Carmel Weekend Getaway--Big Sur

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One of the first places on Colby's "places to go" list was Big Sur.  We were a little disappointed to find out it was a little further from us than we thought, but when we were already over half way there in Carmel, we decided to make an afternoon out of it and drive down the California cost to Big Sur.  Before heading out, we crossed off a few other things from our Carmel list.

First stop, Katy's place. Let me tell you, this place did not disappoint.  We saw good things about it on Yelp, and had received a couple recommendations to go.  The atmosphere was perfect.  Seating inside was full, so they put us out on the patio which we preferred.  It was a little misty and cold out, but they had heat lamps set up and it was just perfect.  The staff was so friendly, and 3 separate people brought Hudson toys to play with. They are well known for their eggs Benedict, and I decided to give it a try.  I have never had this dish before, but figured you can't go wrong with eggs, ham and an english muffin.  We also ordered Swedish pancakes and split the 2 for breakfast.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Did we order well, or what?  The eggs Benedict melted in my mouth and the side of potatoes were so delicious.  Perfectly cooked and seasoned.  The Swedish pancakes were basically crepes folded into bowls around a heaping pile of mixed berries, topped with cream and raspberry drizzle.  Yes. Perfect. I ate the pancakes second, and actually for the first time in my life, felt that a breakfast food was too sweet.  Colby ate his first, and didn't have that thought.  Hudson was an angel eating his food and of course sampling ours.  We apparently got to Katy's place at a perfect time.  We took the last outdoor table, and by the time we left, there was a small crowd of people waiting to get a table.

We headed 2 miles south to Point Lobos, a state park with trails out on the ocean.  The trail we went on was ADA approved, so was easy with the stroller, except the hike down to the water where we left the stroller and carried H. The views were beautiful.  It was quite overcast, yet you could still see the brilliant hue of blue shining in the water. We hiked down a ridge to where the waves were crashing, walked over to see the sea lions, then down to a rocky coves where Hudson ate rocks and I gawked at a few sea lions playing in the water.  We finished off the mile loop and headed back to the car to hit the road for Big Sur.

Weather.com said the fog would clear from 1-3, so we wanted to get there in that window.  We stopped at Big Sur Deli and grabbed quick sandwiches and got back on the road.  We had no cell service, so no GPS, and it was a strange feeling.  We really weren't sure how far we were going or how well marked Julia Pfeiffer Burns Park was.  We came upon the sign easily and were grateful to find it.  We parked, got everything ready, and headed out.  Our destination was the waterfall.  We came up around it from the side, and once we saw it we were in awe.  So worth the drive.  We stopped someone to have them take our picture.  They looked at us kind of funny but took it.  As we kept walking, we realized why.  The breathtaking view we stopped at for a picture, was barely mediocre compared to the view that lay ahead on the trail.  Welp, I guess that just meant more photos.  Out on the lookout point passed the waterfall, we could view North up the coast.  The fog had cleared mostly and was just rolling back in.  We ate lunch on some benches and commented how Hudson was clueless as to how lucky he was to dine here (with his exquisite strawberry yogurt of course.) By the time the "photo spot" freed up for us to take a family picture, the fog had rolled back in,  but it was still beautiful to see.  We headed back around the waterfall and over to the opposite side of the cove.  All in all, it wasn't a ton of hiking, easily less than a mile, but seriously the most gorgeous views I have ever seen.  

As we got back to the car, I had a moment of extreme panic when I couldn't find my phone.  I knew I had taken it with me because I didn't want to leave it on the dash in the car, but since I had my DSLR, I didn't use it to take pictures.  Thus, I hadn't realized until now that i didn't have it.  The best I could figure is that it fell out of my jacket pocket when I took it off for the photo at the outlook.  Colby says my knees were literally shaking as I came to the realization I didn't have it.  I wasn't so sad about the phone, that's replaceable, but I was sad about all the pictures I would not have.  He being the great husband he is, retraced all our steps to look for the phone.  He literally ran the whole thing.  He came back empty handed.  I almost cried.  We had tried the "Find my iPhone app" but since there was no service, it couldn't be located.  We decided just to leave and hope that a good family found it and would go to recent calls and contact someone. About 20 minutes out, we tried to locate it again, and the app said it had been located!! We looked on the map to see where, and it was at the same spot on the map we were.  We had it play a sound on my phone, and lo and behold, we heard it.  The phone was in the car!  Colby about died.  I was on cloud 9.  It had been in a bag inside the backpack that Colby had taken out before I realized my phone was missing, so I didn't think to look for it.  I am so glad we found it and that I was able to help Colby get his workout in. ;) Pretty sure he will never let me live that one down.

We continued on our way home and stopped off by a bridge and coastline partway back.

We continued on through Carmel and hit the weekend ending traffic back inland.  We saw signs for artichokes, (in what apparently was the world's artichoke capitol--miles and miles of artichoke fields) 12 for $1, and had to stop.  We figured we would end up right back in our same spot on the freeway with traffic being so bad.  We got there minutes before they closed and picked up 12 artichokes and 3 baskets of fresh strawberries.  They were so good!

We made it home around 8, got Hudson in bed, then had bowls of cereal for dinner.  It really was a perfect weekend, and I am so glad we were able to do that and able to celebrate our 5 years of marriage!