We flew to California at the end of May in order to see Matt’s nephew, Adam, graduate from high school. Adam will be attending college at USC in the fall and it was fun to relive some of our old high school memories ourselves while out there.
Adam’s parents - Rob and Karen Howard - agreed to watch Paige for us in order to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary with a little trip up the coast. So a day after Adam’s graduation, we said good-bye to Paige and Rob, Karen, Adam and Jonah. We knew Paige was in good hands so we were prepared to enjoy some time to ourselves. This was the longest Paige and Melissa had been apart and the longest Paige had spent not in our care since she was born.
We spent 5 days, 4 nights on the road and sight seeing all the way up the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The first day we drove straight to a little village called Cambria which has a gorgeous beach - Moonstone Beach. We didn’t really hit the coast until we got to Cambria but it was great and the weather was fantastic - 65-70 degrees and sunny. We had a beach front room with a patio at the Blue Dolphin Inn and after grabbing lunch, dinner and doing some wine tasting and antique shopping in the village, we were able to watch the sun set on our patio.
The next morning we had breakfast back out on the patio and went for an early morning walk on the beach. We then headed on up the coast on Route 1 hugging the coast until we got to San Simeon where we toured the Hearst Castle. That was an interesting stop in American history and then continued our drive into Big Sur. The views were breath taking and Route 1 really twisted and turned along the coast and through stands of Redwoods and bare mountain slopes.
Our destination for the next two days and nights was Carmel-by-the-Sea on the tip of the Monterey Peninsula. We stayed at an historic hotel called the La Playa which was a mansion built for one of the Ghirardelli daughters. We spent a day relaxing and hiking all over Point Lobos State Reserve which was perhaps one of the most scenic hikes we’ve ever taken. We also did 17 Mile Drive through Pebble Beach which was pretty amazing. After Carmel, we drove on up to San Francisco and hiked through a redwood forest on the way. In San Fran we stayed at the Fairmont Hotel, also historic and quite opulent. We had a fantastic dinner and night out on the town to wrap our anniversary vacation.
We drove back L.A. the next day. Paige was well taken care of by her Aunt and Uncle and all seemed to have had a good time. Paige still says [cousin] “Jonah funny” and she asked her dad to draw her a picture of Aunt Karen and Uncle Rob, so they must have left an impression. What a great trip. It’s hard to believe 10 years have gone by. Here’s to the next 10!