Hello, hello!  I’m back again to give a recap of our time in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Santa Barbara.  I have less photos to share from these cities, but only because it was the second half of our trip and I tend to lose my drive to click, click, click away.  Either way, I enjoy sharing recaps of my adventures and I hope that you enjoying reading.  If you are just joining me, you can find a recap of our crazy adventures in Vegas here (lol) and our 3 days in San Francisco here.  You can find my latest post about Yosemite and Mariposa Grove here.

Visiting Carmel-by-the-Sea

So when we left off, I had said that we left Mariposa Grove and made the 3.5 hour journey towards Carmel, where we planned to spend one night.  Why Carmel?, you ask…  Well, we needed somewhere to stay between Yosemite and Santa Barbara, because I knew driving straight through would be too much.  Our options seemed to be Carmel, Monterey, and Pismo.  I chose Carmel because it gave us the option to visit Big Sur the following day, but also because everyone on TripAdvisor said go to Carmel over Monterey.  In hindsight, those commenters may have been over the age of 60.

While Carmel is a beautiful and charming town, it is also very, very expensive and not really ‘budget road trip’ friendly.  Our housing option (we stayed at Carmel Resort Inn) wasn’t terribly expensive, but it certainly was not cheap and was one of the more expensive places we stayed on the entire trip.  (FYI, the place was nice and we were pleased to find that we actually had a small cabin with 2 rooms, a bathroom, and a living room with mini fridge, microwave, and sofa.  Our only complaint was that the rooms had sinks in them, where people obviously wash their dishes and they kept getting very backed up!  No one likes oily sink water!).

So, what did we do in this expensive little town?  We walked around, read the menus at restaurants we knew we would never eat from, and looked at the art in the galleries and wondered ‘who actually buys any of this?’.  It was fun!

Carmel has one of those infamous California microclimates, which made it actually cold while we were there (and foggy!).  It was a little bit strange, since it was perfectly sunny while we were driving in, and then just changed out of no where!  Luckily, a light coat and sweater were enough to keep us warm, so we enjoyed some time watching the people on the beach, and then headed out to find food.

Like I said, everything was pretty pricey, so some simple food from the little supermarket they have was good enough for us.  I found it amusing that it was my ‘birthday’ dinner!

The Drive to Santa Barbara and Visiting Big Sur (McWay Fall)

The next morning, we tried to get an early start, but you know how that goes…. so we left around 11 and drove for about an hour to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (part of Big Sur) where we planned to do a short hike to McWay Falls (the only waterfall that deposits right into the Pacific ocean at high tide!).

The park is only 37 miles south of Carmel, near mile marker 38.5 on Highway 1.  If you are driving on Highway 1, you won’t miss it!  This is important because I kept looking for an address to put in the GPS, but if you drive along Highway 1 in the direction of Santa Barbara (south), you will see the sign shown above, and a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road.  You are able to park in their parking lot, but you have to pay.  I recommend parking on the side of the road for free.

We drove along Highway 1 for about an hour, stopping briefly for a (n expensive) coffee.

Before arriving, we also stopped at Nepenthe, a beautiful restaurant in Big Sur that overlooks the ocean.  I had gone years ago with my family and remember having burgers with those amazing views.

This time, we just took pictures and then continued on. #poor

We wanted to see McWay Falls, since the pictures looked beautiful, but we also knew, from reading online, that part of the trail would be closed.

It turned out that the ‘hike’ was only about 2 minutes long before you see the waterfall and hit the ‘do NOT enter’ blocked parts, but the water was beautiful nonetheless and I’m glad we stopped to see it.  In case you have the urge to jump into that beautiful water, just know it’s illegal and they will ticket you 🙂

After our short hike, we continued down Highway 1 and drove straight through to Pismo, stopping along the way to take in the incredible views of the water and landscape. 

In Pismo, we quickly stopped for lunch (Subway sandwiches) and ice cream, before getting back in the car to head to Santa Barbara.  By the time we made it, it was nightfall, so we checked into our hotel (Oasis Inn and Suites – very nice and highly recommended for the price!) and then turned right back around to meet up with Meaghan, my very good friend from Madrid!  Luis and I went to meet her for drink and we met her lovely friend, Naomi, as well.  

One Day in Santa Barbara

The next morning, Luis and I went out for a run!  We were getting a bit stir crazy, so we ran down State Street (the main road in Santa Barbara) for about 30 minutes and it was so nice to shake out the energy.

After the run, we showered, got dressed, and the 4 of us had breakfast together before heading down to the water.  It was cloudy and cool in the morning, but Meaghan promised that it always gets sunny in the early afternoon and she was so right.  THe clouds magically dispersed right around 1 pm- perfect timing for us.  We visited the Pier and walked along the water, keeping an eye out for any and all animals we could find.

Along the way, we saw this ‘wishing well’ and I thought it was a great idea!  Cracked me up…

Around 1:30, I left the gang to go meet Meaghan and Naomi for a really nice lunch at the Shoreline Beach Cafe where they literally have tables in the sand.

Meaghan told us we have to take our shoes off, and when Meaghan tells you to do something, you do it because she is always right about these things.

The food was tasty, but it was also just so nice to catch up with Meaghan and get to know Naomi better.  I’m sad Meaghan isn’t coming back to Madrid because she is one of those friends that are like family… the type that would drop everything she is doing to come be by your side when you need it.

After lunch, Meaghan gave us all the special Santa Barbara tour and took us everywhere! If it weren’t for her, we would not have seen half the things we saw.

We saw the famous courthouse…

As well as the Old Mission of Santa Barbara…

Luis liked the plants…

Lastly, Meaghan treated us all to the most beautiful picnic on the beach!  I will have to ask her the name of the beach, but it was wonderful- perfectly soft sand, not much wind, lots of dogs playing, and a great sunset.  Oh, and the beer she brought was so good.

On our last morning in Santa Barbara, we made a last minute decision to visit Garrett’s Old Fashioned Restaurant for some traditional diner fare.

Luis went to a diner last year in Washington, but his friends had never been.  They wanted to try the quintessential diner were the waitresses call you ‘hon’, the coffee is poured freely, and everything smells like grease.  I was on board!

We also ordered a side of french toast for the table.  Needless to say, we were so stuffed at the end of this meal (and we did smell like grease and smelling like food is one of my top 5 worst things in the world), but I think this was also one of my top 5 favorite things we did on the whole trip.  The yummy food fueled us through the drive to LA, with a long day spent in Santa Monica and Venice… coming soon 😉