Big Sur and Monterey Photos

We began at Sand Dollar Beach in southern Big Sur and camped at Plaskett Creek, right across Hwy 1 from the beach.

This area is famous for it's jade...and the girls became quite adept at scrambling the rocks in their hunt.

The excitement from the girls upon finding another piece and the stories they told as the whole family searched the tidepools will be remembered forever.

With the approaching storms we were grateful for a dry night camping and packing up the tent. We started north toward Monterey and stopped along the bluff for oatmeal and hot cocoa. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the girls collected ladybugs between bites of breakfast and sips of cocoa.

We made a quick stop at the famed Coast Gallery after breakfast.

 

We also hiked out the the Big Sur rivermouth in Andrew Molera state park. The path is covered with "poisoned oak" so careful navigation was a must. This is a guaranteed destination this fall as the area is absolutely beautiful hike in only camping and set up for adventure on the headlands and the beach.

We spent the next 3 days visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Asilomar, and Carmel. As luck would have it, Nana and Grandpa were also in Monterey celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. So we got to get together with them for a couple of dinners and lunch between visits to the aquarium and swims in the hotel pool.
Here is a picture of Jillian learning about sea life at the touch pools in the aquarium.

 

The aquarium is spectacular with otters, sharks, tuna...you name it. The new sea horse exhibit was amazing, I had no idea the creatures were so diverse. I think the girls favorite exhibit was the jellyfish which we visited each day. By the end of the trip, Sabrina even started to look a little like a fish...