Our second full day of vacation started with a coffee run and a stroll around the bay. After Forest’s morning nap we loaded him in the car for a 20 minute drive down to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Carmel is known for it’s shopping, eating, celebrity sightings, and it’s white sandy beach. As cute as any European coastal city, we enjoyed window shopping and people watching while we meandered the streets of this charming beach town.
We made our way down to the beach where
Jonathan hung back with the stroller while I toted Forest down a gigantic hill
to the ocean. Carmel is extremely dog friendly so we had fun watching the dogs
run wild into the surf. A nice couple saw me awkwardly trying to take a selfie of us and offered to take our picture in front of
the water.
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| My selfie attempt. Terrible pic of me but cute of the little man so I had to post it. Ah, the things I do in the name of motherhood... |
Since we didn’t want to
leave Jonathan hanging for too long, after snapping some photos and dipping out
toes in the water we made the treacherous hike back up the dune behind the
beach and then went to track down some lunch.
Our friends Nary and Gerald had
just been to Carmel the week before so they recommended Bruno’s deli where we picked
up some sandwiches and hit the road back to Pacific Grove since Forest was on
the verge of a meltdown. That was probably his biggest fit of the trip so it
wasn’t so bad.
We rushed him down for a nap when we got back to the cottage,
enjoyed our lunch and then headed to Point Lobos State Reserve for some hiking
once Forest woke up. There was a $10 fee
to enter the park (this is a pretty standard entry fee for all of the natural attractions
in this area) which was probably the best $10 we ever spent. We parked at
Whaler’s Cove and hiked the North Shore Trail to Sea Lion Rock.
The weather was
beyond perfect. It was warm, but with a refreshing cool ocean breeze, like
Scotland on its best summer days. This was probably my most favorite excursion
of the whole trip.
As we approached Sea Lion Rock, we could hear them barking
from about 200 yards away. There was a sizable parking lot and bathroom in this
area for those who didn’t want to hike the trails in between the points of
interest. We went from mostly having the trail to ourselves to hitting a bit of
a crowd, but we didn’t mind.
The scenery here was awesome.- rocky, treacherous
coastline looking out over powerful and swirling crystal-blue waters. The views
were only enhanced by the solid sunshine and refreshing sea breeze. Not to mention looking down to spot a pack of
sea lions sunning themselves on a rock while some of their friends swam
playfully in the harbor.
It was definitely better than any zoo exhibit and I couldn’t
believe how closely we were getting to observe them.
Seriously, this kind of
thing is right up my alley. While hiking, I’m used to ‘wildlife’ consisting of
deer (we saw those too on this hike).
It was a nice treat to have wildlife mean
sea lions for a change!
After hiking along and observing them for about 30
minutes, it was time for us to head back to the car in order to make it home in
time for our little squirt’s bedtime.
I definitely recommend a walk around Point
Lobos if you find yourself near the Monterey Bay Peninsula! Check back later
for details of Day 3 of our trip: Big Sur and Driving the famous Highway 1
along the Pacific Coast.
Stunningly beautiful photos (I guess the scenery helps). I think it is lovely that Forest will get lots of hiking trips as he grows up. My friend in high school was part of a 'hiking' family and they always seemed like such a close, accepting, fun loving family.
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