Highway 1 and Big Sur

I don't think it's ever been more difficult to select five photos of weekend highlights... We started early on Saturday morning, left Berkeley, crossed the Bay bridge, passed San Francisco and hit Highway 1 after about an hour. Hwy 1 is a super scenic highway following the coast and our plan was to drive it down to Big Sur (about 180 miles), stopping along the way.

Our first stop (apart from a very short one on a windy beach just as we hit the Highway) was Santa Cruz where we had an amazing breakfast and finally bought a colander and a pepper mill. I think we spent almost two hours there before continuing down to the next stop - Monterey. We didn't actually see that much of Monterey itself, though what we saw on our way in and out looked nice. Our goal was instead the Aquarium. It's been a long time since i spent several hours in an environment where a clear majority of the people are tinier than myself, but with the fish, the sharks, the penguins, the sea otters, jelly fish, turtles and even a white shark, it was definitely worth it.

The original plan had been to spend the afternoon in Carmel-by-the-sea, just south of Monterey, but by the time we got out of the aquarium it was already mid afternoon and we still had plenty of miles to go so we decided to save Carmel for the Sunday and instead get down to Big Sur. We reached Big Sur as the sun started setting and the light, mountains and the sea were just fantastic. And just before it got completely dark (and "perilous" to drive according to the guide book) we arrived at Lucia Lodge, by the Lucia Mountains, where we were spending the night.

We got up pretty early on Sunday morning, having breakfast and enjoying the view from the lodge (see photo with Ant) and decided we wanted to get down to a beach. There were suggestions given in the guide book, but a lady in Lucia had a look at Anthony, said he looked like a "cool guy" and told us to go to Sand Dollar Beach, a bit further south instead. Though we didn't manage to find any of the jade that the beach is famous for, Sand dollar beach was really, really beautiful (photo with rocks sticking out into the water) and I'm so glad we went there.

After spending some time by the water it was time to turn back north. We stopped at the Henry Miller memorial library (if I ever have a memorial, I want one like that) and then Carmel. Carmel is nice, but you can't get away from feeling like you're being an extra on "the OC". You have "the dads" hanging out in their expensive suits, flicking through maganizes of million dollar homes in Pebble Beach and "the mums" in Cartier jewellery carrying around their miniature dogs and kids not yet old enough to drive their own SUVs. Carmel even has its own Tiffany's...

A walk, lunch, and a cup of coffee later we were on the road again, this time aiming for the 101 to San Jose and then the 880 back to Berkeley after an amazing weekend. The only major mishaps were me leaving my jacket at home (yes, stupid) and the slightly annoying two-hour (at least) traffic jam on the 101. But so in total, not bad at all. The "20 % chance of precipitation" never materialised, instead I'm now sitting at home in Berkeley and it's been pouring down all day. But that's ok.