Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. TDW: California Vacation- Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea and Pebble Beach

Our absoulute favorite part of our California trip was our time driving through Big Sur, spending two nights at Carmel by the Sea and enjoying the 17 mile drive and lunch at Pebble Beach before we headed to Sausalito. I am so excited to share this part!!

After shopping in Montecito, we headed out on the PCH to Carmel by the Sea. It was about a 4 hour drive. Our drive took us through rural California and ended taking us through Big Sur. It was incredible. First of all, when we left Montecito, it was like we were driving through prairie land..seriously! Sometimes we had the ocean on one side of us and farm land on the other. We passed wineries (we overheard at dinner that the wineries outside Santa Barbara are great!), avacado farms, artichoke farms, all kinds of things. Matt and I were so surprised- we just were't expecting this. We were thinking it would be like the east coast- beach town after beach town after beach town. Not the case at all! About half way to Carmel, we passed the Hurst Castle but didn't go in. I did get Matt to pull over and take some pictures though! Then we started the drive through Big Sur. It was so beautiful! There was no beach- it was all a rocky a coast. Driving through Big Sur was like driving through the mountains here. Matt loved it even though I know he was secretly wishing we had a Porsche and and not an Eclipse Spyder (see the pic of our beloved spyder below)! We did see lots of sports cars driving the PCH through Big Sur. They were having a blast. There were these neat vista points along the drive where we could pull off and take pictures. Here are a couple of pictures of our drive through Big Sur:

Matt driving along the PCH!

We pulled off along one of vistas along the PCH when we were driving though Big Sur...these are some of the pictures.

The sypder! It was little bigger than this picture makes it look...but it was tiny!

Once we got to Carmel, we checked into our hotel, The Cypress Inn, which is co-owned by Doris Day. The 36 Hour book highly recommended it and they were right! It was totally worth it. When we checked in, we told them that we were celebrating and they upgraded us to a king suite with a patio-which was AWESOME! We had a patio right outside our door. Then to make it even better, they brought us a bottle of champagne!

Since we checked in around 6, we unpacked and headed straight to dinner. We asked the concierge if Mission Ranch (Clint Eastwood's restaurant) was worth it and he said definitely! (We heard about Mission Ranch from the 36 hour book). We got there and had to wait about 20 minutes but had a great glass of California wine while we waited. We got a fabulous table outside on the patio (which had heaters!) and were able to watch the sun set while we ate. Matt got the prime rib (what they are known for) and I got an iceberg wedge. It was delicious! I got to wear my new jacket from Montecito tonight too.

Pre dinner photo!

The view from our table

Aren't the sheep cute!

my new jacket :)

On Monday morning, we woke up and headed straight for the beach! It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Just FYI- California was having unseasonably high temperatures. It was generally in the 80's during the day and 50's at night. We definitely didn't mind the heat wave given that the east coast has been oddly cold! The beach was beautiful! Unbelievable! We were also surprised to see Pebble Beach Golf Course right there. Matt loved it! We hiked up the rocks and set foot on the course. It was stunning.

After the beach, we walked around Carmel by the Sea and went in lots of cute little shops. We ate lunch at a little Italian place called Casanova that was highly recommended by both our book and the concierge. Matt got pasta and I got an arugula salad with strawberries. Delish!

After lunch, we headed home and took a much needed nap! (I mentioned the heat wave above- well our hotel isn't known for the best air conditioned rooms given that the average high is in the low 70's). After our nap, we thought we would go see the Carmel Mission. We headed that way, but it was closed for repair (bummer!).

We walked back and got ready for dinner. Before dinner, we enjoyed our free champagne on our patio. It was so much fun! The Cypress Inn also has sherry in all the rooms. We tried it but definitely wasn't for us...we stuck with the champagne!

After our cocktails, we headed to dinner which was at this little Greek place down the road (recommended by the book!). It was great!

This is the courtyard outside our hotel room:

On Tuesday morning, we woke up and set out of the 17 mile drive. We started the 17 mile drive at the Montereay gate, which was about 15 minutes away. It also allowed us to see Monterey. We didn't like the touristy part but we loved the park and vista. Matt and I got out and played on the rocks...of course I turned it into a photo shoot!

These pink flowers were in bloom in Monterey...beautiful!

The 17 mile drive was neat but it was a foggy morning. We went though several golf courses, got to see Pebble Beach golf course, and the lone cypress tree. This cypress tree has been living on this rock for 250 years! If it looks familiar, it is because it is the logo for Pebble Beach!

We got off the 17 mile drive in Carmel, and went to our hotel to change and check out. Then we headed back to Pebble Beach for lunch. Our hotel had a made us a reservation when we checked in. It was great! Matt loved it! The course was beautiful! Before lunch we were able to watch some golfers tee off and we did a little shopping. Matt got a great pull over! For lunch, we were able to sit on the patio of the clubhouse overlooking the 18th hole. The food wasn't amazing but it didn't matter! I had a tuna nicoise salad and Matt had a burger.

Matt watching the golfers tee off from the first hole