This is a continuation of my partner’s niece’s journal of her trip to Northern California this past spring. You can read the first part here.
Day #2, Monday, April 13th…
We woke up and headed to breakfast at the infamous Dottie’s a few blocks from our hotel in Union Square. There is always a line and we stood in it on a Monday for at least 20 minutes, but it is so worth it. The food was amazing! Best breakfast place, hands down! We walked across the street from our hotel, rented a car and headed for the California’s famous Route 1-Pacific Coast Highway. I almost died when we began to see the breathtaking ocean views only 35 minutes south of the city. We stopped at several beaches as well as Pigeon Point Lighthouse on our way to Costanoa, the eco resort we would be staying at for a couple of days. The resort is beautifully situated on 33,000 acres of ocean and protected wilderness. We settled into our room to change into our bathing suits for a quick soak in the outdoor hot tub before our his and her massages which included 50 minutes of deep tissue bliss. Then we sat by the outdoor fireplace and drank some wine before dinner. This place is very peaceful, no television and you’d be lucky to get a cell signal. We had dinner at the resort’s restaurant which was excellent before heading to our cozy room to sit by the fireplace and relax and recount the fun details of our day.
Seals in Santa Cruz
Day #3, Tuesday, April 14th…
Even though the weather has been nice, it was incredibly windy so the kayak adventure we had planned in Monterey Bay had to be rescheduled for later in the week. We drove down to Santa Cruz, walked on the pier, drank coffee and ate our breakfast sandwiches while checking out the sea lions before taking a drive down to Monterey for the day. This isn’t the prettiest part of route 1 but it was very cool to see all of the commercial farms. Monterey is lovely but it was so windy we could barely stand outside so we decided to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We spent a couple of hours admiring the playful sea otters and an amazing sea horse exhibit at the aquarium. The aquarium is worth stopping in if you have the time while in Monterey. We then grabbed lunch at a Mexican restaurant with a pitcher of margaritas before driving through Pacific Grove a beautiful town where the waves were pounding the shore before heading back to Costanoa. We had a quiet evening relaxing by the fire in our room after catching the sunset. Tomorrow we head to Big Sur to stay at the Lucia Lodge. We cannot wait to see this part of the Pacific Coast Highway including the 17 Mile Drive.
Day #4, Wednesday, April 15th…
Oh, where to begin, what an incredible day. We woke up and had an amazing breakfast at Costanoa where fresh, local, organic food is always served. We then set off for the drive to Big Sur, first stopping just a few miles down the road at Año Nuevo State Park. This is a must see. It is a beautiful and easy 1.5 mile walk to the elephant seals sleeping on the beach. We took lots of pictures and in some cases we were less than 20 feet away from these magnificent mammals. Then we jumped back in the car and headed straight for Carmel by the Sea after paying the toll to drive the very scenic 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach. This is a cool place to visit especially if you are interested in seeing one of the world’s most famous golf courses. Unfortunately the areas I was most interested in seeing were closed to the public as the seals were in the process of beaching to have their pups. There was fencing and signs everywhere to ensure the total privacy for the seals. California does an amazing job to protect the habitats of their wildlife. We did however get to see the Lone Cypress, one of the most photographed trees in the world. Once out of 17 mile drive we found ourselves in Carmel by the Sea which was one of the most gorgeously quaint towns we’ve ever been to. Both Scott and I decided that we could live there in a heartbeat.
Lone Cypress Tree
We stumbled upon Scenic Drive by accident and that looped us through sweet residential neighborhoods, viewing oceanfront homes and scenic beaches before looping us back to Route 1. We made a quick stop in the local Safeway grocery store to stock up on wine and snacks for Big Sur. Almost immediately the drive to Big Sur amazes. I cannot even describe how breathtaking the views are. I can only say that EVERYONE should have the chance to see this part of the West Coast because the mix of mountains, cliffs and sea are truly awesome and totally protected. We drove mile after mile simply in awe of the Big Sur coastline, taking as many pictures as we could. Before arriving at Lucia Lodge we stopped at Julia Pfeiffer State Park because I had read about the amazing waterfall there. We parked and walked the .6 mile trail down to the look out and got the most spectacular vies of the waterfall. There are no words to describe the beauty of this place. We continued on to Lucia Lodge to our cabin perched on the 400 foot cliff with the waves pounding below. We slept like babies with all the windows open, our gas stove on to keep us warm, with the waves lapping the cliffs below. There are only 10 rooms at Lucia Lodge and 7-10 are cabins on the edge of the cliff, in the middle of nowhere. There isn’t anything else around except mountains, cliffs and ocean and we felt very lucky to have found such a place to stay.
Beautiful California Coastline
Day #5, Thursday, April 17th…
Another stellar day! After the most peaceful sleep of our vacation, we headed straight to breakfast at the lodge where we sat outside perched above the sea and took in the beauty of this special place while sipping our coffee and homemade goodies. It was a gorgeous day, no wind, sunny in the 70’s. We loaded up the car and headed 20 miles south to Salmon Creek, an old hippie commune spot in the woods on the mountain side of the road. We hiked in to the mountain area to see the gorgeous waterfall and could immediately appreciate why approximately 300 hippies had decided to make this there home amongst the boulders deep in these woods. I think I could live there. The waterfall was magical and totally worth 1.5 hours of pretty tough hiking. We then drove about 9 miles north to Willow Creek in the Jade Cove section and spent an hour searching for jade and enjoying a quick snack.
More Coastline
Then it was time to head to Santa Cruz for our kayak adventure that had been canceled earlier in the week. We arrived there and the weather was perfect for our early evening kayaking in Monterey Bay. We met up with Bradford, our guide and suited up for kayaking. Once on the water we were in heaven! Scott was smiling from ear to ear, finally out doing what he wanted to do most on this trip. Within minutes of being in the water we were greeted by harbor seals and sea birds. We paddled out to the kelp beds and came upon several sea otter families. It was incredible to see the mother sea otters floating on their backs with their babies resting on their bellies. Once mother actually let her baby hop off of her to swim over to my kayak to check me out. I didn’t even dare breathe to discourage that little guy from coming towards me. What amazing friendly creatures they are. We then paddled out to a small island where seals and sea birds literally share the rocks together. What a racket they made. Our guide informed us that people who live there can hear their barks all night long if they are sleeping with the windows open.
We saw some surfers and completed our kayak adventure by paddling under the wharf pier and seeing the biggest starfish we’ve ever seen. They were literally 3 feet across attached to the pilings of the pier. A few more curious seals poked their heads up as we passed under the pier. We couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to end our trip in Monterey Bay. We then grabbed a quick dinner watching the sunset on the wharf pier before making the long drive all the way up to wine country where we had reservations at a hotel in Healdsburg. It took us about 3 hours to get up there and headed straight to bed once there after our action packed day.
Day #6, Friday, April 18th…
We woke up and decided that we’d go to a couple of vineyards, grab some lunch, find a picnic spot and then head back to San Francisco. We went for a tasting at Seghesio, our favorite Zinfandel and then Scott remembered that our friends Betty and Ed had a personal connection to Jordan Estates so we drove over to check this place out. As we drove up the long driveway we could tell that Jordan Estates was a very special place. The grounds were incredible. We saw a sign that read “Tours and Tastings by Appt Only” but decided to hope for the best. Once we arrived we were told that they were booked full for the day but we decided to tell them how our friends love this place and next thing we knew, we got our own little private tasting! The wine was amazing and we bought a bottle to bring home with us as well as a bottle of their olive oil since they grow olives on the estate as well. We then toured their breathtaking grounds, taking pictures and decided that one day we must return to this place.
We drove over to Dry Creek General Store (the coolest store EVER!). We bought gourmet, organic sandwiches, deviled eggs, salads and wine for our picnic lunch on Lake Sonoma a few miles down the road. We parked and hiked down to the water for our own private picnic by the lake. After a wonderful lunch and some more pictures we headed back to SF to the Harbor Court near the Ferry Building for our final night of vacation. After returning the rental car and checking into this great boutique hotel we took the BART over to Berkeley for dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant.
Day #7, Saturday, April 19th…
Our final day in San Francisco. Boo Hooo. But we made the most of it. Scott and I woke up early to witness for the first time all week the infamous morning fog in the Bay area. We headed across the street to the Ferry Building for the Farmer’s Market. OH MY GOD this is so worth getting up early for. We had freshly ground coffee, oysters, breakfast, everything fresh and organic and locally grown or harvested. We spent a couple of hours just watching the people and the vendors, sampling a little of this and a little of that as the fog burned off. Then it was time to check out of our hotel and be picked up by Karen and her fiancé for our day together with them. Once they picked us up we headed to Muir Woods to hike amongst the Redwood trees. We had a beautiful warm, sunny day to do just that and a great time was had by all. After our hike we headed to Karen and John’s place to clean up and change clothes for our final San Francisco treat, dinner at the Slanted Door restaurant in the Ferry Building. This was one of the best meals we had. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share and drank amazingly delicious cocktails before heading to the airport for our red-eye flight back home. Yes, we packed a lot in, but it was so worth it. We wouldn’t have changed a thing!
