Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur

Fisherman's warf

hiking at Pt. Lobos

he made it to the top!!

such a perfect day!

he's gonna get busted . . . he's off trail!

Aaron caught me a butterfly!

cool trees . . . . everywhere!

us at the Bixby bridge

sitting watching the world go by . . .

cool bus store at the River Inn

over the river and through the woods . . .

time for some vino

great views of Carmel Valley

LOTS of movies!

We had BIG plans to go to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary this year but it just didn't work out with all that has been going on. Aaron had taken the time off of work months ago so we wanted to make sure to do something special. We decided to head to the Monterey Bay. It's been awhile since we have been down there and there was LOTS to do. I made sure to think of everything we enjoy doing but don't get to do much (if at all) because of the girls. I must say we did a TON of things and had a BLAST!

Saturday we drove to San Jose and dropped the girls off with my mom who had Kaleb and Izzy as well. We knew the girls would have a blast playing with their cousins and getting spoiled by grandparents. After dropping the girls off Aaron and I drove to Monterey. We got to our hotel around 4pm and dropped our bags off and headed down to Fisherman's Warf. After walking around the Warf we stopped into a nice restaurant overlooking the water. I had clam chowder in a bread bowl with a glass of wine and Aaron had fish and chips with a beer. It was a nice and relaxing dinner. After that we decided that we wanted to go see a movie so we headed over to the theathers and saw Salt. After the movie we went downtown and had a few drinks at the Mucky Duck.

On Sunday we slept in and then headed back downtown for a late breakfast. We LOVE going out to breakfast but rarely do so because it doesn't work well with the girls. So we really enjoyed breakfast and didn't mind waiting in line to be seated! After a HUGE breakfast we headed to Pt. Lobos for a hike. We spent a few hours hiking and then packed it in and headed down to Big Sur. We stopped along the way taking in the views and of course admiring the Bixby Bridge. Neither of us had been there before and it was pretty amazing. We ended up stopping at the River Inn and walking aound the shops and then we sat by the river with our feet up and enjoyed listening to the live band they had playing. Talk about RELAXING! After awhile we decided it was time to head back to Monterey, this time we stopped in Cannery Row. We walked all around Cannery Row looking in all the shops and finally worked up an appetite and grabed a bite at Cannery Row Brewery. We shared a delicious burger and had a beer or two. We were pretty tired after all the hiking and walking around so we decided to go catch another movie - this time we saw Inception - then we crashed at the hotel.

On Monday I had to wake up early because Aaron booked me an hour massage. After grabbing a coffee and pastry he dropped me off for my massage (which was amazing) then he picked me up and we headed to Carmel. We stopped and grabbed a Sandwich then drove out to Carmel Valley and went on another LONG hike at Garland Ranch. We hiked up to the waterfalls but they were dry so we kept on hiking to the ponds. Once we got to the ponds we stopped an had a picnic and broke open a bottle of wine. After a rest and refuel we headed down the trail stopping along the way to enjoy the views. After a 4 hour hike we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and took a nap. When we woke up we realized most of the day was gone so we headed back to theathers and this time we saw The Other Guys. After the movie we headed to a late dinner at PF Changs and shared an amazing dinner complete with a cocktail or two.

Tuesday was the day we had to head home. We woke up and headed back down to fisherman's warf to pick up some gifts for the girls then we stoped in an amazing french bakery for some yummy fresh baked goods and coffee. On our way home we stopped in Castroville and picked up 12 artichokes for a buck! It was such an amazing 3+ days alone with no kids. We were able to do EVERYTHING we had on our "list" and more importantly . . . fall deeper into love with each other.