It is interesting to see the landscape change before your eyes while traveling. From Monterrey, the scenery changed from oceanside boats to a heavily agricultural area with vineyards on each side of us with beautiful rolling hills. Daniel and I have been married for 30 years and I had heard several childhood stories of his cousins, so it was fun to finally meet one of them and his wife who lives in King City, California. We visited their beautiful home and they provided us with a tour of their gorgeous and peaceful place that included a vineyard and grapes that you could pluck on their backyard pergola. They provided us with a delicious lunch and wonderful company before we ventured to San Luis Obispo. The four photos below were all taken by cell phone showcasing our visit. We would have loved more time to visit and explore.

Keyhole Arch and the Pacific Ocean make a recipe for some fantastic photographic opportunities. This place is not well marked at all, but it is worth the hunt and the one-lane drive to and from the beach. The fog and haze continued to become heavier and the temps dropped making it quite cold and blustery, but still beautiful. We also received warnings of large sneaker waves and high tide before heading out to the Big Sur area, but given our limited time here, we forged ahead. We were glad that we wore our jackets as we walked through an area of densely covered area of trees before arriving at the beach. Pfeiffer Beach is known for its purple sand which is more apparent after a recent rain. I loved the gracefulness of this grove of Cypress trees. When you walk through them, you would never guess that you would find a beach on the other side.

Our first stop on the way to the Big Sur area was to drive through the charming part of Carmel-by-the-Sea to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Once again we found ourselves saying that this was one of our favorite stops on the trip. Despite the haze/fog settling in, this place offered stunning and magnificent views that appealed to all of the senses.

After spending the morning at Muir Woods National Monument and celebrating Caleb’s birthday in the North Beach area we headed to see the Golden Gate Bridge from another vantage point thinking the fog would lift as the day progressed. The fog continued to hover and hug the iconic red structure and cables making it interesting to photograph!