LA + California Road Trip
A recap of our recent trip to Los Angeles, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Carmel and San Francisco…
LOS ANGELES
We spent the majority of our time in Los Angeles, visiting with family and friends. I love how great Grant’s parents are about finding cool restaurants and activities each time we visit. Some of the highlights were: brunch & drinks at Santa Monica Proper Hotel, a hike at Will Rogers State Park, a tour of the Weisman Art foundation (free!), stopping into the By Damsel pop-up before it closed and lunch at Jon & Vinny’s (my favorite pizza restaurant in LA). I am working on a future post full of our LA faves so stay tuned for a more in-depth guide!
Hearst Castle
After our time in Los Angeles, we headed up the coast toward Carmel. Our first stop along the way was at Hearst Castle—a place I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, but was never in the area. Definitely make tour reservations in advance, especially if you are visiting during a busy time of year. I was most impressed by the grounds around the house and the two pools. The interior parts (that we saw) were less thrilling, to be honest. Luckily, they let you wander around the property for as long as you want. I loved the European feel of a lot of the elements throughout the property—statues, detailing, citrus trees—it almost felt like being in Italy.
After Hearst Castle, we made a quick stop at a nearby beach in San Simeon for viewing elephant seals. We happened to be there the time of year that they come ashore and the pups are being born. It was so sweet seeing the little seals snuggling up with one another—definitely recommend stopping if you are in the area!
BIG SUR
As we made our way toward Carmel, we drove through Big Sur right as the sun was going down, so we got to see a pretty incredible sunset. Our next day we spent driving back down to Big Sur (from Carmel), stopping at various lookout points and eventually having lunch at Nepenthe, which has the most insane views down the coast. We didn’t end up doing a hike or anything adventurous because we wanted to be back in Carmel before sunset. Big Sur is definitely worth it’s own 2-3 day visit to really take advantage of all there is to do there. Here are some of the recommendations we had written down:
drinks at Post Ranch Inn or Ventana Big Sur
hiking at McWay Falls
Big Sur Bakery (we briefly stopped)
visit the famous Bixby Bridge (we drove over but couldn’t stop nearby because there was construction)
CARMEL
I loved Carmel so much and I wish we had more time there! We really only spent part of a day and two evenings there—definitely want to go back and explore all the shops and charming houses. It is equally deserving of its own long weekend stay. We stayed at The Getaway, which we really loved! It was very centrally located, which made it easy to walk to everything. We had dinner at La Bicyclette our first night and it was incredible—highly highly recommend—delicious pizzas and French food, amazing wine.
On our second afternoon, we did the 17-mile drive, which takes you along the Monterey coast. We were there right before sunset so the light was gorgeous and the views were so serene. We then walked to the main beach in town and watched the last sunset of 2019. It was a great way to end the year and the decade! After sunset, we went back to our hotel for their nightly wine + cheese before heading to dinner at Cultura, a Mexican spot. Similar to Big Sur, there were a number of recommendations we had, but didn’t get around to (partially due to time and partially due to it being New Year’s holiday hours):
breakfast at Stationaery
lunch or dinner at La Balena — Italian food
sunset drinks at Mission Ranch—Clint Eastwood’s ranch
hiking at Point Lobos
REDWOODS + SAN FRANCISCO
As we headed North toward San Francisco, we stopped at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park to do an easy hike through the Redwoods. It was my first time being amongst these giant trees and it was so magical. Definitely an amazing place to start off a new year! I will remember the way the light came through the trees forever. We also were recommended Muir Woods, which is northwest of San Francisco—next time!
We only had 8 hours in San Francisco and unfortunately nearly everything was closed because it was New Year’s Day. We were able to have lunch at Tartine Manufactory, which was as amazing as everyone says. It is in the same building as Heath Ceramics and I was so sad it was closed! Afterward, we met up with a friend of mine who lives in SF and eventually ended up at a | Mano, an amazing Italian spot, for dinner before our flight home.
