Road Trip: Pacific Coast Highway, Monterey, and Hearst Castle

Now to continue on with the road trip!

After leaving the lighthouse, we made our way to the most expensive gas in the world. Pumped in a couple gallons to get us to a more reasonably priced gas station. The drive to the Pacific Coast Highway ended up being pretty beautiful in itself. The roads were windy, and the forest around us smelled amazing and had huge trees. We eventually made it to San Fransisco, and started our drive down the PCH.


I decided to let John and David take the wheel for this ride. I wanted to enjoy the scenery, and the boys just really wanted to drive fast along the windy road.

The beginning of the PCH wasn't too exciting; we were inland most of the time. We grabbed lunch real quickly and continued back on the road to Monterey.


Monterey was nice. Lots of boats and good places to grab chowder. Stephen, John, David and I grabbed a bread bowl of chowder and sucked it down so fast! It was delicious. We also saw pelicans and seals and sea otters, and got a wonderful picture of me as a proud mother...



After about an hour or so in Monterey, we piled back in the van for a few more hours down the coast. Let me tell you, the PCH is one of the scariest roads I have ever been on! David drove the rest of the way, and did a good job. One side of the road is a rockface straight up, the other side, cliffs down to the ocean. The drive would have definitely been more fun in a sports car, but the mini van did its job.






Just a little goofing off with my roommates. Max wasn't there though! We missed him!



Along the highway, people were stopping with their campers to set up for the night and watch the sunset along the coast. We drove as far as we could before we decided on the perfect location to watch the sunset. This was the first time I have ever seen the sunset over the ocean...it rises in the east!


My absolute favorite picture of the trip. John, Tori, and David enjoying the sunset from the top of the van. I totally have more appreciation for the mini van after this trip.


Only about an hour left on the road, and we finally made it to Cambria. We found ourselves a sweet hotel room with three beds! Enough for everyone to have some sleeping space. Another night of hanging out with a few drinks and good times.

We started our day going out to breakfast, and made it to Hearst Castle just in time to catch the bus for the five mile journey up the hillside. Hearst Castle was like nothing I have ever seen before. William Hearst, or "The Chief", built this paradise by importing materials that were hundreds of years old from Europe.



I will be basing my house off of the design of this place...



Don't I look nice with my new indoor pool and 22 carat gold tiled floor? I think so. I could get used to that lifestyle.

This was an amazing trip. I had so much fun with everyone and enjoyed every second of it. The sights were like nothing I have seen before. I will definitely try to make that drive again!