Doug and I traveled to San Francisco to drive down to Big Sur, California on May 2nd. We spent the first night in San Francisco staying at the Clift on Geary and the next morning grabbing bfast at Mel's diner before we picked up the Mini Cooper S! Driving the Mini down Hwy 1 was so awesome, except for getting out of San Francisco. I have a map-reading handicap that drives Doug crazy, and reasonably so. With iphone google maps in hand, you would think one couldn't go wrong but I go into severe freak out mode any time someone is looking to me for directions.
We made it out of San Fran and headed down to Carmel by the Sea to stay at the Wayside Inn. I was pretty disappointed with the place mostly because I have a ridiculously sensitive nose and it smelled very musty, which I guess you can expect when staying at an older place by the ocean. We walked around the cute little downtown area that had no joke, a ton of "art" galleries. This place was honestly a bit bougie for us, but we had a great time and the next morning made our way down Hwy to Big Sur!!
We stopped at Swanton Berry Farm which is where I want to live =] It is this amazing berry farm right next to the ocean. People stop in and pay on the honor system buying jams, jellies, berries and of course, homemade strawberry shortcakes which were so awesome, we stopped to get another on our way back up. We made several stops along the shore taking in the view which is incredible. One spot we stopped, we climbed down a rocky bluff to the beach. As far as you can see along the entire drive is ocean, rocks, mountain and occasional beach. If I could suggest any one vacation to take in the US, it is this trip!
We eventually made our way to the best place to say in South Big Sur - Treebones Resort. They are a series of yurts in the middle of nowhere. The service, people, location and everything was awesome. This was by far the best part of our trip. We ate the first night at Deetjen's, also a place you have to stop, especially for dinner. The meal was pretty expensive but well worth every dollar. Doug says it is the best meal he has ever had! He enjoyed a bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with blue cheese polenta. I seriously almost gave in and ate some of it - and I haven't eaten pork in over 3 years. That night we played some awful Simpsons board game with a local bottle of wine and then hit the sack to get ready for our big day hitting the parks the next morning.
We started off each morning at the yurts with belgian waffles we made ourselves and then we packed up to head to Julia Pfeffer Burns State Park in north Big Sur. I swear every time Doug drove, he tried to see how much he could get me to white knuckle the oh shit handle. HAHA!! We hiked up into the mountains on the Ewoldsen Loop on a cloudy morning for 2 miles!! It was a gorgeous hike and fairly tiring. Doug suggested we take a rest at this picturesque spot at the top overlooking the ocean. After a few moments of rest, he began to tell me how much he loved me and asked me if I loved him. I said yes and he rephrased the question asking if I was going to love him for a long time as I said yes, he leaned in as we sat on the dirt placing something into the palm of my hand. I clamped my fingers down feeling the object was tiny and felt like... A RING! I immediately began to tear up and said yes of course! I had no idea he had stashed the ring in a small little fuse box from Frentz Hardware in his backpack the whole trip and had slipped it into his pocket that morning before the hike. Sitting in the dirt, sweaty after a long hike, overlooking the ocean - I think this is probably the most romantic proposal ever!!!
As we made our way down the mountain the cloudy sky cleared and we enjoyed the best weather we had the whole trip!! We then toured the McWay Falls trail overlooking the turquoise waters and taking in the ocean air. We grabbed lunch outside on the patio at Nepenthe overlooking the ocean and then spent the remainder of our day at Pfeiffer Beach. We then raced the sun back to our yurt to watch our first engaged sunset over the ocean over a glass of local wine. We made our way back to San Fran before returning home and stayed at a little bed and breakfast called the Red Victorian on Haight. It was an incredible trip I will never forget!!
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