they try to move their giant bodies and flip sand all over themselves.
Because of all of our stops, we arrived at our final destination, L.A., at 11pm! The next morning we talked about spending one more day at the beach but we decided we would rather just get home! As much as we loved our road trip we were ready to be back in our own beds! We didn't get very far on our journey home without one last stop....Camarillo Premiums Outlets! This momma got to do some shopping after all!
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