The Third Day: Big Sur

The thing about vacationing with 3 little kids is that you don't really go out to eat much. At least not to anyplace that doesn't serve fries. We made up for it though. Instead of going out for good food, we brought good food to us. Like croissants from the french bakery, and fruit salad with fruit from the farmers' market.

Breakfast was always the meal we lingered over and enjoyed. Besides being my favorite meal, (see here) we only get to linger over breakfast on Saturdays. If we're lucky. So we made sure to sit long at the table each morning. For me, that is what vacationing is all about: slowing down for the things you really love. It is something I need to incorporate more into my everyday life. I'm not very good at slowing down.

This day our plan was to drive north into Big Sur.

First we passed Hearst Castle. The boys were excited to see a real castle. We'll do the tour with them when they are older. For now, they'd just want to swim in the pool.

Our next stop was elephant seal beach. This is a protected beach where hundreds of elephant seals live, mate, have their young and attract lots of visitors. It was pretty fun to watch them romping in the waves and flopping so clumsily across the sand. The boys favorite part was the seals who were wrestling.

The drive from elephant seal beach into Big Sur was spectacular. The last time we drove it was on our honeymoon, 11 years ago. I had forgotten how amazing it is. We had a trail we wanted to hike. Reasons: it wasn't too far into Big Sur, it was short for the kiddos and there was a waterfall.

Poor Lilly was asleep when we got there and stayed asleep while we put her into the backpack and hiked up the trail. That girl got the raw end of the deal on naps during this trip. She had a lot of interrupted car naps, but she was a trooper and didn't scream too much.

It was an easy hike to the waterfall. It wasn't at it's most impressive since it's fall and there has been no rain in months. I bet in spring it is wonderful. I guess we'll have to come back!

Despite the falls lack of thunder, there were lots of pools of water and lots of rocks to throw in the pools. Boys love to throw rocks.
After we left the waterfall, we climbed up the hill to look for some views.
Found one! Aaron calls this my Switzerland pose. I have several pictures of me in the Alps sitting just like this. It wasn't the Alps, but amazingly beautiful in a different way.
William loved being "above the clouds, in space". The fog that was coming up off the water burned off before it got to us up on the hill, so we were above the clouds.
The hike down was more fun than going up.
On our way back home we stopped here.
This is the point. Straight down the cliff to turquoise waters.
There were lots of trees for the boys to climb.

Oh, and a little girl too. She won't be left out of anything.

It is amazing the smiles you can get when you promise them ice cream.

But William still wanted to show us his grouchy face.
Time for one last look at Big Sur. Even a 3 year old can appreciate that view.
Next stop: the lighthouse.