We had a great family vacation this year. The past few years we have made the log trip back to Michigan and spent time with my family, which is always are great time. This year however we decided to do something a little different and stay a little closer to home.
It has been years since we traveled up the coast, and let me tell you it is an amazing coast. One of the most beautiful places in the world. It is a little rugged and it was not with out its bumps. The week started off rocky since my Mother-In-Law ended up in the hospital and Jenn was still recovering from surgery, but we left to enjoy each others company anyway.
We stayed at the Big Sur River Inn which is right on a river that was great to play in and just soak your feet. It is a little hard to get around since it is all right on highway 1 and there is not very many choices for food or places to go. The first day we went to the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It was beautiful, the shoreline and the waterfall flowing right onto the beach was awesome. We then headed north up to Carmel to spend the afternoon at the tide pools. The kids had a blast trying to kill themselves but we had a great time.
After a little running around we finally found a place for dinner. Our first couple of choices did not work out so well, but we ended up at a really great place called Nepenthe and it was great. The view was awesome and it was very family friendly.
The next day we went to Monterrey and went to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and had a great time. This was of course after Julianne had made friends with another little girl down by the river. She is very good at making friends.
We ended the trip down in San Simeon and with a visit to the Hearst Castle which is a really incredible place once you get over the amazing narcissism of it.