California: Pacific Coast Highway 1 – Day 1

I am so excited to share with you all about our trip to California. My husband and I were flown out to California (all expenses paid) because of my Shaklee business – we were being honored at the New Directors Conference (in order to receive this trip you must generate 18,000PV in 6 months time within the first 12 months of becoming a Director (the first level in Shaklee). – I worked really hard because lets just be real – who wouldn’t want an all expenses paid trip to California to be wined and dined?). The trip honestly was the trip of a lifetime. My husband and I both received more than we could have ever bargained for – and I’m not just talking about receiving physical items  – I’m talking the friendships, the personal growth, the support – is what it is all about to me.

SO…because I love sharing about our travel experiences I’m going to take you on our trip with us! I will be blogging about each day in California. **Warning – these will be SUPER LONG posts with billions of pictures. If you make it to the end, I’m proud of you! I honestly have only picked my favorites (you don’t really want to know how many pictures I can take in 1 day) 🙂 …. And…we do A LOT in a little time. We never waste a minute on vacation 🙂

This is about to get real – at the airport!
Flying over the snowcapped Rocky Mountains!

I’m weird, but this is one of my most favorite parts about flying…the Tomato Juice! Don’t ask, I have no idea. …plus a little reading for personal development 🙂

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San Francisco International Airport

On the ground!

Taking the tram to the rental car. We arrived in California 5 days early to enjoy a little time to ourselves without kids.

Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1)

We traveled down the Pacific Coast Highway – California State Route 1 (aka Highway 1) beginning in Pacifica, CA ending in Big Sur, CA.

I was in awe of the landscape. I had honestly never seen anything so diverse like this.

First time having our feet in the Pacific together 🙂 *dork moment

The flowers were literally breathtaking. The colors were so vibrant and the looks were so extremely different than what is native to North Carolina.

Harbor Seals in California

Driving along the coast I was on the lookout for seals…and guess what? I’m like a hawk (seriously I am, I spot everything – evvverything!) I had Clayton turn around so we could get out and walk down on the rocks to go check them out!

p.s. this is our rental car – pretty sweet! A 2015 Mustang 🙂

Visiting Monterey, California

One of the towns along Highway 1  is Monterey, CA – we decided to check it out and eat here. It reminded us a bit like Savannah’s River Street (although totally not as cute, big, or old buildings…it was only similar in the way that it was a place that did have a lot of history and was old (yet most of the buildings were new) and was on the coast).

The port – this really reminded us of Acadia, Maine and English Harbor, Antigua. The mountains in the distance and all the ships. Walking out on the pier: Fisherman’s Wharf – there were tons of restaurants and little shops.

We ate at Old Fisherman’s Grotto

Clam Chowder

Bay Shrimp Salad Sandwich

Crab & Shrimp Sandwich

Our view – it was incredible because there were several Sea Lions that were swimming all around us!

Visiting Cannery Row in Monterey, California

We got back onto Highway 1 and kept heading south towards Big Sur – and of course had to get out of the car several more times to soak up all of the beautiful scenery!

The colorful landscape is absolutely amazing in person, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.

The clouds lifting off the water going over the mountains is such a beautiful sight. Pictures do not do it justice. 

Bixby Bridge in Monterey, California

Bixby Bridge – built in 1932.

Fernwood Motel in Big Sur, California

This is where we stayed – (funny looking at this picture because it says wi-fi…however, we did not have it, nor a tv lol). It was a super cute little motel on the side of the road in California (just like in the movies). 

After we dropped off our luggage we got back in the car and headed south 12 more miles to see a waterfall – and of course had to stop a few more times for more pictures.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, California

You have to hike through this tunnel to go under the road to get to the trail that leads to the waterfall – phew! that’s a sentence 🙂 This waterfall is one that actually “falls” on the sandy beach. Seriously it is amazing.

We got to watch the beautiful sunset from up on this trail. 

There really are no words to describe how beautiful the “sinking” clouds are in real life.

We went back to our motel for dinner – they had a super cute restaurant that indoor and outdoor seating. We sat outdoors with the gas heaters – it was really fun! They had a live band come and play that night but I was seriously so exhausted that I couldn’t stay up for it (it would have been 1am our time that they were starting to play) so we listened to them from in our room 🙂

Overall it was an amazing first day!!

Read about our other days here:

Day 1

Day 2