Central Coast - Morro Bay

So now it is on to Morro Bay.  We were a few blocks away from the coast so it wasn't as close as the last place but definitely not that far.  Thursday morning we took a walk to Morro Rock.

One of our first views were these lovely little logs.  These otters were not far from the coast.  The one closest had a little baby on its belly and the one to the left is actually two playing around in the water.  It was so awesome to see these guys.  I had been hoping we would get to see some otters on our trip.

 

It the afternoon, Jamie and I did a hike near the estuary and my parents sat near this secluded cove and relaxed. 

Our hike took us near a rookery where we saw this guy on a log.

 

The sun finally decided to come out in the afternoon so Jamie and I rushed back to the house and changed so we could go kayaking near the estuary.  We had a great time on the water, it wasn't too windy and we got a great view of the coast.  It was a really nice afternoon and a pretty relaxing day :)

Central Coast - Hearst Castle

Wednesday was a transition day as we drove down south to Morro Bay.  We stopped along the way to see Hearst Castle which is nestled on a hill in San Simeon (almost right in between L.A. and San Francisco) overlooking the ocean.  In the mornings and evenings you can't see it because it is covered in fog and clouds.  William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher.  He was born into money and eventually entered the publishing business in 1887.  Basically, he made a lot of money and loved to collect.

He essentially built his "Castle" to house his art and antiquities collection.  So many of the rooms were built around the art rather than that art chosen for the room.  He always wanted this to be a museum and so built it that way.

It's a sprawling estate and you have to be bused to the top of the hill to begin the tour.  There are 4 different tours but we just did Tour #1.  Every detail was thought out.  Its amazing how they got everything up the hill back then and how great it still looks today.

It was a clear day and you could see the ocean just perfectly.

 

Here's a shot of the indoor pool where most of the staff were able to swim.  I'm so jealous!  Hearst donated the estate to the State of California in 1957 for everyone to enjoy.  He was one the visionary men of California, like Getty and Huntington, who looked into the future and wanted to share their love of art and collecting with the people and not have it stored away out of site or put to auction.  Thank you very much we are enjoying it.  After our detour it was off to our house in Morro.

Central Coast - Monterey

On the Tuesday of our trip, we decided to rent some beach cruisers and ride up and down the bike paths along the coast. My parents went to see the aquarium, which was highly recommended by a number of people.  Jamie and I wanted to be outside though to enjoy the scenery.

Here is one of the views we saw along our ride.  I love this picture, it came out awesome.

Our lovely bikes.  It was a gorgeous day and the weather was finally starting to warm up.  We got some really amazing views and we were able to do the whole stretch we had planned to that morning.

After our bike ride we went to Carmel for lunch, the Carmel Mission, and the 17mile drive (I posted those pictures already a bit out of sequence but this way seemed to flow better).  This is a picture of the house we stayed at.  It was only two bedrooms and both were upstairs but there was plenty of room downstairs for additional guests.  We could see all the boats going in and out for the day from the dinning room.  It was pretty amazing.  Here my Dad is packing up to head down to Morro Bay.

Central Coast - Carmel & 17 mile Drive

We checked out the Carmel Mission and were pretty amazed at how beautiful it was.  I had read that it was worth seeing and that it was one of the most complete missions in California but still wasn't sure what to expect.

It was painstakingly restored with much detail and looked amazing.

It was definitely one to see while we were in the area.

After the mission we did the 17 mile drive.  It was pretty foggy in places but it was still a spectacular coastline.

It got pretty cold as well, so it was nice going back to the warm car :)

This was one of the deer's we saw along the way.  We saw a lot more on the golf course which was cool but they just weren't in their natural habitat!  We wish it could have been a bit clearer but it did bring a different mood to the drive and we did enjoy it.

Central Coast - Big Sur

Day 2 we drove down to Big Sur.  It was about 40 miles south of us and the fog was pretty heavy in some areas.  We drove thru the clouds on a winding road to get there which made it quite a journey.

We first stopped at McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  It's a short hike to the viewpoints and you get some amazing views but with the fog so thick it wasn't nearly as dramatic as some of the pictures we've seen of it. 

The hike was really nice though and we got our first views of the coastal redwoods.

We then drove to Pfieffer Burns State Park.  After a short visit to the lodge we did about a 3 mile hike to another falls and to a viewpoint.  It started to warm up as well :)

Everything was nice and green :)

By the end of the hike it was really warm and Jamie started to melt!

We then found a nice little picnic area near the Big Sur River for lunch.  We were pretty hungry and thirsty and it didn't take long for us all to eat everything, lol.

As I mentioned earlier it did warm up and Jamie and I had our water shoes in the truck.  So we walked into the river to cool off for a bit.  The water was pretty cold but it felt really good and it was a lot of fun.  Big Sur was beautiful and it was nice to be outdoors in the forest for the day.