Menlo Park
to San Luis Obispo
Our first stop along Highway 101 was Mission San Juan Bautista. Our trip had really begun. (photo from link)
Mission Soledad had a cat. We marked it as the first animal in the scavenger hunt in our journals.
Mission San Antonio had peacocks. We had to go through an army base to get there. I fell on my rear backing up to take a photo.
The spacing of the missions makes them good rest stops.
We arrived in San Luis Obispo in time to check in to the Youth Hostel and walk to get some dinner
Our room had a double bed and twin bunks in a big house in a nice neighborhood (photo from link)
Monterey
to Menlo Park
Monterey all day.
We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and ate dinner on Cannery Row.
San Luis Obispo
to Big Sur
We watched elephant seals on the beach, toured Hearst Castle and drove up Highway 1 to Big Sur
Lorin had never seen elephant seals before.
At Hearst Castle we took tour 2, through the upper rooms plus the kitchen and the pools.
Alison liked the ancient Greek vases that lined the library walls. (photo of library from Hearst Castle link)
The rug in this library was as big as the first house Bart and I lived in.
The upper rooms at Hearst Castle gave a great view of the ocean.
Big Sur to Monterey
We drove north on Highway 1, stopping to take in the scenery.
At Point Lobos we saw sea otters in their natural habitat, floating in the kelp
We stayed at the Monterey Youth Hostel, just a few blocks from the Aquarium. We played board games in their common room in the evenings and had a room to ourselves with a double bed and a bunk bed. (photo from link).
Big Sur all day
We took a guided horseback ride out to the beach at Molera State Park in the afternoon with Molera Horseback Tours.
The kids played with magic cards and read books when we weren't outside roasting marshmallows or watching the nearby river.