That time we "hiked" in California.

After a wonderful night in Monterey, we hit the road with intentions to make our way to Big Sur.  Of course, we made numerous stops along the way.

I just won't bore you with all of my out-the-window shots as well.  Ashley gave me a few tips about Big Sur (one of her favorite places ever AND she's so cool she got married there!).  She mentioned McWay Falls, and that was at the top of my list.  While the trail was a bit lackluster (I was imagining getting to walk out on to the beach), the views were still gorgeous!  We didn't walk all the way down to the Waterfall House though.

[That's a little waterfall that falls on to the beach]

We hiked up the other side of Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park to see some of the redwoods.

We didn't venture too far since we didn't want to be on the road all night.  This was probably the most fun time of our trip though.  Traveling the 1 through the mountains with the coast on your side is amazing.  The road was not near as terrifying as everyone had mentioned (um, hello...I've been in Georgia and NC mountains that are way more terrifying and have zero guardrails).  I will admit that you feel like you've driven miles and miles, but you've only driven two since the road is so windy.  We were lucky enough to see a slew of sea lions too!

We wanted to stop into San Luis Obispo for some lunch.  We ended up at Eureka Burger, and I was thoroughly impressed!

[Jalapeño Egg Burger, no bacon sub avocado, sub veggie burger]  

I have to say, that was another favorite meal.  I'm not a huge burger person, but they had an amazing veggie burger that was done right!  After SLO, we were planning to hit the road to Santa Barbara.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find any legit, decent priced hotels there (something about the Summer Solstice...), so we compromised for Carpinteria.  It's actually a quaint town right outside Santa Barbara.

Of course since every town in California has a local microbrewery, we discovered Island Brewing Company.   It's a little place but had a great atmosphere!  We enjoyed the beers (myself, probably a bit too much) and struck up a lively conversation with some other tourists.  We didn't do much else exciting in Carpinteria, but it was better than I would have imagined.  Then...on to San Diego!

Ps. The Shabby Apple winner was announced!  Congrats and thanks for participating!