On Friday, Sean asked me what I wanted to do this weekend. "Just hang out with you," I said. Well, he had far bigger and better plans. "How about we take a trip along highway 1?" "Yes!" It was spur of the moment and oh-so-fun. Here's a map of where we went...
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From Davis to Monterey, to Morro Bay, to San Luis Obispo, to Morro Bay, to Sunnyvale, to Davis.
An estimated twelve hours of driving. |
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We got on highway 1 just south of Gilroy (the garlic town, you know)!
Hours of beautiful ocean to come. |
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| We walked around Cannery Row in Monterey... |
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| Just gorgeous. |
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| Had lunch at Bubba Gump's -- Sean is a huge Forrest Gump fan and he totally dominated the trivia game! |
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| We liked the quotes as you walked into and out of the restaurant. |
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| In Monterey. |
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| After winding our way back to the 1, we found this spectacular view. |
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We spent a lot of time taking in the views at Bixby Canyon Bridge -- Sean's favorite.
It is magical. |
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| A civil engineer and his favorite bridge. |
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| Having a blast in the sun. |
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We stopped to see the elephant seals -- on the beach for birthing and mating season!
I loved watching them. They're very funny, interesting creatures. |
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| Dude elephant seal shouting something of importance to the group. |
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Mamas fighting about babies.
One mama bit the other one's baby. Not cool. |
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Feeding time! The babies and mamas had cool barks to recognize each other.
I loved hearing the babies bark at their moms to roll over a bit more. |
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| <3 Seal love <3. |
We made it to Morro Bay and relaxed for a few hours -- we were exhausted! Then Sean took me to San Luis Obispo for dinner. He found a place that was "very Natalie" called
Big Sky Cafe. I had shrimp tacos (divine!) and Sean had a chicken and eggplant grilled cheese sandwich. For dessert we had a scrumptious apple crisp. SLO closed too early -- we were ready to hit the shops, so we walked around a bit before heading back to Morro Bay and crashing for the night.
We woke up the next morning and headed to the rock!
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Morro Rock -- a HUGE rock in Morro Bay.
I loved watching the surfers ride the waves. |
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| Rock! |
We took CA-101 to Sunnyvale, to visit Sean's sister. It was beautiful as well, lots of agriculture. We stopped in Gilroy to check out the outlets (I scored a sweater for $3.75!) and found a delicious (dangerously delicious) hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Morgan Hill. It was fun to hang out with Sarah and G, and to see Maui and Hilo. We then headed back inland!
I am so glad I put this on my twenty-five before twenty-five list! Everyone should drive the 1. California truly is a magical place. I can't decide what my favorite part was... but I think it was the moment when we found ourselves singing at the top of our lungs about how nothing comes close to our golden coast.
:-)
Six down, nineteen to go!
1. Go backpacking.
2. Walk across the Golden Gate.
3. Have a gluten-free beer tasting. (I don't like beer! 12/17/11)
4. Take a midnight walk on the beach.
5. Make gluten free pasta.
6. Paint. (Painted Valentine art! 1/2/12)
7. Do an entire roll of instant film using strangers and subjects.
8. Make my own goat cheese.
9. Take the train to Reno.
10. Solve a Rubix cube.
11. Attend Midnight Mass.
12. Pick a pineapple in Hawaii.
13. Host a dinner party.
14. Lose 25 pounds.
15. Get my A1C below 7.5.
16. Take a trip along CA-1. (To San Luis Obispo! 1/7/12-1/8/12)
17. Make gluten free bagels.
18. Go on a Segway tour of San Francisco.
19. Snowshoe. (Whew! Exhausting and fun - 12/28/11)
20. Make my own amazing CrockPot recipe. (Spaghetti with veg and sausage! 12/19/11)
21. Camp in Yosemite.
22. Learn to and catch a fish.
23. Take a wok around Chinatown in Vancouver.
24. Make stained glass.
25. Embroider pillow cases.
