Route 1 August 2015

We left Yosemite and headed straight for the coast and Carmel by the Sea

During our dinner out in Sanoma, a couple on the table next to ours had recommended a restaurant in Carmel called La Bicyclette, it had also had a double mention in Trover (unheard of) so we booked ourselves in. It was fantastic.

The architecture in Carmel is really unique, no two houses look the same and they range from the Mediterranean influenced to wooden clad shacks. The whole ensemble is lovely.

Down the hill from the town centre is the huge beach.

While we played a pod of around 6 dolphins casually swam past

After two nights we reluctantly left Carmel, if we could have been more flexible we would have stayed here at least a week, the food was great, and the town had a lovely vibe, but we had a plane to catch in LA so we started down route 1. 

Just on the outskirts of Carmel is Point Lobos State Reserve. We went for a nice walk. 

At the far end of the point, a crowd had gathered around some park rangers and their telescopes. We joined them and saw sea lions, harbour seals, sea otters and some grey wales - it was amazing.

Route 1 

We spent the next night in Big Sur which is the name of the river Ali is sitting in. For whatever reason I thought it would be a pretty remarkable place, (maybe it is if you enjoy a good hike) but it really wasn't, the road moves away from the coast and follows the river so views are unremarkable and there is really very little there. 

We had a lovely breakfast at Nepenthe restaurant before continuing on our way.

Nepenthe has just amazing views over the Pacific, you can also sea wales breaching the surface if you're patient (and have good eyesight).

At the restaurant gift shop Ali found the kids some wings. I love this photo. 

We continued on our way...

...until we came to this beach covered in elephant seals. You really can't miss it there's a huge car park and hundreds of people.

They're definitely more impressive (huge) than attractive creatures.

We spent a night in Ohai which is described as a slightly hippy, new age and wine growing town/valley. Here's the view from a free to use meditation park on the hills above the town.

Before leaving Ohai we grabbed a pack lunch to have on the way to LA. By complete luck we ended up at this museum/park just off the 101, it was great.

We spent only one night in LA at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, had a swim and a walk round hollywood boulevard.

I thought we'd taken a bunch of photos of our stay in LA, but apparently not, this is pretty much all the evidence I have:

In the afternoon we drove out to LAX next step Salt Lake City and Yellowstone - very excited!