a trip up the coast...

We have not been traveling nearly as much as usual...we are trying to slow down! :) The last weekend in March we took a drive up north to Carmel with Bailey! It was a long drive... :)

I REALLY need to get a new camera...all of these pictures were taken off of my iPhone (pretty decent for a phone but not very great quality)...

This was a back road we took over to the 101, it was awesome...so much land!!
Bailey stood up the whole 6 hours looking out the window...

We made it to Carmel around 11:30am! Our first beer at Jack London's Pub!
Heath surprised me with a trip to an AMAZING winery! Chateau Julien..we had a great tour around the whole winery and they had AMAZING wine!

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Carmel...a MUST do if you go there. Carmel is one of the best dog friendly places in California...everyone had a dog and we read before we came it is an amazing place to bring your pet...so we checked in to the Carmel Country Inn, and Bailey made herself right at home...her favorite spot...on top of the couch!

The second day, we went on the famous 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach.
Bailey had fun sight-seeing too... :)

We stopped at a place called Fanshell overlook during our drive and there were TONS of harbor seals below. It was really cold!
This is the famous Lone Cypress tree. It is one of California's most enduring landmarks. This tree has lived on this rocky perch for over 250 years!!!
Us in front of this famous landmark
The Lone Cypress
The Ghost tree, it's trunk is bleached white from the wind and sea spray...interesting...

We stopped for a drink at the Pebble Beach Golf Link, which had unbelievable views and then Heath insisted we find a pub in Carmel where he could watch the UCLA basketball game! Of course...so after asking a local, we decided to head back to Jack London's Pub...it seemed to be the only real pub in town...
Heath watching the game...
UCLA must have scored....

Now it is time to head home :(, we decided to drive PCH home, even though we knew it would take longer...we weren't in any hurry...this was our view for about 3 hours...amazing!
more view...California coasts are sooo beautiful!

Taken Bailey out at Ragged Point Inn...it was a REALY cool place kind of in the middle of the coast. We wrote it down because we want to go back and stay there! It was gorgeous! They even do weddings there!

Taking a break...

On our way to Hearst Castle, we came across more Elephant Seals...this is their time for mating apparently, so they were everywhere! It was so cool to be that close to that many seals!

Hearst Castle

We made it to Hearst Castle!! We arrived there about 1:00pm, but the next 'Experience Tour' wasn't until 3:20pm. We decided to wait because I had always wanted to go here...I am SOOO glad we waited...this was such an amazing tour...if you go, you must watch the National Geographic movie too...I can not believe what went into this place to build it...incredible...

Us in front of the AMAZING Neptune pool

Another view of the Neptune pool

One of the many gardens...

Outside of Casa Grande...the main house

Another view of the main house

The ceilings were real carved wood brought in from all over the world!

The floor of the indoor Roman Pool with blue Venetian glass and real 22 karat gold tiles, it was crazy to know we were walking on gold!

The view from the drive down in the bus from Hearst Castle...an amazing experience. I want to go back to do the rest of the tours!

Our last stop down the coast was at the Madonna Inn, in San Luis Obisbo. We debated on staying the night there, but ended up not. The inside of this place is very eccentric! Heath was getting a headache walking around because of the bright colors, especially all the pink in the Gold Rush Steak House..a sight to see!

That is a brief summary of our trip to Carmel, it was such a great time!