Our Adventure Through The Central Coast
Written by Alex
I’ll try to keep this a somewhat brief rundown of our week in pacific grove, Big Sur, and Carmel-By-The-Sea.
Day 1
We flew out of Philadelphia Airport during the government shutdown. There was a little bit of chaos and running to find the right entrance to use so we could make our flight. Nevertheless, we made it!! And no cancellations or craziness like many other people had to deal with during the shutdown.
We landed in Monterey mid morning on Sunday and started exploring our home for the next few days. After getting some burgers, fries (animal style), and shakes from In-n-Out first of course.
Green Gables Inn in Pacific Grove
This inn was amazing and the staff were so nice and accommodating. They even offered to let us stay under an alias since we were eloping. They set us up with a nice bottle of wine to celebrate.
We spent our first evening by walking up to lovers point, enjoying some ice cream and watching the sunset over the bay.
We stayed in the balcony room which over looked Monterey Bay across the street. We slept with the windows open so we could hear the waves crash and let the sunrise wake us up.
Day 2
We watched the sunrise from our balcony room before driving to the Monterey County Clerk to pick up our marriage license. What an amazing way to start the day.
We then made our way back to Pacific Grove and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (More to come on this Aquarium!)
We walked around Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf before destroying some tacos.
For our evening adventure,
we took 17 Mile Drive.
This was a beautiful drive! We left our inn at 4pm and started the drive during golden hour. There are little pull offs on the drive every so often to see the different coves and features. We had tons of fun hopping out of the car, seeing each sight and then running back to the car to make the most of the setting sun. One spot was called the Lone Cypress. For the last 25 years, a single Cypress tree grew here on the rocky outcropping above the ocean. This was our last stop and was an incredible spot to watch the sunset from.
Then we headed back to the Inn for wine and cheese hour. And quickly to bed early. The time difference had us exhausted by like 5pm every day.
Day 3
Still being on East coast time comes in handy for waking up early.
This day we got up at 5:30 and got ready to go down to the shore and see the sunrise.
It is so hard to pick which photos to use because they’re all so beautiful.
After watching the sunrise we headed back to the inn for a lovely breakfast and got ready for our hike at Point Lobos.
Point Lobos
We spent the majority of the day here and walked around 8 miles. Our favorite spot was a place called China Cove and Bird Island. We walked all the trails available, through cove to cove and even through a meadow.
After this amazing hike, we headed back to the inn for wine and cheese hour before walking into town for a nice dinner at a place called Rudolfo’s.
Day 4
A cozy fireplace, a huge bathroom with a giant window that felt you were showering out in the forest, and a great little patio with a fire pit.
We got settled in, did a little exploring of the property and then spent most the day getting our things ready for the Big Day coming the next morning.
We were off to our second hotel for the week! This would be where our actual wedding ceremony would take place.
It just happens that the road in between Big Sur and Pacific Grove, Highway 1, is one of the most gorgeous roads in the world.
It also contains Bixby Bridge, one of California’s most photographed landmarks. This was such a cool spot to pull over and see. The bridge itself is very pretty and the view of the ocean meeting the cliffs was unreal.
Glen Oaks was magical
To get to our cabin we had to drive through a redwood forest and then cross a swinging bridge on foot to get to our private cabin.
Our parking spot happened to be at the base of the second largest redwood in Big Sur - Grandma Pfieffer.
The coastal redwoods are truly amazing. It was like walking under giants.
Right outside our cabin was a fairy circle. This is a grove of redwoods that grew up around the former site of a massive redwood leaving a clearing in the middle.
Inside the cabin had everything we needed.
We moved down the coast to Big Sur.
Day 6
After meeting back up with our photographer, Salisha, and her assistant for some more photos now that the sun had returned, we finally got to relax a little and explore Big Sur.
We drove Highway 1 to a cafe on the cliff with this incredible view.
Then we did a little bit of shopping and then made our way back up the coast for dinner.
We ended the night with a fire out back at our cabin under the stars. The resort gifted us a bottle of champagne to celebrate with, and it paired perfectly with the s’mores supplies they offered.
We got a nice surprise when trying to take a pic of the night sky. The aurora was visible and made for some cool pics.
Day 7
Time to say goodbye to the Redwoods
We slept in a little and then got our things together to move to the final little coastal town of our week, Carmel by the Sea.
Carmel is a little storybook town. There are tons of little shops and fairy tale cottages. The Inn we stayed at here was perfect. The Coachmen’s inn was located right in the middle of everything we wanted to see and made walking around and exploring super easy. The stained glass window outside our room was Bixby Bridge.
We couldn’t visit Carmel, the town that Clint Eastwood was once mayor of, without stopping by his bar, the Hog’s Breath Inn.
We sat at the bar, had a few tasty beverages and ended up leaving with a cool T-shirt in addition to the memories
We spent our last night bar hopping, enjoying live music, and golfing
Saturday night was super fun. We had drinks at Brophy’s Irish Pub and played foosball. Hannah destroyed me.
Then we rallied in our room and went out to the Links Club for golf, drinks, and live music. Johnny Tsunami was the band playing. We had drinks, played electronic golf, and listened to the live band in between rounds.
They ended their set with Creep by Radiohead. 10/10.
Day 8
Carmel was not just shopping and Clint Eastwood.
There are also killer views and lovely beaches.
Our flight wasn’t until the evening. We had a redeye back to Philly, so we spent the first part of our day visiting Carmel’s beaches, full of white sand and frolicking doggies.
For our last few hours, we retraced our steps back to Pacific Grove.
We were greeted with a rainbow over the ocean. We walked along Ocean Ave to Lover’s Point, and we even went back to a new favorite cafe, Happy Girl Kitchen Company.
It was the perfect place to end our adventure elopement.
