Aug '12 Trip to Carmel - Part II

We like to go to touristy places when it's less crowded, like on weekdays vs weekends. So, for Sunday we decided to do the Big Sur drive instead of, say, the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We didn't want to stop at every lookout point, so we did a quick search of things to do/see in Big Sur with kids. So, based on one site, we jotted down these places: McWay Falls, Bixby Bridge, Hurricane Point, Pfeiffer Beach.

We didn't stop at all those places, and we, of course, stopped at others. Our first stop was a random lookout point, where we took some photos. The clouds weren't cooperating.

The next stop was at Garrapata Beach. The highlight from that beach was some people had strung up a climbing rope across an alcove in the beach. We didn't see any of them get very far but I applaud their effort.

The next place we stopped was by this lighthouse, but we didn't stop because of the lighthouse. We stopped because the lighthouse was on this big rock sticking out at the end of a beach. We tried to take a photo but our camera stopped working and then Hansel's phone camera wouldn't work either and I think my phone didn't have any charge. So, we moved on.

The next stop was Bixby Bridge, but at the time we did not know it was Bixby Bridge since it was not labeled. We just decided to stop because it was a slightly bigger bridge than the other bridges we had gone over. We didn't think it was Bixby Bridge because we thought it would be bigger. There was a homeless-looking guy there with a pet crow, or at least I think that was his crow.

Hurricane Point is a point after Bixby Bridge that is supposed to have a nice view of the bridge from the other side. But since we didn't realize we had stopped at Bixby Bridge, we didn't stop at that point.

I had read that McWay Falls was in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. We stopped at the entrace of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park thinking it was the same thing, saw that there was an entrance fee, and turned around. Down the road there was another entrance that had a building, so we stopped there. I found a newsletter type thing that had a simple map of Big Sur spots and articles about the places. Thank goodness for that paper because we were able to find McWay Falls, which was further down 1 and later found Pfeiffer Beach.

You had to walk a little ways to the falls. The falls were really not that big, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless. At the end of the path was remnants of a home that used to belong to a wealthy couple that later gave their land to the state and had them name the state park after their friend, Julia Pfeiffer. There's your brief and likely inaccurate history lesson.

For dinner we ate at Nepenthe. Hansel had eaten there years before with some Wash U friends during a visit to CA. The waiting area was great, a bleachers-type setup with lots of pillows facing an awesome view.

Beck wanted to take a picture of this mosaic.

On the way back home we decided to go to Pfeiffer Beach. To get there you have to take a single-lane road for 2 miles, but it's worth it. It was a great, peaceful, secluded beach. It had a tiny lagoon, which was good for Beck since he doesn't like waves.

By the time we got there it was going to get dark soon, so we just took a look and decided we'd come back the next day.