carmel-by-the-sea

This weekend Jack and I escaped south to Carmel for a quick vacation. We first visited to this pleasant little town last year and we were stoked to be able to find a time to visit it again. The weather was GORGEOUS (we thought it was going to rain so we were quite pleased) and we spent the weekend hiking, lazing around, and stuffing our faces with delicious meals. We stayed in a little bed and breakfast a block from the beach and felt like the locals in our little cabin by the sea.

We visited our favorite restaurants (Mundacas for delicious tapaps and a magnum of wine, and Le Biciclet for scrumptious french cuisine) and had breakfast in bed two days in a row (can you say spoiled much?).

Sunday morning we went on a day long, 7 mile hike in Garrapata State Park in Big Sur. The hike was BEAUTIFUL, despite the fact that the first 4 miles were straight up hill ( we're talking level 10 stair master people). Luckily we had a gorgeous view of the ocean and coast line to remind us why we were killing ourselves, and the rest of the hike was easy breezing. This hike is the best because each part is so different- the first part of the hike was mountain-y and bare with awesome views, then it turned into a dense redwood forest with a lovely little river running through it, then into a barren valley. It. Was. BEAUTIFUL. I'll let the pictures do the talking since I don't know how many more capitalized "beautifuls" I can use to try to relay how pretty it was, but needless to say it was a wonderful day!

After our hike we drove along the coast with the top down and felt like movie stars.

It was an epic way to end an epic day.

I love how Carmel has become our little getaway spot and I can't wait to go on many more grueling-yet-awesome hikes in the near future!