This weekend was William's first 3-day weekend as part of his "9/80" schedule. On Thursday evening, we decided to head to Monterey for the weekend to see Big Sur. 

Big Sur is not really a town, but an area stretching down the central coast of California. I think there might be some sort of small town because we did see a library, but for the most part, Big Sur refers to a large stretch of sparsely populated area on the coast south of Monterey. 

We passed Monterey and drove down Highway 1 on part of Big Sur immediately on Friday. It was gorgeous! There are several pull off points all along the road and many have hiking trails to the coast. This was, by far, the prettiest stretch of coast I've seen in California. I think this is mostly because it is so undeveloped. 

I thought one of the coolest things about Big Sur, other than the incredible scenery along the coast, was the redwoods. A small part of the drive goes off the coast and through a redwood forest with a small river, which was an unexpected change in scenery. 

It's not often that you see evergreens all along the coast, at least not on the east coast! 

One of the most popular sights in Big Sur is the Bixby Bridge. There are several bridges in the area, all of which were built in 1932. In my opinion, they all look pretty similar, but I think Bixby is the easiest to see. 

You can see the bridge in the distance on the right in this one.

McWay Falls is another popular attraction in Big Sur. It is a cove with a small waterfall. There used to be a house in the area this photo was taken from, but it was essentially abandoned and left to the state. Can you imagine seeing this out of your window every day? And then abandoning it?! 

We also enjoyed our stay in Monterey, especially since we stayed less than a mile to the beach. When we lived in Charleston, Sammie loved going to the beach. She chases birds at the beach, which she would never do normally. She is very funny about going in the water - she starts walking straight into the ocean and when a wave comes up, she runs away like a lunatic. She also loves to dig in the sand and threatens to eat random items along the beach. Basically, she acts wild. I think it might be her favorite place! 

During our stay in Monterey, we also decided to do the "17 Mile Drive." This is part of Pebble Beach (the famous golf course) and I had heard that it was a can't-miss activity. Because Pebble Beach is a private community, the drive costs $10. 

If you play golf, I think this would be a bucket list course! The ocean views were gorgeous. The color of the water all along this area was unreal, and the sand was almost white in Pebble Beach. The drive also takes you by incredible houses.

One of the last things we wanted to do over the weekend was see the sunset over the Pacific ocean. I still have yet to see this happen, so we were determined! The first night, it started getting cloudy on the horizon around 7:00 or so. We still wanted to try, so we drove down Sunset Drive on the tip of the Monterey peninsula. We didn't see a thing. The clouds were completely covering any chance of a sunset. 

Long story short, the same thing happened on night #2. We decided to stop and wait, just in case, but had no luck. I did, however, get this cute picture of Sammie while we waited: 

Some of our future 3-day weekend plans include Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and the Mendocino Coast. In the mean time, we are experiencing real heat for the first time in Livermore this week. It was in the 90's on Sunday afternoon, and the high today is around 100. Luckily, it should go back into the 80's tomorrow. Needless to say, we are not missing the Columbia heat!